Most scale-out network-attached storage (NAS) systems, including Dell EMC PowerScale (aka
Isilon), were built on 20-year-old “shared-nothing” concepts designed to solve the problems of
that time. Since then, data has exploded and the rise of game-changing artificial intelligence
(AI) and analytics applications has been a period of reckoning for many enterprise customers,
who are questioning old habits, traditions, and systems that no longer serve them. In the era of
hyperscale flash, the idea of using a complex, tiered storage system such as Dell PowerScale is
one that has stopped making sense.