Should You Upgrade Your EMC CLARiiON to the VNX? - Part One

If you’ve been contemplating a hardware upgrade for your EMC CLARiiON system, the EMC VNX is an option that has likely crossed your mind.
Deciding whether or not to upgrade your EMC CLARiiON storage hardware can be a difficult decision, balancing cost considerations with bleeding edge midrange technologies.
To make the best decision for your enterprise, consider these four reasons why you should or should not upgrade your hardware to the EMC VNX.
Keep the CLARiiON and skip the upgrade if:

• You want to keep your Fibre Channel and SATA drive capacity. If an upgrade to the EMC VNX series is in your future, EMC Fibre Channel and SATA drives are not. Since the VNX is compatible only with SAS drives and not the disk in your current EMC CLARiiON, you must stay with CLARiiON hardware to repurpose your existing EMC disk drives.
• You are trying to avoid sky-high maintenance costs. Enterprises often consider upgrading simply to avoid outrageous OEM maintenance costs for existing and End-of-Life EMC CLARiiON hardware. Don’t let your decision to upgrade be influenced by maintenance costs. Affordable third-party hardware maintenance can meet your enterprise maintenance needs and SLAs with up to 40% savings.

Seriously consider upgrading your SAN to the EMC VNX upgrade if:

• You need the most powerful system on the market today. With a 6 Gb/s SAS backend, greater front-end port count, and up to 10 Gbps bandwidth speeds, the EMC VNX is one of the most powerful mid-range systems on the market. If you enterprise requires the highest-possible speed and performance, the VNX can help you meet the rigorous demands of your SAN environment. While the CLARiiON and the VNX have a lot of common functions, the mighty VNX provides first-class power and functionality.
• Deploying a unified storage system is a priority for your SAN environment. While EMC CLARiiON hardware only provides block storage, the VNX is designed to do more. With the ability to store block, file, and object storage in a single unit, the VNX enables multiprotocol storage for enterprises of all sizes. The flexible and intuitive VNX hardware can help your enterprise optimize hardware usage and achieve greater productivity with simplified management tools.

Want more suggestions to help you make the best hardware decision for your enterprise? Should You Upgrade Your EMC CLARiiON to the VNX? – Part Two will be released next week or talk to a storage consultant.