What is IO Tiering?
IO tiering takes the concept of virtual capacity and applies it to performance. Think of IO tiering as a form of "performance virtualization." IO tiering allows performance to be managed separately from capacity meaning that the allocation of resources can be based on the workload, independent of capacity. IO tiering should ultimately allow IOPs, latency and bandwitch to be pinned to application performance based on an SLA-- guaranteeing a quality of service level. This means sustained performance can be delivered to every volume on sustained basis.
Why is IO Tiering Important?
IO tiering is important because it allows cloud service providers or enterprise IT practitioners to deliver predictable performance shared across many volumes (e.g. thousands). Just as capacity virtualiztion and the concept of storage pooling dramatically cut costs and simplified management, IO tiering virtualizes performance independent of capacity and delivers a shared pool of service for applications. This is particularly important for mission critical applications which thus far have been excluded from the cloud discussion.
Who will be Impacted by this Trend?
The ability to deliver consistent, predictable performance is particularly appealing to cloud service providers and enterprise CIOs pursuing IT-as-a-service, because it allows organizations to build performance tiers and charge for these tiers accordingly. Importantly, these tiers can be established independent of capacity and tied to SLAs. For CSPs this means they can charge for performance and make more profit per customer-- creating atomic billing against fine grain tiers of performance. For enterprise CIOs it means they can deliver quality of service in a cloud-like fashion (IT-as-a-Service), increase customer satisfaction and transform their organizations from a profite center to a value driver.
On the vendor side, traditional managed hosting providers trying to become cloud-oriented will be disrupted by emerging and innovative CSPs that are pushing the envelope on cloud-based high performance applications. In addition, traditional block-based storage suppliers such as EMC and HP/3PAR that sell to CSPs will be under attack from upstarts such as SolidFire that are exclusively targeting the CSP space and trying to power new solutions that deliver guaranteed performance.
Action Item: IO tiering or the concept of virtualizing performance will increasingly appeal to cloud service providers and enterprise CIOs trying to become more cloud-service like. Fundamental to the concept of IT-as-a-Service is the ability to guarantee performance levels by application on an SLA basis and charge accordingly. All-flash arrays are a key enabler to this vision and a key success criteria for any organization trying to deliver mission critical applications in the cloud.
Footnotes: