Hitachi Data Systems’ announcement of the TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform provides organizations with a different way to manage storage. There are two key components of the Hitachi offering,: 1) Storage controllers with advanced functions to provide traditional highend storage for mission critical applications; and 2) Virtualization capabilities to provide storage management for all of the storage in the data center. Management of service levels is further enhanced by the ability to partition controllers, and provide multiple storage pools with different performance and functionality.

ITCentrix has looked in detail at the business case for this new approach to storage management in two environments, a banking organization, and a large manufacturing firm. The business case in both is compelling, with break-evens of 6 months or less, triple-digit ROI, and a more than 30% reduction in the total cost of storage and storage management.

Some of the concepts introduced by Hitachi are new, and the performance and functionality of the platform have yet to be proven other than in early installations. However, many functions are evolutionary and Hitachi has an impressive track record of delivering promised functionality over the last few years.

ITCentrix recommends users investigate this new approach, which potentially offers the best of both worlds; a choice of hardware platform best suited to the cost, performance, and functionality requirements of the application and user budget, and a single simplified storage management infrastructure, with significant reductions in management and operational  savings.