Plain Virtualization

Disclaimer as always: Opinions all solely my own. The storage industry is entering a phase that feels uncomfortably familiar: constrained supply, rising prices, and vendors tightening control over how customers consume technology. Two seemingly separate forces are converging to reshape IT decision-making: The NAND flash supply crunch and price escalation Post-acquisition licensing shifts following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware Together, they signal a transition from a buyer’s market to a seller-advantaged landscape —one where hesitation, legacy assumptions, and slow procurement cycles can carry real financial and operational penalties.

Customers are no longer asking if you can deliver; they are asking how you secure the components to do so. In coming months, we are likely to see the following requirements become standard: Proof of Component Allocation: Buyers are demanding evidence that the vendor has a direct "Line of Sight" to the silicon. This is where software-only vendors struggle; they can only provide a quote from an OEM, whereas a hardware-owning vendor can provide a production slot. Price Lock Guarantees: Given the 90% surge in DRAM prices, RFPs now frequently include clauses requiring price protection for 6 to 12 months. Vendors who buy through a middleman (OEM) often cannot commit to this, as they have no control over the OEM’s sudden price adjustments. Alternative Component Validation: Customers are asking for pre-validated designs that use multiple types of flash or memory modules. If a specific module hits a shortage, can the vendor pivot without requiring a 3-month re-certification process...

In my years transitioning from the virtualization front lines at VMware to my current role at NetApp, I’ve seen my share of "once-in-a-generation" market shifts. But the current landscape of 2026 is truly unprecedented. As reported by The Wall Street Journal , we are witnessing a "permanent reallocation" of manufacturing capacity toward AI, triggering a memory-chip shortage that industry veterans call the "craziest time ever". For architects and IT leaders, this isn't just about rising costs; it's a fundamental challenge to how we design for resilience and delivery. The 2026 Context: A Market in "Hyper-Bull" Phase The data is stark. Prices for memory surged 50% in late 2025, but that was just the preamble. According to the latest TrendForce projections , contract prices for conventional server DRAM are set to skyrocket by 90% to 95% in Q1 2026 alone. We aren’t just looking at budget adjustments; we are witnessing a complete decoupling ...

The discussion on moving to an alternative hypervisor due to Broadcom acquisition of VMware has been a popular topic mainly due to the cost increase of the licenses required to run VMware software. But let's be honest, there are applications that works only on VMware due to certification or qualification. There are still a bulk of workloads that doesn't requires and this is where an alternative is helpful to drive the cost down. Even if you have managed to assess and decided on the alternative choice (whatever that is), there are just one important cost that many has overlook and it is the most important. That is migration cost from VMware data format to your alternative data format. There many paid software for such requirements which are not free and generally price per VM or by the amount of data capacity. They are reliable but purchasing the additional cost for a one time use might not be as viable, not to mention the professional service cost needed on top of that. This ta...

Where I used to come from VMware, it build an ecosystem of integration with its vendors. And have a massive interops from compute, storage and network. It does this through an extensive API within its full software stack. When I joined NetApp earlier this year, NetApp have a Cyber Resilience Partner Ecosystem surrounding data. One of the category is Virus Detection. This was made possible with ONTAP Vscan technology which is a proprietary to NetApp. Which also means, not all AV vendor can just integrate. They need to be using ONTAP Vscan technology for that integration.  Now the questions is won't that made it less compiling? Maybe, but for the sake of security, this is needed. Why do I say so? Generally on the market, storage vendors all have integration to AV vendors in some way, However, most choose the "easy way out". They leverage on ICAP (Internet Content Adaptation Protocol). As ICAP is a generic protocol, it can be easily utilized. However, one issue with ICAP is,...

The NetApp Insight is NetApp flagship event which showcasing the new innovation and launches announcement. This year without fail, NetApp once again has release one of the most anticipated offering in the AI arena. The first in able to do this all right from the start doing it right more than 30 years ago with ONTAP, AFX and AIDE. Together with some new branding and new abilities. Let's go right into it into some of the major updates. 1. AFX ( link ) and AIDE ( link ) AFX is a new offering which is NetApp first announced in NetApp Insight 2024 and now its available. This is NetApp first disaggregated storage solution cater to demanding workload primary AI but also other such as EDA. The best part is certified with NVIDIA, it not just meet the performance but also inherit all the best of ONTAP such as Security and more. AIDE, on the other hand, as the name implies, its support the AI Data Pipeline. This is the first and only AI Data Engine that is available on the market. Just ima...