Linux News: Data Storage

A Tale of Two Demos: Innovation vs. Desperation
June 29, 2009

Over the last two weeks I attended two events: one organized by the Blu-ray folks and one by HP. Both PR teams did excellent jobs; however, one had a strong offering to work with, while the other was stuck with a toad of a product offering. Both products look to add value to platforms that are struggling at the moment.

Sony Plugs Blu-ray on a Budget With New Vaio
June 22, 2009

Amid questions about consumer enthusiasm for Blu-ray technology, Sony on Monday announced a new notebook computer positioned by the electronics giant as an entry-level Blu-ray player for mobile viewing. The VAIO NW notebook series carries an $880 starting price tag for a Blu-ray equipped model.

IBM Offers Platform for Diving Into the Cloud
June 15, 2009

IBM had added a new service-and-hardware offering to its cloud computing repertoire. The bundle targets users seeking a single jumping-off point for deployment of a cloud environment focused on a discrete task, such as a test bed for application development. IBM CloudBurst is a set of preintegrated hardware, storage, virtualization and networking tools with built-in service management.

Bite the Bullet and Throw Away Your Data
June 03, 2009

It should come as no surprise to any IT manager that your organization's appetite for data keeps growing every minute. No sooner than a new set of storage tools is deployed, it becomes clear there's a need for more, and you start planning the next wave of hardware purchases.

EMC's Data Domain Bid Puts NetApp in Tough Spot, Says Analyst
June 02, 2009

EMC's all-cash bid to buy Data Domain is going to be hard to beat, according to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Aaron Rakers. EMC's $1.8 billion bid, announced Monday, is worth $30 per share in cash, a 20 percent premium over a previously accepted bid by NetApp of $25 per share.

Google Is the Sarah Palin of Enterprise Vendors
May 25, 2009

We all remember Sarah Palin. Like many, I too got excited about the difference she would bring to the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. She showed well at events, and she looked good on paper. Then came her interviews, and suddenly she was the new Dan Quayle -- or, basically, another person who trades on looks and luck and doesn't figure doing homework is actually necessary.

AT&T Floats New Data Storage SaaS Play
May 18, 2009

AT&T is expanding its cloud computing product line with a storage play aimed at enterprise users who want to access data via their laptops, smartphones and other Web-accessible devices. Called "Synaptic Storage as a Service AT&T," it is a joint offering with EMC that gives users access to the AT&T network cloud to store, distribute and retrieve data.

The Next Frontier for Packet Switching
May 12, 2009

Packet switching, in short, is a method to deliver data across a computer network connection. The impact of packet switching cannot be understated, as it essentially makes today's Internet function. Looking to the future, packet switching is on the precipice of impacting and disrupting another technology -- storage.

Steering Clear of a Cloud Boondoggle
May 06, 2009

In the world of IT, it's important to maintain an open mind and be willing to consider new approaches to addressing problems. People often have a tendency to get locked into a particular approach and hold onto it long past the point at which it has ceased being a best practice. On the other hand, it's also important to maintain a certain level of skepticism.

The Digital Book Drive's Left-Behinds
April 22, 2009

The older bits of the world's accumulated knowledge, bound together in volumes of printed books and magazines, are slowly disappearing. Out-of-print renditions often disappear forever. Libraries with limited shelf space often replace seldom-used titles with newer tomes. A far smaller portion of printed matter makes it to page scanning processes for preservation in digital form.

Storage Operations: Opportunities in Tough Times
April 01, 2009

You do not need another diatribe on how tough the economy is and how the next tsunami is hitting IT departments. You have seen the signs and have to take necessary actions: budget cuts, pay cuts. You know the drill. However, bad times need not be all doom and gloom -- they can be times of opportunity for your IT department.

Dell Dives Deep Into Data Center Market
March 26, 2009

Dell on Wednesday announced a slew of products and services to underscore its thrust into the data center market. These include servers and workstations, lifecycle and system management software, storage, virtualization, and data center consulting services. It is offering 11th-generation PowerEdge servers and its Precision workstations, both based on the Intel Nehalem chip.

HP Tackles Enterprise Data Explosion With Storage Virtualization Platform
March 10, 2009

On Tuesday, HP announced with much fanfare its move into storage virtualization. It unveiled its StorageWorks EVA models 6400 and 8400, and the SAN Virtualization Services Platform 2.1. These will let businesses squeeze more out of their storage resources, which have been sadly ignored in the rush to virtualization.

Figuring Out the Best Way to Stash Your Data
February 26, 2009

By 2010, the amount of data added annually to computer systems worldwide will swell to 988 exabytes, according to an 2007 EMC-sponsored report from IDC. A 2008 update on the report found that in 2007, the digital universe measured 281 billion gigabytes -- 281 exabytes -- an increase 10 percent greater than analysts had predicted a year earlier.

Plan for the Worst - A Data Backup Plan Could Save Your Business
February 24, 2009

As a former senior executive of Swiss Reinsurance, the world's largest reinsurer of life-health and property-casualty risks, Donna Childs was well versed in both the need and the practice of disaster data recovery. Her experience proved critical when she returned to the United States to start her own small business -- in the area subsequently designated "Zone 1" of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Laptop Buyer's Burden: HDD or SSD?
February 12, 2009

They are the next ballyhooed storage technology: Solid state drives are faster and more energy efficient than their popular siblings, hard disk drives. Consequently, many vendors have been touting SSDs as potential replacements for HDDs in laptop systems. However, reports of the death of HDDs may be a bit premature.