Here is the summary of the feature set I see so far with VIPR along with some who may give some of the same capabilities. This is, by no means a complete listing I am sure, and since I don’t work for EMC, I can’t guarantee that all of these features will make the final release when it ships.

• 
• Storage Abstraction – The ability to discover existing storage arrays and their capabilities, then carve out new Virtual Storage Arrays.  I am not clear yet on this if VIPR uses the existing array’s capabilities for things like snapshots and replication or if VIPR will provide an extra layer of advanced feature set on top of existing arrays. My best guess so far is that it will do both. It should be noted that the initial release will likely only discover and present EMC and NetApp arrays.
  • Who Else has this capability:
    • DataCore – They provide a centralized management for multiple arrays when presented to their OS, but they do not use the capabilities of underlying arrays
    • Nexenta – Provides unified storage to hosts when presented with any SAS, NFS, iSCSI, or FC LUNs, however all LUNs are treated as raw disks so, there is no underlying array management or capabilities
    • IBM SVC – This attaches to the existing SAN Network and presents data back outbound. It does not require data to be transitioned to their own filesystem, which is contrary to the other solutions.
• DataCenter Visibility – End-to-End visibility into the storage environment, which provides QoS reports, metering and a multi-tenant model. I will be looking for more detail on the multi-tenant still.
  • Who Else can does this?:
    • DataCore – Provides reports for the systems it manages, I’m unsure of the multi-tenant component
    • Nexenta – By using DTrace custom reports, which can be generated, or by using the built in reports, some of the knowledge could be garnered. There’s no information on the back end arrays. Multi-Tenancy is only done through virtual NexentaStor arrays
    • IBM SVC – Reporting is based on the XIV on which the latest interface is built
    • NetApp – Multitenancy is built with the vFilers.  Reporting is done for the entire Netapp suite but it does not front multiple arrays currently.

• REST API for Management – This will also be EMC and NetApp only to start for what Chuck Hollis refers to as “Southbound adapters”.  The Northbound our front end seems to have what is expected with the addition of some emulation of object store
• • Who Else can do this:
    • Nexenta – API has been built into the product for a while I believe a few others have REST API already but this is not my area of expertise
• Data Portability – I am calling it this, although it may not be the most accurate statement. The ability to have data stored on the system and originally be presented as NFS data and then when ready switch to present the same data as an object store, and then the next is FC presented.  This is something that I think has been missing for a while and while not specifically SDS a very cool concept.
  • Who Else can do this:
    • I can’t say that anyone can do this exactly.  The ability to wrap NFS on top of an object store or HDFS on top of object is rather unique.  Being able to present CIFS as NFS is possible with most of the unified players, although Nexenta allows you to present them both at the same time, which I believe is unique to them. Presenting all block level at the same time is also possible but switching between them is not, so I don’t see anyone else doing this yet.
• Storage and Virtualization Automation – The ability to tie directly into the virtualization configuration for cloud architectures using vCO and having the storage emulation is unique to EMC. It does help that EMC has a unique tie into VMware. Future integration with OpenStack is also mentioned and since they can already present using Cinder, I would expect this to come soon.

Overall this is a great step in the evolution of SDS and I expect to see the other larger storage vendors follow suit. NetApp’s Vaughan Stewart has been talking SDS for a while and while EMC is clearly not the first SDS platform it is still a solid release and recognition that the need for hardware lock-in should not be the case. Seeing EMC and NetApp move to a model where the consumer chooses the hardware themselves would be a great next step but would erode the margin model significantly.

To me Software Defined Storage is still not fully realized or even partly complete.  When our applications start to drive storage, then we will see true SDS but until then… Thank you to EMC, DataCore, Nexenta, Netapp, and IBM for continuing to get closer and closer.

