Getting started on the journey to a software-defined storage (SDS) solution can be relatively straightforward or fairly complex, depending on the scope of the project under consideration. It is important to understand current organizational capabilities and challenges, and identify the specific business objectives to be achieved by implementing an SDS solution in your enterprise. Ask the following questions:

IBM personnel can assist you in your journey to smart storage cloud by developing a high-level architecture and implementation plan. This plan includes a supporting business case to justify investment, based on a compelling return on investment (ROI), and on improved service levels and lowered costs.

Business requirements have moved to the forefront of driving IT decisions. The plan for moving to the next step of an SDS implementation needs to be validated with the business plan. As shown in Figure 6-1, the business model becomes the focus, and the plan supports the business model.

After the business model is defined, the SDS plan can be mapped to meet the business needs. This applies to both the traditional IT computing models and the Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social, and Security (CAMSS) model.

Figure 6-2 on page 135 helps lay out the products that provide the software-defined value as part of the Control Plane or Data Plane. As described earlier, some products have functions that straddle the Control and Data Planes. The key is to map the business requirement to the functions of the products as you define your SDS road map.

In some cases, you should incorporate the storage that you have into the SDS implementation. In other cases, it makes sense to invest in newer-technology storage to meet specific business needs. Optimization of your traditional workload compared to your mobile environment can have different implementations to meet the needs of your business. The business needs are also the driving force of the amount of change you can make to your current IT environment.

Before embarking on any journey, it is important to understand where you are currently, and what your chosen destination is. Developing your own cloud storage strategy should reflect these important considerations, which help you to define your path. So take the time needed to ensure that you understand how cloud storage can help your business. Justify your move by using ROI, total cost of ownership (TCO), and other business measures that are relevant to your organization. Be sure that you consider technical or compliance concerns, and develop risk-mitigation plans.

Remember that although storage cloud can be a key component of an overall cloud computing approach, you should determine how a storage cloud strategy fits within your broader cloud computing architectural plans. Overall integration of the following system parameters is essential to successful implementations:

Consider your security needs and how a storage cloud is affected by the confidentiality of the data that you need to store. Data that is highly sensitive, or subject to security-compliance regulations, might not be able to be stored on a public network. Therefore, your storage cloud might need to be located behind an enterprise firewall, which is a private cloud solution requirement. The same might be true for instances where users need to easily access, share, and collaborate on data, without compromising data security, integrity, availability, and control of that data.

Figure 6-3 shows the high-level differences of current organizations versus the implementation of SDI that includes SDS. Planning for the next steps needs to include all aspects of the current business processes and infrastructure, along with the short-term and long-term goals of the business. From there, the SDI infrastructure can be planned. The SDS plan is a subset of the SDI plan.

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IBM personnel can assist you by developing a high-level architecture and implementation plan with a supporting business case to justify investment based on a compelling return on investment, with improved service levels and lowered costs for your cloud infrastructure.

IBM consultants use a unique cloud adoption framework, the Cloud Computing Reference Architecture (CCRA), and the IBM Cloud Workload Analysis Tool to help you analyze your existing environment and determine which cloud computing model is best suited for your business. They help you identify the business areas and workloads that, when changed to a cloud computing model, can enable you to reduce costs and improve service delivery that is in line with your business priorities.

The comprehensive structured approach that IBM brings to a cloud implementation engagement is shown in Figure 6-1 on page 134. This approach helps IBM to perform a rigorous analysis of your IT and application infrastructure, and provides recommendations and project planning for streamlining your infrastructure and processes. The IBM methodology incorporates key practices that were learned from engagements with leading businesses around the globe, and partnering with them on their storage cloud journey.