Kromprise Systems Overview from #SFD17

What challenges businesses face

Data has been exploding for quite some time and will continue to explode.  When was the last time a customer came to you and said they had enough storage?  It’s estimated by IDC and EMC that unstructured data will grow to 40 zettabytes by 2020 and comprises of 70-80% of a companies data.

A lot of this unstructured data sits on NAS devices or file shares in data centers configured with expensive disks for fast access for the businesses internal customers.  If this data comprises 70-80% of the information for an organization, the data is not accessed frequently enough to give it a reason to sit on these high-class expense disks. Do you need to keep those log files when you were troubleshooting an issue? Probably not.

Businesses are afraid of archiving data off because they have no real insight in knowing what files are accessed by their customers.  As the unstructured data begins to grow, businesses decide to add more expensive capacity instead of trying to discover what files can be archived because there’s no good way of knowing what’s frequently been accessed.

How does Komprise address these challenges

policy snapshot
Komprise has the ability to look at unstructured data and begin to give suggestions on what files can be safely moved or copied.  Komprise uses open standard protocols to review the NAS, so there’s no vendor lock-in and no agents.  Once the files have been scanned, Komprise will provide suggestions on what files can safely be archived.

There are policies that can be tweaked to match the business qualifications, so if a business wants to archive files after 90 days of inactivity, it can do that.  Komprise has partnered with multiple public cloud partners so data can be moved to a cheaper level of storage.

file type

Komprise will not only break down what files haven’t been accessed, but it will break down the type of file extensions.  If there are large log files, pictures or videos, Komprise will see the file type associations difference and group them accordingly to see what file types are consuming space on the SMB share.

My Thoughts

Komprise was the first presentation at Storage Field Day 17, #SFD17, and my very first SFD ever!  It was fun to be on the ground floor hearing about this startup company and how they are approaching data locality and data storage differently than others in the market.

Komprise reminds me of the Windows Quota feature, but on steroids.  Windows Quota allows you to set quota limits on space usage.  It will also allow you to set filters on what file types should be allowed.

The problem that always happens is a VIP comes and wants to save their audio files and vacation pictures.  You’re now retracting the filter and increasing the quota limit.  Others customers complain and now it’s a nuisance to the helpdesk.  What seemed like a good way to control space, became a daily issue call.

Komprise I think gives what a lot of companies are looking for without agents and using native protocols.  It allows businesses to know, what files are accessed and their frequency.  An agreed-upon policy can then move these files to cheaper storage and keep only the “hot” data on primary storage.

Below is an interview I did shortly after learning more about Komprise with my fellow delegates, Luigi Danakos @nerdblurt, and Joe Houghes @jhoughes.  We went into the importance of data locality, our first impressions and potential areas to improve upon.

Give it a watch!


Here’s the introduction video of Komprise on Store Field Day:

3 Replies to “Kromprise Systems Overview from #SFD17”

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