Irish university buys StorONE array from recycled hardware supplier

Who knew you can build a storage array using recycled hardware? Apparently the University of Limerick has bought one from Wisetek with previously-used hardware and StorONE software.

Cork-based Wisetek built a 100TB, dual-controller EcoBytz array with 64 compute cores and StorONE S1 software operating across re-purposed disk drives and SSDs. The software presents block, file and object access storage resources with data tiered across the SSDs, disk drives and the public cloud.

Eoin O’Connell.

Lecturer Dr Eoin O’Connell of Limerick University, who is researching IoT edge systems, said: “The ability to get performance to meet the demands of scientific research, flexibility of leveraging the cloud and the cost efficiency of deploying repurposed equipment made StorONE’s platform an obvious choice for the evolution of our storage infrastructure.”

Not so obvious as all that, as many storage buyers would require brand new hardware. 

O’Connell also said: “Instead of implementing multiple storage systems from multiple vendors in order to satisfy our needs, we were able to get a single solution that supports all media types and protocols without added complexity or management headaches.” 

Yes, but he could have purchased a similar system from a supplier without using garage sale hardware. That’s surely an added risk? Granted, but it’s cheaper.

Wisetek CEO Sean Sheehan made that clear: “Wisetek is delighted to partner with StorONE and the University of Limerick to install our new data storage solution … Our mission with EcoBytz is to disrupt the data storage market by introducing a cost-sensitive product which can adequately scale and service the requirements of organisations in this area. This is an extremely exciting development for the company and speaks to our goals of continuing our rapid growth, entering new markets, and creating innovative solutions for our customers.”

Gal Naor, CEO and co-founder of StorONE, is happy to play along: “StorONE’s S1 Enterprise Storage Platform has the ability to mix and match server and media vendors and technologies, which means that you can breathe new life into old hardware and reduce your hardware demands for the next few years … Only StorONE is capable of leveraging existing and repurposed IT assets to provide superior application performance and satisfy capacity needs in a cost-effective and affordable storage array.”

While laudable, we somehow don’t think this will become a model for many enterprise storage array buyers.