Storage Transformation

[AWS]

Organizations face many challenges when it comes to storage. Data volumes are exploding, increasing the cost of storage and the headaches of storage management. The rise of Big Data analytics means more data is being collected and mined than ever before &ndash 90% of the world&rsquos data has been created in the last two years. Enterprise data is expanding at 20% per year or more.

But changes in the technologies and products that compose storage solutions are creating new opportunities. And the Microsoft strategy embraces these trends so customers can benefit from them today.

First, the level of performance and reliability that storage based on industry-standard hardware and software can achieve in your datacenters is rapidly increasing. Second, customers are moving data to the cloud to experience the flexibility, elasticity, and cost effectiveness the cloud offers. And third, recovery needs and the strengths of the cloud are beginning to come together in the form of data backup/recovery and the orchestration of application recovery.

Four years ago, starting with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 and continued with the release of Windows Server 2012, Microsoft began a journey to fundamentally transform storage and deliver a new range of solutions for customers. Since then, we&rsquove taken steps in each of these three areas.

On-premises storage

In the past, many customers purchased proprietary storage solutions for the performance and reliability they provide &ndash but at a high cost. Changes to hardware, operating systems, and software are now making high performance, reliable storage possible &ndash with industry standard hardware.

Last year, Windows Server 2012 began delivering on our vision of storage transformation with virtualized file-based storage with Storage Spaces and scale-out file servers. At TechEd 2012 we presented

 

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