march 22

Combine storage provisioning and the assembly line
In his weekly Computerworld column, Jim Damoulakis, GlassHouse CTO, asks "If BMW can build a car in 16 hours, why does it take months to provision data storage capacity?"

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,109761,00.html?SKC=storage-109761

When we ask application owners about what they like least about storage services within their organizations, storage provisioning ranks at or near the top of the list.

Storage provisioning typically consists of a multitude of activities and sign-offs that must be coordinated among various groups within the organization. It's not uncommon to hear of up to two-month gaps from the time of the request to actually accessing the storage.

Contrast this with the following examples of just-in-time product manufacturing processes that we take for granted today:

• Last Christmas, I ordered an iPod Nano with personalized engraving for my wife. The order was placed online from Apple on a Friday, was shipped from China and arrived in Massachusetts on Tuesday, less than five days later. While being a tribute to great service from Apple (and FedEx), this is a marvel of operational process engineering. Even the custom engraving did not slow delivery in any discernable way.

• Ever been to an auto assembly plant? There are few processes more complex, yet even a built-to-order BMW traverses the assembly line in less than 16 hours. Somehow, the company manages to run three lines for the body, chassis and engine assembly and merge them in precisely the right way.

These aren't isolated examples. Led by the Japanese, with their adoption of theories like those of the late W. Edwards Deming, manufacturing processes have reached a remarkable level of efficiency while yielding higher quality and greater customization options than ever before.

Some may argue that provisioning lacks the automation found in manufacturing. Just a few years ago, software companies were eyeing automated provisioning as the Holy Grail that would propel storage resource management to success. Unfortunately, potential customers recoiled in horror envisioning the havoc that could ensue from an autoprovisioning process run amok. You can't automate what you can't control.

The problem then, as now, begins with the lack of the clearly defined policies, documented repeatable processes and quality-focused metrics. Instead, we often have an ad hoc, unpredictable process that is often poorly documented and requires expert intervention at every point along the way.

While it's true that we don't have robots to help provision storage, we really don't need them. Provisioning is a moderate- to low-volume process where combining our current expertise with the wisdom and best practices from another discipline could dramatically improve services and result in more responsive storage environments.

Jim Damoulakis is chief technology officer of GlassHouse Technologies Inc., a leading provider of independent storage services. He can be reached at jimd@glasshouse.com.