Hammer | Software defined storage

Why customers use software defined storage

As data volumes explode and infrastructure becomes more distributed, organisations need storage that is flexible, scalable and cost‑efficient. Software‑Defined Storage (SDS) delivers exactly that - a modern approach that separates storage software from hardware, giving customers unprecedented control over performance, resilience and cost.

Hardware flexibility & vendor independence

Run on standard x86 hardware instead of expensive proprietary arrays

Freedom to choose any vendor, reducing lock-in

Mix‑and‑match hardware generations without disruption

Lower acquisition and lifecycle costs

What is software‑defined storage (SDS)?

Software‑defined storage is a software‑centric architecture where storage services (provisioning, replication, tiering, protection) are delivered through software rather than tied to proprietary hardware.

This enables customers to run storage on any certified server platform, scale easily and automate operations across the entire environment.

Massive scalability

Scale horizontally by simply adding nodes

No forklift upgrades or downtime

Ideal for environments with unpredictable or rapid data growth

Supports petabyte‑scale deployments across multiple sites

Unified storage for any workload

Support for block, file and object storage in one platform

Ideal for virtualisation, containers, databases, analyticsand backup

Consistent performance across mixed workloads

Simplifies infrastructure by consolidating storage silos

Cost efficiency at scale

Lower hardware costs through commodity servers

Intelligent tiering across NVMe, SSD, HDD and cloud

Advanced deduplication and compression

Reduced operational overhead through automation

Where SDS delivers the most value

Enterprise datacentres

Virtualised workloads

Database clusters

Cloud and service providers
Multi‑tenant environments
Storage‑as‑a‑service offerings
Elastic, pay‑as‑you‑grow models

Software‑defined storage empowers organisations to modernise their infrastructure with flexibility, scalability and cloud‑like efficiency. By decoupling software from hardware, SDS delivers the agility needed to support today’s dynamic workloads - from virtualisation and containers to AI, analytics and hybrid cloud.

Software defined storage

Flexible, hardware-agnostic storage that scales on your terms