Software-defined storage promised freedom from hardware lock-in. It has delivered, in part, on that promise. However, procuring enterprise storage technology as software separate from hardware creates new complexities. When IT organizations are aiming to add infrastructure agility and flexibility, the architecture becomes more important than the delivery model. Solutions featuring a software-defined architecture will provide the greatest value, whether they are deployed and delivered as software, as an array, as hyperconverged infrastructure, or as something else.
