Over the past few decades, technological evolution has accelerated tremendously. These innovations have greatly influenced the world of enterprise data storage. It has transformed so completely that the pre-digital early-stage solutions are now a fading memory.
As data became the heart of every business, enterprise requirements for more robust data management solutions increased. In response, data management systems evolved from direct-attached storage (DAS) into networked storage systems like SAN and NAS.
Networking decreased RPO from weeks to days, while RTO decreased from days to hours. But no matter how technologically advanced systems became, they were just not enough to manage growing data management needs. A new kind of system was needed, a powerful, scalable yet flexible system. To solve this challenge, the cloud was built.
In the face of dramatic changes to the landscape, the data management ISVs face some unique challenges. They need to pivot, evolve, and even completely transform their product strategies. This is a story of how the support of a strategic partner can make that transition smoother.
Transforming data storage
The storage and networking space continues to evolve. Now, data storage and management enterprises need to evolve to match. One of our clients, a giant in storage and data management solutions has been an industry leader since the ’90s.
When they started, they initially competed in the computer hardware storage industry. But their product offerings had to undergo a massive shift as the cloud started taking over. What was once an on-premises product had to evolve and learn to leverage the power of the cloud to remain relevant.
The on-premises data management solution had to adopt a more hybrid avatar to accommodate evolving enterprise needs. It had to not only store large volumes of data and manage it well but also make it more accessible. Scalability and security were the other battlegrounds to be won. Agile storage solutions had to be designed to meet the enterprise need – after all, while the power of the cloud had to be harnessed, on-premise data storage also needed to be accommodated. After all, there were many applications, processes, and systems that were not meant for the cloud.
While our client expertly managed this transition and refreshed their portfolio, the need for constant evolution became apparent.
But the data storage and networking industry is extremely dynamic and continues to be a rapidly evolving space. Even the biggest players in the market need help in proactively meeting business and customer needs. So, they turned to us.
We became one of their strategic technology partners in the early days and showed our skills, expertise, and reliability over the years. That won us the opportunity to help them in this new transformative phase.
Within a span of three years, we worked on and completed six projects, all of which were tied to their key offerings, and helped them address all of their storage and management requirements.
We helped them build an operating system that provided the foundation of storage infrastructure, as well as an enterprise-wide data fabric for business applications, data storage, and protection requirements.
We assisted in the development of efficiency-boosting technologies as well. These pieces of tech were designed to help customers reduce storage spending and improve the performance of their current systems. We also assisted in developing solutions that helped their customers store, manage, protect, and retain their data, boost storage utilization, and completely transform their data centers.
Given that technology changes at the speed of light, our client needed technology partners who had the technical and domain expertise to match. They needed someone who could be capable of partner with them and help keep pace with the evolution of this space. We fulfilled our engagements with them and delivered mission-critical projects within record time. This gave them the confidence to further cement our partnership. Today, we have another five active projects with them, all of which are a part of their strategic product portfolio.
The importance of strategic partnerships
These, and similar, stories demonstrate the importance of having key strategic partners. Some of the things that have helped us in this and many other such engagements are:
- Our capacity for innovation and exploration, technology and domain expertise, and skilled technology experts, allow us to quickly design robust solutions.
- Our product development experience, combined with reliable and agile processes, ensure timely deliveries.
- Our expert engineers, technology expertise, and agile development processes enable us to roll out products/solutions faster.
- Extensive experience in the storage, networking, and virtualization space, our technology-first attitude, and the experience of working with both new and old technology help us understand client needs better and provide solutions that work.
- Extensive experience in supporting customers, and building robust products across a range of virtual environments, and assisting them with end-to-end management of virtualized resources enables us to work easily in many domains.
Connect with us to help your business stay in step with the changing technology landscape, and keep pace with the trend of continuous change and evolution that dominates the enterprise landscape.