Plain Virtualization

Personal views only. This article reflects my own research and perspective. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or written on behalf of any employer or vendor. All sources are publicly available. When on-premises GPU capacity runs dry, organisations burst workloads to the cloud — only to discover their data can't follow. NetApp FlexCache bridges that gap without moving a single byte you don't need. 🕓 7 min read • AI Infrastructure • Hybrid Cloud • NetApp ONTAP The GPU queue problem nobody talks about Enterprise AI adoption is accelerating. Data science teams are running more experiments, training larger models, and processing more inference workloads than ever before. The on-premises infrastructure that was sized for last year's ambitions is now permanently oversubscribed. The result is the GPU queue — that invisible...

Data & AI Strategy Garbage in, AI out. Why 60% of AI projects are set to fail. And what you can do to be in the 40% that succeed. ⏱ 5 min read Artificial Intelligence Data Management NetApp Enterprise AI Personal views disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own and do not represent the views, positions, or official communications of my employer or any organisation I am affiliated with. References to third-party products and companies are based on publicly available information and my personal professional observations. Bad data doesn’t get better when processed. It just gets more elaborate — and at Agentic AI scale, it multiplies. At NetApp Insight 2025, this image was paired with a Gartner prediction that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. 60% of AI projects will be abandoned through 2026 due to lack...

Recently I met with a customer who was genuinely frustrated. Their monitoring tools were showing massive, unexplained spikes in utilization across their storage controllers. Naturally, the immediate assumption was that the hardware was failing or undersized. They were ready to throw more money at a storage "problem" that didn't actually exist. It wasn't until we sat down in person and I dug into their VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)  environment that the truth came out. The hardware was fine; the best practices  were missing. As Solution Architects and Consultants, our job isn't just to sell boxes—it’s to educate. We need to ensure customers don't misidentify software misconfigurations as hardware limitations. In the world of VDI, performance is often a matter of "prudent design" rather than just "faster disks." The "Storm" Before the Calm: Managing the Boot Storm Think of your VDI environment like a highway at ru...

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 ...