Phil Bullinger, Western Digital | CUBE Conversation, August 2020
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 25/08/2020

Phil Bullinger, SVP and GM of the Data Center Business at Western Digital sits down with Jeff Frick for a Digital CUBE Conversation.

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https://siliconangle.com/2020/08/27/western-digital-bridges-old-new-storage-paradigms-zoned-storage-initiatives-cubeconversations/

Western Digital bridges old and new paradigms with zoned storage initiatives

BY KRISTEN NICOLE

It no longer matters your reason for going digital, whether it’s an inspired initiative from the C-suite or the operational pivot catalyzed by a global pandemic. The digital transformation has transcended contemplation — it’s time to jump right in.

This era is defined by a business’ ability to leverage data to drive value versus cost. But when it comes to investing in data management’s capacity, performance and access, the infrastructure still matters.

“Here at Western Digital we have such a unique perch in the industry to see all the dynamics in the [original equipment manufacturing] space and across the hyperscale space … really global economies about this growth of data,” said Phil Bullinger (pictured), senior vice president and general manager for data center business at Western Digital Corp.

Having worked at EMC, Oracle Corp. and LSI Corp., Bullinger is familiar with big-data projects. Now at Western Digital for over three years, the pressure is on to move the needle by more than a few digits as the world is relentlessly consuming data. For Western Digital’s drive process, what was once measured in exabytes is now docked in zettabytes, with a 60% increase compared to the 12 months prior, according to Bullinger. For perspective, a zettabyte is equivalent to 1 trillion gigabytes. 

Acknowledging COVID-19 as both an accelerant in some areas of growth for digital transformations and a headwind in other areas, Bullinger has witnessed firsthand the pandemic’s impact on continued demand for enterprises’ “need to store, access and take advantage of data.”

Speaking with Jeff Frick, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, Bullinger discussed how a fresh perspective on zoned storage can facilitate digital transformations. They also spoke about the importance of establishing industry standards for the revamped technology as big data forces an evolution in storage interfaces. (* Disclosure below.)

Evolving workloads drive fresh look at storage interfaces
While the advent of hyperscale computing has ushered in a voracious consumption model readily monetized by the major public cloud platforms, the mechanisms for how data is stored and how data centers communicate with storage haven’t changed much, according to Bullinger.

“We’ve seen advances in storage capacities … and, similarly, on the [solid state drive] side we’re dealing with capacities of seven and 15 and 30 terabytes. Things have gotten larger, as you’d expect. Some interfaces have improved — think [non volatile memory express] … with low latency, and NAND flash to take advantage of the inherent performance of transistor-based persistent storage. But really when you think about it, it hasn’t changed a lot,” Bullinger said.

“What has changed is workloads,” he furthered, noting the last decade’s evolution in workloads that are sequential in nature, with consistent lifecycles being able to write in big chunks and read in smaller pieces. This creates a problem because the systems interacting with storage hold paradigms that are decades old, hailing from the hard drive industry.

To this end, Western Digital has invested heavily in its solid state drives. Now accounting for a substantial percentage of the company’s revenue, Q1 2021 SSD sales are up by 9% sequentially at $2.2 billion, which is 49% higher year-over-year. Meanwhile, sales from hard drives are down by 3% sequentially at $2.1 billion, which is 4% lower year-over-year.

Most recently the company released the My Passport SSD, which is powered by non-volatile memory express technology designed to rapidly transfer data to and from SSDs. The palm-sized device is hailed by Western Digital as an improvement over older hard drive disk-related interfaces.

“The reality is, when we talk about SSDs, structure really matters,” Bullinger said. “Workloads are driving very, very fresh looks at how more intelligence can be applied to application operating systems and storage device interfaces to drive much greater efficiency.”

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Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: Western Digital Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Western Digital nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)