Why Pay for What You Don’t Use? The Argument for Composable Storage Solutions
In the words of Lily Tomlin, "The road to success is always under construction." This sentiment rings particularly true in the realm of software development. In media and entertainment especially, customer business needs are in constant evolution, formed and shaped by new technologies, consumption methods, and even societal pressures. Over time, the quest to provide solutions that meet these goals leads to a proliferation of new features and ideas; many times, these are created to solve very specific problems in targeted verticals. Although intentions are good, this relentless drive to innovate and solve a wider array of problems can eventually result in “feature bloat”—a cumbersome footprint of numerous bells and whistles that can feel overwhelming to customers. What’s more, all those features aren’t free, which can put solutions out of reach for smaller companies.
The Problem of Feature Creep
Let’s use your home as an analogy. As is common for many, you likely have a designated room or maybe a shelf in the garage dedicated to specific things that were once useful in your life, e.g., presents from well-meaning loved ones, tools purchased for that one home improvement project from two years ago, and other items that have started to collect dust. Over time, you end up adding more to this space, even though these items aren’t offering you any benefit today. Once this pile begins to spill over, which makes things harder to find, you realize this mess has now become a problem. Things that were once useful and sentimental are now taking up valuable space and making your life more complicated. In the software engineering world, this problem is known as feature creep.
When companies introduce software into different markets that all have idiosyncratic and very specific workflow requirements, its functionality often grows fragmented. What starts as a focused, user-centric solution can quickly balloon into a sprawling platform with a myriad of features aimed at diverse use cases, some of which may be valuable to only a small selection of the total installed base.
Blindly offering excessive features complicates the user experience, making the software harder to use and less appealing. Too many features end up taking up valuable space on the user interface, which makes it harder to locate the features and tools that are most useful. Just as cable cord-cutters reject paying for hundreds of channels they never watch, software users are reluctant to pay for features they don’t need, let alone the hidden costs associated with these features like added support overhead or research and development. All of these things end up contributing to the overall price tag of the software solution.
While some users would appreciate a complete suite of features, even if they know they might not use them all, the majority requires a more streamlined offering. In fact, compounding overhead costs passed through to users as rising license prices keep smaller or mid-sized companies locked out, barred from affording the solutions they need by features they do not need. These organizations would benefit instead from a solution that offers not just the basics, but the core essentials.
Composable Software 101
Smart software companies are turning to composability, which is based on a simple, yet powerful concept. With composability, modular features and functions can operate independently or be combined into tailored solutions for specific user groups, therefore preventing the build up of too many unused features. The specific capabilities for niche problems can be combined into targeted bundles that can be made available for those who will see value. For example, if someone is not into sports, why should they be made to pay for 15 different professional, college, and high school sports networks? Customers demand choice and proven ROI for their investment, and composability makes this possible.
Composability may be in its adolescence in the media and entertainment industry, but adoption in other markets is significant. In fact, the U.S. composable applications market was valued at USD 1.81 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 9.19 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 17.70% from 2024 to 2033. It’s time for the media and entertainment industry to make this transition.
With composability, components are designed to perform distinct tasks and deliver capability sets that can be dynamically reconfigured to adapt to changing business needs. This approach meets customer demands with simplicity, flexibility, and interoperability, without sacrificing essential features or functionality. Of course, it also allows customers to apply their budgets to a feature selection that better balances cost for return in value.
Composable Software Levels the Playing Field in Storage
Composability gives us the toolset to think more granularly about different market segments and develop for specific requirements across the industry. Instead of building one software platform to address all of these needs, we can now build focused, value-packed feature bundles that align closely with the user’s needs. Adding more features is as simple as adding an upgrade package to ensure the software continues to grow and flex along with user goals. This modularity enables customers to only pay for what they need, even as those needs change.
We can take composability even further to solve a common problem in media and entertainment: storage capacity and associated costs. The ability to break monolithic feature sets into more vertical- or market-appropriate capability bundles provides intrinsic utility to customers and successfully replaces the transactional pay-per-capacity model—an antiquated characteristic of commodified storage hardware. Composability ensures the relationship between OpenDrives, as the software company and our customers stay mutually beneficial in terms of ROI. We’re financially motivated to develop tools to solve more problems; our users gain a platform that will continue to grow with their needs.
Our composable software-defined storage platform can easily turn on new features that can lead to new paths to revenue, bulwarking budgets against sudden cost spikes that come with commodity market variability or projects creating unforeseen spikes in capacity licensing. Customers can add another 500 TB or even 2 PB without additional software fees, up to the capacity limits of their storage hardware. And as their workload continues to grow, unlimited capacity licensing brings the peace of mind that comes with predictability and control.
Competitive Edge and Growth Through Composability
Whether large or small, all businesses are seeking new ways to reduce costs and simplify operations to gain a competitive edge and improve their bottom line. Current economic conditions can be especially hard on startups and smaller businesses. These companies need access to technology that can help them compete in the same arena as the larger enterprises, but they have less capital on-hand to gain access to the tools they require.
Media production businesses typically run lean, often project-to-project, and can only spend budget as they have it. Composable software’s scalability options allow companies of all sizes to scale up or down as needed without costly and usually unexpected licensing price hikes. Composable storage software supports growth by providing scalable solutions that grow with the needs of the businesses and foster a new generation of up-and-coming enterprise customers.
Composability Addresses the Biggest Pain Points
The biggest draw for composable storage software is the tangible and measurable value it provides. High performance, efficiency, and scalability are still required to remain competitive, but composability adds an added dimension by helping customers manage ever-tightening budgets with larger monetization expectations and addressing these common challenges:
Barriers to Trickle-Down Technology - Traditionally, high-performance features trickle down from enterprises to smaller markets. Composable software breaks this barrier. By making advanced capabilities accessible to all, smaller businesses can enjoy top-tier performance without the premium price tag.
Commoditization of Hardware - In the past, hardware dictated storage solution performance. Today, software drives value. Composable software makes high-performance storage solutions more affordable and allows customers to choose their preferred, pre-qualified hardware.
Capacity-Cost Models - Traditional models charge based on storage capacity, discouraging customers from growing their capacity estate. Composable software, however, charges based on functionality, enabling businesses to scale without escalating costs. This unlocks access to features for customers of all sizes and budgets.
Composability is the Future of Data Storage
The future of data storage lies in seamless data accessibility and more efficient tools to help content creators achieve their creative vision. The pace of change is never going to slow down. Software companies will always invent features and new ways for customers to maximize their investment. Composability now becomes part of the overall solution: helping customers control their costs; provide cost predictability in times of growth; and get access to the tools their businesses demand at a sustainable cost. It is time for anybody in software development and anyone in the business of workflow storage to evolve with composability.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from OpenDrives. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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