If have an RFP/RFI template or evaluation matrix for choosing an all-flash array, please share it with the community in order to help others out. If you email it to me (ariel@itcentralstation.com) we will have it cleansed and remove all company and private information before posting.
It depends whether you are in a private company or a government/public entity.
In the first case just decide what solution is the best for you by asking your vendors. Remember to have into account the start up support and the future support: from the brand and/or the vendor.
If you belong to a government or public sector, then you may need a technical “Open” RFP where many brands can apply, u n l e s s you need something “specific” for any compatibility issue for instance an upgrade, a cluster, etc.
For the technical specs only, an easy way to start is by storagecompare.org where you select the brand and models options, then make a table where each item complies with the ones desired. Use “≥ 2.0 PB” “≤ 0.3s” this avoid legal claims from others if doesn’t match exactly!
I do not use an RFP Template. Most, if not all of our storage decision making has been geared towards vendor showcase, trial products. and vendor relations. I typically bring in the startup flash storage vendors and compare to the enterprise leaders.
We do not have an RFP template for all flash. We have evaluated based on complete vendor offerings of which all flash is one. We defined our vendor and have leveraged all flash from that vendor. Going forward we will move in that direction as we retire spinning disk as clearly flash has dropped sufficiently where there are no reasons to invest in more spinning disk.
Since replacement of our environment is not something we would do in one year, determination of a strategy over time has been the approach. The vendor that covered our current needs as well as provided a future technology path towards all flash was desired. We did evaluate “all flash” vendor offerings but there were no compelling cost savings that would justify coexistence of multiple vendors.
NetApp offers three products to maximise full flash capacities:
• EF Series - One of the fastest application acceleration platforms that delivers a response
in microseconds to the most demanding enterprise applications, such as databases
and data analytics.
• All flash FAS (AFF) - AFF provides a complete storage solution
that no portfolio company can match in a single product. It is the most agile and simple
solution in data centre compared to HP, IBM and EMC offerings.
• SolidFire - Designed for new model data centres and new consumption models with
scale out, QoS, automation and white box economics for service-oriented architectures
as a service (aaS) architectures.
I don’t have one on hand, but I’d recommend they go to the vendor that makes the SSD that they sell and ask them for one.