What about VSAN for SMB/SME?
Simon Eady
Unless you have been sleeping under a rock you will be aware that VSAN was launched last week and has gone GA today and from what I have seen so far I do think VSAN is a great product and I think VMware have done a superb job with it.
Aside from the -many- discussions on twitter and other channels regarding the then lack of licensing information and pricing I was eager to see if VMware would offer a “foundation” VSAN option for SMB/SME
Well with the Announcements I have seen today this would seem not to be the case.
VSAN requires a minimum of 3 hosts, so lets assume for arguments sake they will have 2 CPUs each, this will mean a VSAN install will set you back around a cool £9000 (happy to be corrected if this figure is now inaccurate) before you even go ahead and procure any disks etc. That is not exactly compelling me to rush out and buy it especially given a SAN in this area of the marketplace is not far above that price including disks.
So where is the SME/SMB love VMware? I am sure they are keenly aware that 50-60% of their business is SME/SMB (in the UK at least) so I am very disappointed to see little or no offerings for this marketplace.
Perhaps this comes down to their interpretation of an SME/SMB everyone I have so far spoken to has differing opinions so perhaps this should not be a surprise?
Perhaps they had no intention to pitch it at that marketplace?
Either way I will hold out hope that a “Foundation” option appears and SME/SMB businesses alike can share in the VSAN goodness.
If you work in an SME/SMB please let me know what you think. I am personally very keen for more opinions on the subject.