We’ve already seen the advent of storage virtualization that allows us to create pools of storage that can be accessed by multiple applications and servers. But as more virtual machines get piled on top of multiple sets of multi-core processors, I/O bandwidth is going to be a challenge.
There’s no doubt that storage companies across the landscape are zoning in on this issue. But with every major change in architecture, we’ll also see the rise of new companies pushing innovative approaches to solving this problem. One of those companies is Aprius, which early next year plans to offer an appliance that will manage virtual I/O across multiple storage arrays and various virtual machines running on multi-core processors.
According to Aprius vice president of product marketing Craig Thompson, the Aprius approach to solving this problem relies on extending the PCI Express using a custom ASIC processor deployed in an appliance that replaces the switches that normally sit at the top of the rack.
