John McArthur

Founded in late 2009, SimpliVity is a new data center-in-a-box maker just out of stealth mode, who’s OmniCube is worth shortlisting when looking for next-generation, fully integrated hardware systems, says John McArthur in his latest Wikibon Professional Alert. OmniCube is designed for simple installation and operation in a virtualized environment. It includes hybrid solid state/spinning disk storage, data compression and tiering, snapshorts, asynchronous replication for DR, and a list of other advanced features already fully integrated.

The heart of the system is the OmniCube Accelerator, a PCI-e card that off-loads deduplication and compression functions from the processors and eliminates the need for WAN acceleration appliances, increases effective storage capability, provides efficient caching, and reduces network requirements for replication.

SimpliVity’s go-to-market strategy is 100% channel-based and mid-market focused, with a <$55,000 per-unit list price and a simple value proposition. It eliminates the need for legacy appliances and the professional services required to tie components together. This is great for users but will upset the traditional market strategies of many channel partners, who make money supplying those integration services. McArthur says that forward-thinking channel partners need to recognize the OmniCube value proposition and embrace a new approach to IT infrastructure deployment. Storage-focused VARs may find SimpliVity simple enough to allow them to expand into physical-to-virtual server migrations and outsourced managed services. 

However, McArthur warns, potential users should remember that this is a startup whose products and services, as well as its longevity, are yet to be proven in the marketplace. Users should test an OmniCube, and the company behind it, in the dev/test environment before trusting it in production environments. And the weakness of its all-in-one approach is that it becomes a single-point-of-failure. “If it crashes, you burn,” McArthur warns.

On the other hand, he says, potential customers should not be deterred by FUD from competitors with less well integrated systems, either. SimpliVity, he concludes, is worth more than a look, it deserves “a good tire kick and a test drive.” It is dramatically simpler than many alternatives and can drastically simplify the IT infrastructure for a virtualized data center.

Like all Wikibon research, this Professional Alert is available free in its entirety on the Wikibon.org site. IT professionals are invited to sign up for a free membership in the Wikibon community, which allows them to correct and comment on research and post their own pieces and company white papers, and to participate in the bi-monthly Peer Incite meetings at which peers discuss how they are meeting today’s IT challenges.