On Wednesday, the Wikibon crew gathered in theCube to conclude a long day of interviews with an in-depth discussion about software-defined storage, open-source technology and flash. Wikibon co-founders Dave Vellante and David Floyer provided their perspectives on the major highlights from Day 2 of IBM’s Edge conference together with senior analyst Stu Miniman.

David kicks off the session by offering his take on IBM’s PureSystems. The way he sees it, Big Blue is taking an end-to-end approach to cost reduction: it’s trimming fat wherever possible, namely around software licensing fees. Dave highlights that the issue IBM is tackling with the PureSystem lineup (and EMC with ViPR) has existed for a very long time, but mainstream vendors have only started addressing it recently. David explains the reason behind this sudden shift:

“There is a degree of similarity in the open systems going in. So what you’re left with is okay, we’ve got to package them better, we’ve got to make them relevant to a particular application so they [the big vendors] are working more closely with ISVs themselves,” he tells Dave. “Because of that similarity of the technologies, the differentiation has got to come in the services they put around it.”

Stu provides his own analysis of IBM’s converged infrastructure strategy. The firm has some work to do in the channel, he notes, but it does have a “phenomenal” ISV ecosystem that provides customers with a great deal of flexibility in terms of product variety. He adds that IBM’s massive software portfolio has made the company a “force to be reckoned with when they put their weight behind the arm.” Dave expands on the software angle. He points out that IBM maintains a dominant position in the enterprise software market, and highlights that the company is taking an open-source approach to software-defined storage. He explains that the decision to take this route stems from three reasons:

1. IBM is in it for the long-run.
2. Management knows that it needs to collaborate with the open-source community to achieve its goals.
3. The company is looking to leverage its foothold in the Linux ecosystem.

David chimes in on Big Blue’s open-source ambitions. He agrees that the company has a positive track record in this space, especially in the the Linux community, and adds that it has assigned some 150 engineers to work on OpenStack.

Dave turns the conversation to Sanbolic, a provider of storage management software whose president stopped by theCube the day before.

Dave notes that Sanbolic had 10 years to flesh out its management stack, which means that IBM, EMC and other vendors with software-defined ambitions have a good bit of catching up to do. He asks David if these companies have what it takes to close the gap. David answers:

“I think that the closed system is gonna be tough. ViPR is gonna be a part of OpenStack, they’ll get little pieces of it, but trying to create a whole orchestration layer where they’re leading it… I think it’s a tough road. Obviously they own a lot of storage software, so in that particular area they may have some things that they can take out of it, but orchestration is beyond just storage. The orchestration has to be from a systems level in my view.”

The way Stu sees it, “IBM is going to out-executive the market, not control the market” by investing in OpenStack and other technologies. He deems the company’s recent acquisition of SoftLayer a positive move, but also voices his concerns about its involvement in the OpenDaylight project.

Dave reflects that the only topic they discussed more than open-source during Edge is flash. He dives right in and mentions that all the big vendors are expanding into this market: IBM committed $1 billion to flash research, HP is integrating solid-state into its 3PAR portfolio, and even Oracle is investing in hybrid solutions. David observes that enterprise customers are just as enthusiastic about the technology as their suppliers.
Check out the video below for the full discussion, including David Floyer’s prediction about the impact of software-led architectures on the hardware market.