A few other fellow bloggers have also put out articles on VIPR today, take a look:

• Scott Lowe : http://blog.scottlowe.org/2013/05/06/very-early-thoughts-about-emc-vipr/
• Chuck Hollis (EMC Global Marketing CTO): http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2013/05/introducing-emc-vipr-a-breathtaking-approach-to-software-defined-storage.html
• Greg Shulz: http://storageioblog.com/?p=4884

**Note: If you are not aware I do work for Nexenta currently but as usual attempt to be as objective as possible.

• Improved ease of installation

The test image footprint of Login VSI has been reduced by almost 90%. This makes the tool not only easier to install, but also easier to integrate and deploy. Centralization of management, updates and logging makes the use of Login VSI more efficient than ever. Direct Desktop Launch (DDL) mode enables large-scale testing with minimal infrastructure.

• Improved ease of test creation

The new intuitive and workflow oriented user interface of Login VSI 4.0 offers step-by-step test creation and wizard based test configuration for all important brokers and languages. The new workload editor introduces a new meta language which makes the customization of workloads very transparent and efficient. The new benchmarking mode enforces strict testing standards, providing industry standard results that are objective, comparable and repeatable.

• Improved test realism

The duration of the standard workloads has been increased from 14 to 48 minutes loops. Also the way in which segments and applications start has been improved to better reflect real world user behaviour. The datasets used in the workloads now offer 1000 different documents per type, more and larger websites, and a video library in every format, all to ensure a real world variety in data usage. The execution of the workloads is improved through the introduction of phasing, allowing for real world production user scenarios.

• Improved test insight

The new dashboard offers real-time test feedback, including progress, launched and active sessions, elapsed time and time left of the test in progress. The industry standard index VSImax has been further refined, enriching scalability results (max number of users), with objective baseline performance results (independent of tested load). Automated reporting with out of the box report ready graphs for all used settings, response times, and other data enhances the level, and choice, of information generated by the Login VSI analyzer.

Heres a nice gallery of screenshots for you as well..

If you would like to try it out yourself go to their download page here: http://www.loginvsi.com/download

• 5084 Deploying a Virtual Company : How to test ROBO settings all from one ESX host

• 5804 A Beginners Guide to Horizon Workspace

• 4880 The Tipping Point of Storage – Is it worth the cost?

There are alot of other great sessions that it would be great if you could support also.  I am sure I will miss a few and I did leave off all the VMware people.  I wanted to give the little guy a chance

• 4488 Certificates 101 – Jim Millard

• 4518 A Technical Deep Dive on NFS Network Design – Chris Wahl

• 4569 Ask the Expert vBloggers – A bunch of guys

• 4650 VDI Smackdown 2013 edition – Ruben Spruijt

• 4867 How design services for End User Computing using VMware Horizon Suite – Andrea Mauro

• 4878 vCloud Director: Desinging for Real World Use Cases – Kendrick Coleman

• 4882 How to create professional video tutorials – Eric Sloof

• 4910 Racking up Oracle RAC with PowerCLI – Maish Saidel-Keesing

• 5008 vCenter Operations and the quest for the Missing Metrics – Eric Slook and Duco Jaspars

• 5060 Benchmarking the Horizon Workspace Appliance with Performance and Scalability – Dwayne Lessner

• 5214 Software-Defined Network Technology and the Future of Storage – Stuart Berman

• 5298 PowerCLI – from Youngling to Master – Hans De Leenheer

• 5351 Enterprise Platform as a Service (PaaS) – How IT will compete for internal business customers – Jon Owings

• 5395 vCloud-powered Disaster Recovery for the Software Defined Data Center – Shannon Snowden

• 5496 The VM bottleneck has moved! What the Emergence of Flash Storage Means for Virtualization – Justin Lauer

• 5545 The top 10 things you MUST know about storage for vSphere – Eric Seibert

• 5835 How I Become a Virtualization Evangelist (And You Can Too!) – David Davis

Just a few – either way get out and vote.  https://vmworld2013.activeevents.com/scheduler/publicVoting.do

The kit is reasonably priced compared to the options out there at $60 plus shipping.  I was a little disappointed it did not qualify for Prime shipping but I did find out it came from Great Britian. First off heres the link to the one I bought.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SE1ZQ6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I chose to expedite the shipping, it seemed for an extra $10 the difference between 18-21 business days and 1-3 was worth it.  And it really was 1-3.  It shipped the day after I ordered it and I got it within 2 days of then.  Very efficient.  On tot he product.

