As technology advances, the world of storage has experienced a seismic shift from traditional storage boxes to a data-centric revolution.

At the forefront of this transformation, industry experts gathered at IBM Storage Summit in Palo Alto, where they discussed the evolution of storage and its convergence with data and AI. Sarbjeet Johal (pictured, right), guest analyst, joined theCUBE as a part of an analyst panel at the event.

“Storage has evolved a lot,” Johal said. “Since the virtualization, storage needed to evolve even faster, and it’s always a dance between compute, storage and networks.”

During the panel, Johal was also joined by theCUBE industry analysts Dave Vellante (left) and Rob Strechay (center), during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the rise of data platforms, the significance of artificial intelligence in storage and the vision for a future with smarter, more agile storage solutions. (* Disclosure below.)

Storage in the age of data and AI

The analyst panel delved into the evolution and future of storage, including the concept of data platforms, whereby storage, data management and data science converge. The storage industry has evolved into a dynamic data platform, according to Strechay. The platform approach enables greater accessibility and transparency of data, as protocols such as representational state transfer and Portable Operating System Interface — known as REST and POSIX — become prominent, eradicating the need for specific systems for various data types.

“I think that they’re moving up into data platforms, and I think what we’ve been talking about is really how there’s always the accessibility versus the security aspect of it, where there’s challenges and trade-offs that need to be made,” Strechay pointed out. “I think we’re at that point where they are together, and that’s really key.”

Data locality and leveraging AI in storage, and its vast potential beyond AIOps and automation within the system, were also discussed. The future of the storage layer could see increased compute, similar to how security and network performance have evolved with dedicated cards. This involves the concept of smarter storage, where companies aim to sell smaller, yet intelligent, storage solutions rather than focusing solely on selling more boxes.

This brings in the concept of data compression, as it plays a pivotal role in storage, making data more manageable and efficient. Smarter storage solutions will allow for the optimal utilization of data and prevent unnecessary waste.

“Compression is a huge concept in storage. How much you can compress and where we are storing it, that also matters,” Johal said. “We still have a long way to go to bring intelligence into storage, because we are storing a lot more data.”

The adoption of smarter storage solutions

As data continues to drive the future of computing, storage solutions are transforming into data platforms, leveraging AI for enhanced performance and security. The adoption of smarter storage will allow organizations to harness the power of their data efficiently and economically, according to the analyst panel.

The industry’s journey from traditional storage boxes to agile data platforms marks a significant step toward a more interconnected and intelligent digital world.

“There’s no company where all their data is in one platform or in one place. I think some companies would love that to be the case to make money off it, but I think what you need to look at is how can you look at and approach all of the data to bring it to where you need it?” Strechay said. “I think that’s going to be a huge key for them … how do you really get to that next level of data usability with the security, with the performance so that it’s the right place, transformed the right way?”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM Storage Summit:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM Storage Summit. Neither IBM Corp., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE