Software defined storage is no longer an emerging concept. It has become a strategic necessity for organisations managing growth, consolidation, and infrastructure volatility. In this episode of the Smarter Strategic Thinking Podcast, David Cayala, Regional Sales Director at DataCore Software, explains how DataCore approaches software defined storage as a way to separate intelligence from hardware and restore control to enterprise IT teams.
The discussion covers block storage virtualisation through SANsymphony, object storage with Swarm, high-performance computing environments supported by PixStor, Kubernetes storage, and orchestrated tiering through Nexus. It also addresses continuous data protection, disaster recovery, immutable snapshots, and the operational benefit of migrating legacy infrastructure without downtime. For organisations evaluating software defined storage platforms, this episode offers architectural clarity rather than product marketing.
Software defined storage, in its simplest form, separates storage management from the physical devices that hold data. Instead of tying functionality to a proprietary appliance, the intelligence resides in software. As discussed in the episode, DataCore was founded nearly 27 years ago with a similar philosophy to early compute virtualisation: abstract the infrastructure layer and manage it centrally.
With DataCore, physical disks and arrays from multiple manufacturers can be pooled together and presented as a unified storage environment to applications.
This approach is particularly relevant in environments where organisations operate multiple storage brands, often as a result of organic growth or acquisition. Rather than maintaining separate silos and skillsets for each platform, software defined storage with DataCore enables consolidation into a single virtualised layer. Because SANsymphony writes directly to disk and remains compatible across hardware vendors, the branding of the underlying array becomes secondary. The architecture is hardware agnostic by design.
Performance is addressed through a memory caching model in which data is written first to memory and then committed to disk, reducing latency and enabling synchronous mirroring between nodes. High availability, asynchronous disaster recovery, and continuous data protection are included within the licensing model. A recent update introduces immutable snapshot functionality, strengthening the cyber resilience posture. Continuous Data Protection allows rollback within defined time windows, supporting compliance and recovery requirements.
Beyond block storage, DataCore extends its software defined storage portfolio into object and high-performance environments. Swarm provides S3-compatible object storage suitable for archive and lower-cost tiers, while PixStor supports high-performance computing workloads. Nexus integrates performance and archive layers and orchestrates data movement between tiers, allowing organisations to balance speed and cost. This tier-aware architecture becomes increasingly important as data volumes expand but performance requirements vary.
One of the more operationally significant capabilities discussed is transparent migration. DataCore can virtualise data from legacy systems into a new storage pool without application downtime. Migration occurs in the background, and once complete, legacy hardware can be decommissioned. For infrastructure leaders, this reduces transformation risk and enables phased modernisation.
Throughout the conversation, the emphasis remains consistent: software defined storage with DataCore is about architectural flexibility. By separating storage intelligence from hardware constraints, organisations gain the ability to optimise cost, extend hardware lifecycles, consolidate silos, and strengthen resilience without being locked into a single vendor refresh cycle.
For enterprises assessing software defined storage solutions, DataCore presents a mature, hardware-agnostic platform that virtualises block, object, and performance tiers under a unified software layer. The episode ultimately reframes storage not as an appliance decision, but as a software-controlled architectural strategy.
To explore DataCore software defined storage in greater detail, listen to the full podcast episode.
