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Inside:Making the Most of Storage, s2

Storage in the Sky, s3

A Hybrid Approach, s5

Engines of Efficiency, s6

Simplifying Storage, s8

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Managing stored data is one of this biggest IT issuesfacing the federal government today. As theamount of data that agencies collect steadily

grows, so does the size of the files stored, as formats thathouse video, audio, and geospatial information are becomingmore common. The result is not only a growing need tosafeguard this data, but also to be able to search, secure,archive, and recover data according to agency needs and regulatory requirements.

“The government has some of the biggest needs for datastorage of any industry for a number of reasons,” saysShawn McCarthy, research director with IDC GovernmentInsights. “One is the retention laws that dictate the amountof data agencies must collect. Two is a lot of this stuff isvery data-intensive; images, video feeds, sensor data fromstreet lights, that type of information doesn’t always need tobe stored long term, but it is still another issue. So how youstore it and how easy it is to access it becomes a long-termarchitectural requirement, and it’s huge in government.”

In addition, outfitting an organization with enough storagespace for today, along with room to grow for tomorrow, hasbecome an expensive proposition. According to Mark Weber,president of storage vendor NetApp’s U.S. Public Sectordivision, storage costs have risen to comprise 40 to 50 percentof a typical organization’s IT capital budget. Meanwhile,organizations on average use only 20 percent of their traditional storage capacity, leaving 80 percent of capacity as ‘white space’ that’s waiting for data to be stored on it, he says.

A number of storage management technologies are available today to help manage stored data, while also reducing infrastructure costs and data-center staffingexpenses. Some of those technologies are:

• Cloud Storage: offers a means for agencies to reducethe amount of expensive storage devices required on-sitewhile only paying for the amount of storage they needoff site, thanks to flexible payment options offered bycloud service providers. Federal agencies are advised to first put non-essential data in the cloud to test the reliability of their chosen providers and achieve a levelof comfort among agency executives who may be concerned with the safety and privacy of data;

• Storage Virtualization: allows agencies to repurposeexisting, heterogeneous storage platforms by puttingintelligence in front of them that lets administratorsmanage technology from different vendors in a homogenous way, while also optimizing storage space;

• Storage Efficiency Technologies: products that providedata deduplication, cloning, replication, and thin provisioning are helping agencies save costs andheadaches by minimizing the amount of data that mustbe stored to disk, while also preventing under-utilization.

Data Disciplines

In addition to key storage management technologiesdesigned to help reduce administration and save costs, agencies implementing information management practicesthat dictate upfront planning for where different types andlevels of data should be stored will see additional benefits.These include practices such as Information LifecycleManagement (ILM), a set of strategies for managing storagesystems with policies dictated by business goals and drivers.These policies help organizations distinguish critical datafrom non-critical data, and map a storage strategy to thoserankings that keeps information that’s highly sensitive oraccessed often on the most expensive tier of storage, while moving less-critical or archived information to cheaper technology.

Such forethought can help support mission goals andenable agencies to make the most of the data they have.

“Sometimes agencies don’t think through how they’regoing to manage all of the information that they storeaccording to a set of business rules and expectations,” saysRay Bjorklund, senior vice president and Chief KnowledgeOfficer at FedSources, a market intelligence group. “When it comes to intelligence information, for example, you’retalking about information transformed into knowledge transformed into intelligence – getting the right informationat the right time requires a set of business rules.” ❑

Effective storage management requires the right technology tools combined with

information management practices to optimize space, safeguard data, and reduce costs

Making the Most of Storage

s2 1105 Government Information Group Custom Report

www.GCN.com/StorageMgmt2010Storage Management

1105 Government Information Group Custom Report s3

Cloud storage is an obvious answer to the question‘Where should the federal government put the data itis collecting?’Yet while awareness of cloud storage

and its benefits is high, implementations by federal agenciesremain few and far between. Despite recent mandates toconsolidate federal data centers – in which cloud storage couldplay a significant role – the model still presents more questionsthan answers in the minds of agency IT professionals.

In May, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies(NIST) hosted a one-day workshop on cloud computing inthe federal government. Federal CIO Vivek Kundra keynotedthe event and issued a call to action; he told attendees theycould usher the move to the cloud by helping to developcloud-related standards and validating key cloud specifications,which should help alleviate some of the risk concerns surrounding cloud. With data-center consolidation being one if the main pillars of the Federal CIO’s cloud initiative,cloud storage could figure heavily into the equation.