Pros:

• Nice Waterproof case
• Allows for the iphone to be plugged in while riding (more on this in the cons)
• Mounts in place of one of the screws that hole the handlebars.  This was not very clear ont he amazon ad.  The pictures show the ram mount style but from the description I was concerned I would get a handlebar mount which loops around the circular bar.  That would not fit well on the Sprint ST.
• Clear and touch sensitive front that does not seem to add glare to the screen
• Seems to hold very securely.  I did stop and go traffic and over 80 mph and it did not budge.
• It comes with a layard that I attached just as the extra level of security

Cons:

• To wire in the iPhone it is a hard mount with a very large switch.  I think i can hide the switch but it is not very convenient.
• To run the included iphone cable into the case, I will have to put a slight cut into the rubber casing.  There is a whole but not large enough to fit the iphone adapter through.
• It will not work if your phone has a case.  I just drop my case in my jacket pocket so this is not a downside for me.

Here are a few pics of it installed.

From the left showing the case and the mount near the handl

Looking Down from the seat over the tank

The weirdest angle but this is between the windshield and the handlebars

The iMoto App after a quick ride

I had been riding with the same HJC CL15 helmet I bought initially but decided this year it was time for something new.  I really wanted something with a built in sun visor, full face, and with bluetooth.  Well that is a little harder to find than one might think.  I happen to walk into the CycleGear in Laurel, MD just to check out the selection and found the Bilt Techno Bluetooth.  I have scoured the web and cant seem to find this helmet, only the Bilt Freedom that I think the discontinued   I had seen mixed reviews on the Bilt stuff but since it was the only helmet I could find with everything I wanted… I went with the matte black. The Techno Bluetooth comes in Gloss Black, White, and a Matte Black.  The helmet uses a standard micro USB to charge. There is a boom mic and while I did not want to use it for the phone it was not an option without.  It does auto answer the phone after 2 rings.  Kind of a convenient feature if you do plan to use it for the phone.  With left hand controls it is very easy to change songs and the volume.

**Update : CycleGear has done a video review of the Techno Bluetooth as well.  It is here

**Update 2: CycleGear just sent an email out announcing the Bilt Helmet that is normally $319.99 for $159.99.  Nice for me is after contacting their Customer Service I was told they offer a 30 day price match guarantee and to just stop by the store and they will do the adjustment.  Way to go CycleGear.  That is a great move.

Alot of the common social media geeks around virtualization got to swing by.  Chris Wahl from WahlNetworks included.  This was not an overly complex demo, but I wanted something fun to show off VDI sessions.  Using the real time performance metrics that are shown in NexentaVSA for View, we can actually see the systems running.

The install was rather easy, with one caveat.  VMware View does not recognize the Retro USB Nintendo controller that we picked up from Amazon.

The great part is on the Lenovo Thinkpad I was using as a client I can make just a quick registry change and View will recognize.  This process is detailed here, very similar to restricting access, this allows you to add unknown USB devices to share to your View session.

The hardware was not very intense for the servers.  A couple Dell 1950 running ESX5.1 and using a Supermicro server with Nexenta installed as shared storage presenting 1 TB of NFS storage.  For the VDI hosts I put in 2 Cisco UCS C200 M2.  By adding in a single STEC ZeusIOP and a single spinning disk to house the desktops, and 96 GB of RAM we are able to build a rather robust VDI setup.  Allowing for about 100 desktops all being deployed with NexentaVSA for View..

By adding in the JNes Nintendo Emulator to the Windows 7 base images and VMware View Linked Clones, we have our own mini arcade.

This year , I haver been asked to pass along a survey to my readers in conjunction with Ivy Worldwide.  I vy is a social media firm that I have worked with for the past few years.  The great part of the survey is that I get to publisht he results right here when I get them back, not just from my readers but from readers of many blogs around the world, but also you get a chance to win $250.  Who doesn’t like free money?

Click ont he graphic to be taken to the survey and i look forward to sharing the results.

If you missed last years, click here