Wrap-up on backup from EMC World 2016 — day two keynote

There are a lot of things to like about EMC World this year, especially if data protection is important to you. Kudos on the day two general session with Jeremy Burton and Guy Churchward.

Some notes from the event:

  • It is hard to imagine doing an inside-an-appliance component-level tour from main stage, but the Fantastic Voyage miniaturization schtick worked to keep us entertained and let EMC tell a story of what makesUnity unique, both as a platform and a usability experience. And both are impressive (even to a backup guy like me).
  • A special nod to Beth Phalen on the data protection topics, which EMC briefly covered its recently announced Data Domain Virtual Edition (DD VE) and then a very solid demo on eCDM (enterprise Copy Data Management), which discovers and helps manage all of the myriad copies across EMC production and protection storage platforms. CDM can be a daunting concept to really understand, but the pastry example worked and the solution is one that a lot of folks ought to be excited to explore.
  • Chad Sakac added more data protection goodness, by talking about the built-in data protection within new VCE converged infrastructure and hyperconverged appliances via EMC RecoverPoint for VMs, with replication and failover at a VM-level, already included within VXRail systems, as well as wizard‑based workflows for context-aware backups that are part of the VM provisioning experience. I’m a huge fan of built‑in DP within converged infrastructure, so was pleased to see these from main stage and done well.

As the general session continued, more execs told their parts of the story with new announcements around a faux coffee-shop. At one point; they sat on couches and hovered around a table looking at a new platform – painting a subtle picture that these execs and their myriad technologies really are ‘Friends’ (TV show style) as a genuine family.

I don’t gush on keynotes often, but this one was spot-on in execution (and good content) which is worth studying by others in our industry. Check out the EMC World Day Two’s General Session at http://EMCworld.com.  As for the data protection stuff:

You can also see my guest-vBlog on EMC’s site around my first impressions (hands-on) with DD VE.

In addition, check out my recent vBlog on why Copy Data Management matters to everyone.

[Originally blogged via ESG’s Technical Optimist.com]

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