Cloud Benefits

The Federal CIO’s cloud initiative is designed to reap thebenefits of the advantages that this model of computingoffers regarding storage management and costs, which are

numerous. In addition to reducing infrastructure costs due toless equipment required on site, cloud storage is also perceivedas reducing operational costs, thanks to the pay-as-you-gomodels offered by cloud service providers. Then there aremanagement benefits, as storing data in the cloud meansfewer administration headaches since the service providerbecomes responsible for tasks like back-up and recovery.Faster time to mission is another advantage, as cloud storageeliminates the need for the IT department to acquire andprovision storage for new initiatives. The model also eliminatesthe need for agencies to plan ahead for future storagerequirements.

“The obvious benefits for a government agency are that byusing the cloud for storage, each individual data center nowdoesn’t have to have the equipment, and you don’t have toworry about temperature, storage conditions, sizing up anddown the equipment… with cloud, the scale is wonderful,”says Leonard Eckhaus, founder and president emeritus ofAFCOM, a professional association of data center managers.

In addition to these benefits, there are some instances ofsuccessful cloud storage implementations made by the privatesector that can serve as examples. In August marketresearcher Ovum published findings that enterprises are

Cloud storage offers federal agencies numerous benefits, but is also viewed as a risky proposition

Storage in the Sky

www.GCN.com/StorageMgmt2010 Storage Management

IDC eXchange, “New IDC IT Cloud Services Survey: Top Benefits and Challenges,” Dec 15, 2009

experiencing significant cost savings thanks to public cloudstorage services. The report, entitled “Clouds Open forEnterprise Storage,” detailed the benefits offered by publicclouds that store data generated by in-house applications.

“Not only do they relieve the burden of storing data oncustomers’ premises, but they also have the multiplyingeffect of transferring to the cloud provider the responsibilityof backing up that data,” said Ovum senior analyst TimothyStammers in a statement.

Dale Wickizer, CTO of storage vendor NetApp’s U.S.Public Sector division, sums up the cost benefits of cloudstorage neatly: “There’s nothing cheaper than the disk drivesyou don’t buy.”

Cloud Concerns

Yet adoption of cloud storage hasn’t ramped up due largelyto agency concerns over letting critical data be stored off siteand managed by a third party; storage vendors and observersagree that security is the No. 1 inhibitor to cloud storageadoption. It will take significant effort on the part of publiccloud service providers to beef up their security, privacy andcompliance measures to the point that agencies are comfortablehanding precious data over.

“The No. 1 objection to cloud that government customerswrestle with is still privacy and security,” says NetApp’s

Wickizer. Wrapped in are issues of control, he says; sinceindividual silos of information are easier to control, departments tend to want to keep data sectioned off, instead of comingled on the same infrastructure, regardlessof what security promises are made.

Among the other concerns are the availability of datastored in the cloud. While cloud service providers offerdetailed service-level agreements to guarantee availabilityand performance to their customers, many big providershave experienced outages at their sites, which brings agencies back to the belief that data stored in a division’sown silo is not only safer but more available. And until theinteroperability standards that Kundra called for in May areworked out, agencies fear service provider lock-in.

Another concern is the true cost of cloud storage. While atfirst glance it seems less expensive to rent out only the storagespace an agency needs and pay just for what is used, oncedata-transfer rates are layered on top of storage costs theprices begin to rise and the equation becomes complicated.

“The problem with storage is that there are transfer coststo get it into the cloud, transfer costs to get it out of thecloud, and of course MB/month fees for keeping it in,” saysTim Grance, program manager of Cyber and NetworkSecurity at NIST. “Basically, you can’t get a lot of data inand out without hitting the transfer fees.” ❑



IDC eXchange, “New IDC IT Cloud Services Survey: Top Benefits and Challenges,” Dec 15, 2009

“There’s nothing cheaper than the disk drives you don’t buy.”

– Dale Wickizer, CTO, NetApp’s U.S. Public Sector division


To help federal agencies take advantage of the benefitsthat cloud storage offers while also minimizing risk,vendors and observers say that a hybrid approach to

putting data in the cloud may be the best bet. For security and compliance reasons, the federal

government’s move to cloud storage will likely occur firstwith private clouds - those built to be housed internally,established by other agencies that rent out space, or designedby government contractors who develop hosting strategiesexclusively for agency clients, says Shawn McCarthy,research director with IDC Government Insights. For example,a number of cloud service providers including Terremarkand Quest are marketing to government customers cloudservices based on infrastructures shared only by other agencies that adhere to numerous government standards.These models take advantage of the economies offered byshared architectures, but remain physically separate toaddress concerns of privacy and security.

For data that is already publically available, however, storingit in a public cloud can make sense for federal agencies. “The initial cloud push will probably be in the private cloudor internal cloud,” says Dale Wickizer, CTO of storage vendorNetApp’s U.S. Public Sector division. “But for data that ispublic anyway, some agencies will put it on a public cloud.That’s where it makes sense for some federal agencies, if thedata is low risk, who cares where it ends up?”

