The Science (and Economics) Behind a Carefully Crafted Software Defined Storage Strategy for Cloud Service Providers

Do you remember your high school years–of calculating the boiling point of isopropyl alcohol in chemistry or studying the impact of supply and demand on the costs of goods in economics class? Many of us wondered, “When will we ever use these principles in real life?” For those of us hoping to enter into the booming Software Defined Storage (SDS) space, the answer is now. With the demand for storage continuing to expand at over 40% annual growth until 2018,* it’s a safe bet that we aren’t the only ones that see the growth possibilities in storage as a service–nor are we the only ones who plan to expand their business model to include SDS.

So, how do you develop the perfect go-to-market strategy?

As global Product Marketing Leader for the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) solutions at VMware, I’ve dedicated my career to crafting and executing winning strategies for market entry and growth. And, I’ve learned a few things along the way. At the top of the list is the importance of first impressions and taking the time to create a strategy that differentiates your company from the competition. It all starts with doing your homework – studying the trends, crunching the numbers, learning from your mistakes and coming out stronger in the end.

I recently spoke with one of our independent cloud services providers, IndonesianCloud. Their story is the epitome of how to capture attention across the aggressive cloud market. In 2011, they focused their sights on becoming the most trusted, most reliable and most secure CSP in Indonesia. For those of you who don’t know, Indonesia is a country with 254 million people, and literally millions of companies, and it is currently adopting cloud at a staggering rate. It is estimated that the cloud spend will reach $1.2 billion by 2017–and that’s just across Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) business. Needless to say, it’s a great time to be a CSP in Indonesia.

Here a few examples of how IndonesianCloud did their homework:

What grade would your current Go-To-Market Strategy get? With a little help, it could rise to the top of the class and receive an A+.

Want to learn more tips on crafting a winning SDS strategy?

 Join us for our insightful May webinar series entitled, “Gain Competitive Advantage with VMware Application-centric Storage for Cloud Service Providers.” In it, IndonesianCloud CEO Neil Cresswell and I will share with you real-world deployment experiences, our lessons learned, and the new features of VSAN 6.0. Plus, attendees can take advantage of exclusive incentives. (Think 50% off VSAN list price for up to 2TB usage during the promotion period).**

Can’t attend the webinar but want to learn more?

For additional information about VMware partner programs and solutions for service providers, refer to the VMware vCloud Air Network Program  and Solutions for Service Providers.

* Source: IDC, Yezhkova, Worldwide Enterprise Storage Systems Forecast, November 2013, #244293.
**  Available to qualifying CSP only. Certain restrictions may apply.

Sanjeev Desai  is Global Product Marketing Leader at VMware. He is a customer-centric and results-driven leader with expertise in driving transformative business solutions in the Software Defined Enterprise, End User Computing and Hybrid Cloud domains. His professional experience ranges across high-tech industries from the Fortune 500 companies to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups in Silicon Valley.