"McConney said NetApp examined buying a flash array startup but rejected all potential candidates because of the architectural imitations of their systems"
Great typo
Mind the product overlap gap, cloud ONTAP... make way for FlashRay – NetApp veep
Ty McConney is a NetApp corporate veep for flash solutions, handling its EF flash array, all-flash fabric-attached storage (FAS) and FlashRay. We sat down at a press meeting and grilled him about all-flash arrays (AFAs) from NetApp. NetApp does have some AFA product overlap but, in McConney's words, "we'd rather have products …
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Tuesday 28th October 2014 16:18 GMT ByteMe
Reading this, I can't help but think that NetApp is tap-dancing and trying to figure out how to position this thing. First, the comment that FlashRay *might* have HA clustering sometime in the future is a red-flag that indicates its not fully developed and has long way to go. Which may explain why they're touting the use of TLC flash for a slower/cheaper platform for ONTAP replication. Who cares if it's a single controller if its just a backup/replication tier? At least they can start selling it and try and convince analysts this is what it was designed to do. NetApp is masterful in convincing analysts that everything it does was "by design" and well thought out. Emperor Palpatine could learn a thing or two from NetApp on how to sound like you have vision and foresight.
However, Ty goes on to state it will absolutely compete with Pure and XtremeIO. That implies it will be HA, user faster MLC flash, and have higher performance. ONTAP integration is only going to get in the way of that.
So, for now, I'm still not buying this deranged story. Only time will tell what FlashRay is actually designed to do.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
