Magic Quadrant for Primary Storage Platforms
The primary storage platform (PSP) market addresses the need of I&O leaders to operate and support standardized enterprise storage products, along with platform-native service capabilities to support structured data applications. PSP products like primary enterprise storage arrays provide mandatory and common enterprise-class primary storage features and capabilities needed to support the platform. Platform-native services like storage as a service (STaaS) and ransomware protection, with PSP product capabilities, are required to support platform-native services. The PSP market has emerged at the convergence of two major enterprise storage market developments: the evolution of the PSP product market in conjunction with the demand for hybrid, multidomain platform-native storage services, extending on-premises services to public cloud, edge and colocation environments.
Vendors must, among other requirements:
A: This research evaluates vendors in the primary storage platform (PSP) market, covering standardized enterprise storage products and platform-native service capabilities. It includes hybrid storage arrays, solid-state arrays (SSAs), and software-defined storage (SDS) products that support structured data applications. The research assesses vendors on their ability to provide block-based STaaS, AIOps capabilities, SDS architecture with multicloud integration, and cyberstorage data resilience. It covers vendors with global reach across major geographies and evaluates both their ability to execute and completeness of vision in delivering platform-native services for mission-critical applications.
A: I&O leaders should use this research to select primary storage vendors that align with their organization's shift from traditional capex sourcing to platform-native services and consumption-based models. It helps evaluate vendors based on platform SLA guarantees (productivity, cyber resilience, sustainability), hybrid cloud capabilities, AIOps integration, and data service offerings. Leaders can use this to plan storage infrastructure that supports mission-critical applications while addressing modern IT operating model demands including ransomware protection, workload optimization, and hybrid multi-domain deployments. The research is particularly valuable for organizations transitioning to consumption-based STaaS models and those requiring guaranteed outcomes for availability, performance, and cyber resilience.
A: Mandatory features include: (1) Block-based STaaS offering as managed or self-managed service; (2) AIOps for threshold-based operational monitoring and observability integrated with customer support, including analytics, problem resolution, capacity management, workload simulation, and performance optimization; (3) SDS architecture that separates storage hardware from operating software, supports on-premises and integrates with at least one hyperscale cloud platform with similar functionality; (4) Cyberstorage data resilience following NIST CSF for ransomware identify, protect, detect, respond, recover, and govern capabilities.
A: Vendors are excluded if they: offer products primarily for unstructured data workloads; rely on third parties for service provision instead of vendor management; depend on third-party or OEM licenses for storage controller operating system; offer SDS that is open-source, part of HCI, mirrors internal disks, or unavailable on-premises as majority revenue; target only custom or limited use cases like video surveillance or HPC; offer only third-party ISV data services not branded/supported by vendor; or provide public cloud storage services as IaaS/PaaS providers.
A: Ability to Execute evaluates vendors on the quality and efficacy of processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, focusing on current product/service capabilities, sales execution, customer experience, and operational excellence. Completeness of Vision evaluates vendors on their ability to articulate logical market-driven platform-native services statements, understand customer needs and translate them into products and services, including market direction, innovation, and strategic planning for future requirements.