Easing Storage Management

This hybrid approach to storage raises the question ofwhether placing non-sensitive information in a public cloud,but keeping sensitive information stored on site, makes storagemanagement easier or more difficult. For information storedon the public cloud, administration of that stored data isminimal, since it would be the cloud service provider runningthrough back-up and recovery functions.

However, the department using that cloud service providernow needs to consider managing its service-level agreementwith the cloud provider, says NetApp’s Wickizer, which issomething to consider.

In general, putting at least some data in the cloud shouldsimplify storage management.

“In some cases, I think the answer can be ‘less difficult,’”says Tim Grance, program manager of Cyber and Network

Security at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.“If we assume that an organization can readily determinewhich data files are for public consumption and which arenot, then the organization can allocate a storage location on acloud provider, and upload the objects to that location. Inprinciple, the organization would not then need to keep public-facing servers around since the objects could bedirectly accessed by the public, or, if the organization wantsa Web-oriented view, the organization could run a simpleWeb server in the same cloud provider that just makes it

click-easy to find and download the objects for the public.”However, this would become a big management issue

if the cloud provider’s service failed, particularly if theorganization can’t tolerate downtime, says Grance.To make sense of all the attention cloud storage is gettingthese days, Grance says organizations should focus on thebusiness case at hand, and whether the benefits of the cloudmodel line-up with mission goals.

“Cloud can deliver … agility, due to maintaining, buying,and operating so much infrastructure at capacity levels,renewed focus on core mission functions, and cost savings,”Grance says. “In large part that should drive us to efficientlyaddress concerns in areas such as security, interoperability,and portability.” ❑

Putting public data in a public cloud, while retaining confidential and sensitive data

in private clouds, will help federal agencies reap benefits while minimizing risk

A Hybrid Approach


“Cloud can deliver … agility, due to

maintaining, buying, and operating so

much infrastructure at capacity levels,

renewed focus on core mission functions,

and cost savings. In large part that should

drive us to efficiently address concerns in

areas such as security, interoperability,

and portability.”

– Tim Grance, program manager of

Cyber and Network Security at NIST.

While disk-drive technology continues to makeadvances, eventually the realization hits that thereis only so much data that can fit on drives.

Taking a new approach to the problem of where to storedata, a number of technologies have emerged to make themost of available disk space while having little if any impacton performance. Referred to as storage efficiency products,these technologies reduce the amount of data that needs tobe stored using techniques such as deduplication, cloning,replication, and thin provisioning, resulting in cost savingsand reduced administration of storage.

Such technologies have become particularly useful to federal agencies that carry the burden of being the officialrecord.

“As part of their primary mission, whether civilian ordefense, the government must be the official record; the citizenry demands that official records be maintained, sothat forces the government to retain much more informationthan the average business,” says Mike O’Donnell, vice presi-dent of EMC’s Data Domain back-up and recovery systemsdivision. “The path of drives getting bigger and spinningfaster is not keeping up with demand.”

Deduplicating Data

One of these storage-efficiency technologies is data deduplication, which removes redundancies from files sothat the amount of data stored is reduced. With products basedon intellectual property developed by former Princeton professor Kai Li in 2001, Data Domain of Santa Clara,Calif., was an early pioneer of the technology. The companywas acquired by storage giant EMC in 2009.

Data Domain’s deduplication technology works at the bitlevel to remove duplicates found in a file, using fingerprintingto achieve dramatic reductions, says O’Donnell.

“Deduplication is a technology that’s not focused on thatkind of insanity (of trying to squeeze more space from diskdrives), instead it reduces the amount of data from itssource,” says O’Donnell. “We’re the guys who put 100TBin a 5TB bag.”

According to market researcher The Enterprise StrategyGroup (ESG), this reduction of required disk translates intosignificant cost savings.

“In theory, with data deduplication solutions, companiesbacking up a 10TB file system may only need 1TB ofmedia,” reads an ESG white paper published in April of2009. “When a customer can reduce its backup capacity by90 percent, the savings add up fast - and this is why ESGbelieves companies will increase the amount of backup dataon disk in the next few years.”

By using Data Domain’s technology, which works in-line,in real time, organizations can gain significant efficienciesin the physical amount of data that needs to be transferredover the network and maintained in deep archives, saysO’Donnell. So for example, if a manager sends out aPowerPoint presentation to his staff, then realizes he forgot aword in Slide 1 so he sends the entire presentation out again,only the changed portion of the presentation that was sentthe second time is saved – that one word.

Storage efficiency products make the most of available disk space

while offering additional benefits

Engines of Efficiency



“By focusing on the data, we actually

change the equation – now we’re reducing

data even before it has to be stored.”

