Revisiting Herzog’s Dirty Dozen: The Progress Report - Part 1
By: Eric Herzog, CMO Infinidat, Mar. 20, 2025??
I introduced “Herzog’s Dirty Dozen” two-and-a-half years ago to shine a light on the challenges that enterprises face in their data infrastructure. The Dirty Dozen is a list of challenges, gaps, misconceptions and problems that keep CxOs, storage administrators, and other IT leaders up at night, worried about what they don’t know. Now, it’s time for a progress report to mark how far we have come since the first unveiling of Herzog’s Dirty Dozen in 2022.
But before getting into the progress we have made, let’s take a look at the Dirty Dozen ? the list of issues that tarnish IT infrastructure, “contaminating” current enterprise-grade implementations and exposing the dangers and risks associated with them.
Any one of these factors can taint an otherwise high-performing IT operation. As I stated in my initial blog on this topic years ago, you need sound strategies to solve each of these Dirty Dozen. This holds true today as well, but I’ll add that our innovation has advanced and expanded considerably, and we’re putting new, leading-edge capabilities into the hands of our customers and partners to empower them to solve every single one of these issues.
[1] Insufficient level of cyber resilience
Most enterprises still have inadequate levels of cyber resilience to be sufficiently safeguarded against cyberattacks, especially ransomware and malware. With much more stringent global oversight of cyberattacks on publicly traded companies, this issue has become even more high profile. Not to mention that cyber security analysts estimate that cyberattacks will cost enterprises >$10 trillion USD in 2025 and that enterprises will suffer from 1,636 cyberattacks per week in 2025.
In 2022, we were touting the fact that Infinidat delivers among the industry’s highest cyber resilience with our InfiniSafe? software on both our InfiniBox? and InfiniGuard? platforms for both primary and secondary storage. This also includes InfiniSafe? Cyber Storage guarantees.
Today, in 2025, we have expanded InfiniSafe to offer cyber detection and automated cyber protection – both of which take cyber storage resilience to the next level.
[2] Disconnect between cybersecurity and enterprise storage
It remains true that IT leaders and CISOs need to think of storage as part of their overall enterprise cybersecurity strategy. Storage cannot be separate from security.
In 2022, we articulated how Infinidat has fashioned our enterprise storage systems to be seamlessly and intelligently integrated into overall enterprise cybersecurity strategies and comprehensive frameworks.
Today, in 2025, we stand as a leader in providing one of the most comprehensive portfolios of cyber resilient storage that integrates with cybersecurity capabilities.
[3] Storage proliferation
An organization knows it has experienced storage proliferation when it has too many storage arrays.
In 2022, I wrote about how storage consolidation is the strategy to employ when you need to deal with the issue of having amassed 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 or more storage arrays over time.
Today, in 2025, the same holds true, but Infinidat now offers larger capacity, higher-performing storage systems in smaller footprints. You can consolidate 20 arrays into one or two Infinidat systems, while using less floorspace, less rack space, less power, less IT operational resources, and save dramatically on both CAPEX and OPEX.
[4] Lack of utilizing flexible consumption models
Enterprises spent decades buying storage as traditional purchases – typically a capital expenditure.
In 2022, my blog showcased the menu of flexible consumption models that Infinidat offers, including FLX and Elastic Pricing.
Today, in 2025, Infinidat is considered a leader in Storage as a Service (STaaS). Our FLX model is OPEX-based with cloud-like, pay-as-you-go consumption – whether up or down in storage capacity. We give our customers attractive options, including the traditional way to buy storage, too.
[5] High total cost of ownership
Storage is one of those areas that the IT department can look at for substantial cost savings without sacrificing availability, reliability, and performance.
In 2022, we emphasized how Infinidat is adept at helping customer lower total cost of ownership across the storage estate (both CAPEX and OPEX).
Today, in 2025, we can point to real, hard numbers that have been validated by an independent industry analyst firm, IDC. Infinidat’s customers can get an 11-month ROI on the purchase of an InfiniBox system and can reduce costs up to 40%, 60% or even 80% than what they are paying with storage arrays from other vendors. Infinidat has fundamentally changed the economics of enterprise storage.
[6] Slow data recovery after a cyberattack
Recovering data after a ransomware or malware attack is usually very slow.
In 2022, it was plastered everywhere that data on Infinidat’s InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA could be recovered in one minute or less from immutable snapshots. We also cited our InfiniGuard? solution as delivering near-instantaneous recovery.
Today, in 2025, we continue to guarantee cyber recovery, regardless of dataset size, in one minute or less on primary storage, and 20 minutes or less on backup files. Although cyberattacks are more sophisticated today than they were three years ago, Infinidat’s cyber-focused, recovery-first approach has stayed a step ahead of the cyber criminals.
That’s progress.
In Part 2 of the blog, we will address the rest of the Dirty Dozen.
About Eric Herzog - Eric Herzog is the Chief Marketing Officer at Infinidat. Prior to joining Infinidat, Herzog was CMO and VP of Global Storage Channels at IBM Storage Solutions. His executive leadership experience also includes: Senior Vice President of Product Management and Product Marketing for EMC’s Enterprise & Mid-range Systems Division and CMO and Senior VP of Alliances for all-flash storage provider Violin Memory.