– Mike O’Donnell, vice president of EMC’s Data

Domain back-up and recovery systems division

According to market researcher The Enterprise Strategy Group, data deduplication

technologies are being deployed in the following areas of IT departments:

Within data centers 52%

Both data centers and remote/branch offices 31%

At remote/branch offices 10%

Other/don’t know 7%


“By focusing on the data, we actually change the equation –now we’re reducing data even before it has to be stored,” he says.

Added Benefits

Having less data on disk means less storage to manage.And since Data Domain’s technology works inline, in realtime, the result is less bandwidth utilization when transferringdata across the network as well, says O’Donnell.

There’s also a data-protection benefit from the technology,one that the U.S. Army was able to realize by implementingData Domain’s DDX Arrays and Replicator software. TheU.S. Army’s Southwest Asia data center team deployed theseproducts, along with TCP acceleration and forward errorcorrection technology from Juniper Networks, to ensurecontinuous integrity checking and instantaneous backup verification to support communications for more than100,000 troops in the Middle East.

“Although data deduplication is still a relatively new capability, customers are deploying it in both data centersand remote offices, indicating that the benefits are real,”reads the ESG white paper.

Other Approaches

Data deduplication is one of a handful of ways to maximizestorage space. There’s also data cloning, which makes aclone of a database – particularly helpful if multiple copiesof a database are required – but only takes up the space ofthe one copy plus changes. Replication is another technique,which makes copies or ‘snaps’ of data but only transferschanged blocks of data once the baseline copy is made. Andthin provisioning allows administrators to improve storageutilization by maintaining a common pool of free storagethat’s accessible to all applications, but only used on an as-needed basis. ❑


According to the Storage Industry Network Association (SNIA),

storage efficiency is defined as follows:

Storage Efficiency =Effective Capacity + Free Capacity

Raw Capacity

Perhaps one of the most essential technologies to helpfederal agencies grapple with storage managementissues is storage virtualization. Closely aligned with

cloud storage, storage virtualization will no doubt also playa significant role in the Federal Data Center ConsolidationInitiative outlined by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra. Yet the lackof budget to accommodate up-front storage virtualizationcosts, as well as not enough trained staff to maintain thetechnology, is rendering it under-utilized, at least for now.

According to the Storage Networking Industry Association(SNIA), the primary benefit of storage virtualization is tohelp the overall management of storage. In the long term,the technology offers significant cost benefits as well.

“Today, storage infrastructures represent one of the mostheterogeneous environments found in modern IT departments,with a multitude of different systems at all levels of the stack –file systems, operating systems, servers, storage systems,management consoles, management software, etc.,” reads theSNIA Technical Tutorial on storage virtualization, which isavailable here (http://www.snia.org/education/storage_net-working_primer/stor_virt/sniavirt.pdf). “This complexity hasbecome a hindrance to achieving business goals such as100% uptime.”

Storage virtualization addresses these issues by providinga less costly way to eliminate the single point of failurewithin a storage-area network; improving storage performanceand managing that performance in real time; offering moreaffordable disaster recovery and data archiving than traditionaloptions; and reducing poor utilization of storage that leads tounnecessary hardware and management costs, according tothe tutorial. SNIA has developed the Shared Storage Modelthat illustrates how layering technology in modern storagearchitectures creates a complete range of storage functions.(see graphic).

In addition, virtualization vendor VMware says storagevirtualization can help increase storage utilization by allowingadministrators to dedicate more storage than there is actuallycapacity for, helping to cut down on unused space whileeliminating the need to fully dedicate capacity up front.Storage virtualization can also enhance application uptimeby doing away with the need to provision more capacityfrom time to time, which can require coordination amongapplication owners, virtual machine owners, and storage

administrators that often results in application downtime,says VMware.

But despite these benefits, storage virtualization adoptionstill lags significantly behind other forms of virtualization –server, in particular.

“I would say for server virtualization we’re well down thepath, but with storage virtualization we’re still at the begin-ning, the efficiencies are in front of us,” says Mark Weber,president of NetApp’s U.S. Public Sector division.

Once agencies realize the benefits that storage virtualizationoffers in being able to use existing heterogeneous storageassets but manage them in a unified way, and given the efficiencies that model offers, the technology will see significant upticks in deployment, says Weber. Another piecein the puzzle is desktop virtualization – which hasn’t seen significant adoption in the federal market either – that allowsfor IT departments to stop having to manage all the diskdrives on desktops deployed throughout the organization.“Instead, all of that data becomes part of the storage infrastructure,” he says, and as such becomes significantlyeasier to manage. ❑

Storage virtualization technology that sits in front of existing assets can ease management

and maximize capacity

Simplifying Storage



The Storage Networking Industry Association’s

Shared Storage Model

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