Intel/InMage Delivers Business Continuity to the Lilliputian Server World
April 02, 2012 09:00 AM
Many IT vendors tend to focus on the mid-market to enterprise market space, yet there is a sizable SMB market where customers actively purchase physical servers on a one-at-a-time basis. This might be called (in fond memory of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels) the Lilliputian server market.
WWPass: Only The Just May Pass the Authentication Test
March 22, 2012 09:00 AM
Security has many facets, but the one that is most familiar is the username/password authentication process that allows users to login to a protected application or Website. For some, that may simply seem to be an inconvenience, but the authentication process helps reduce possible security exposures.
IBM Pulse 2012: A New Storage Hypervisor
March 15, 2012 09:00 AM
IBM is promulgating a storage management concept that it calls a “storage hypervisor” though the final product name has not been determined. The company claims the technology will offer benefits – such as better storage utilization – leading to better storage cost economics, and data mobility – leading to increased flexibility, such as non-disruptive storage refreshes – and parallels the acceptance of server hypervisors and virtualization. But there are also broad implications about how storage will be deployed and managed under IBM’s hypervisor solutions and strategy that you may find worthy of attention. Let’s see why.
Kaminario’s K2 Climbs the SSD Storage Performance Mountain
March 09, 2012 09:00 AM
One of the most exciting development areas for the ICT (information and communications technology) industry is in the attempt to address the I/O gap challenge, whereby servers are often frustrated in their attempts to read and write data as fast as they would like from traditional storage. Various approaches using solid-state devices (SSDs) are targeting the problem. Innumerable smaller companies have been attempting to address the I/O gap, and more recently large IT vendors--notably, EMC with its VFCache and IBM with SSD caching for its XIV storage systems--have been joining the fray. The smaller vendors want to shout out, "Don’t forget about us!" Many of those companies are worth paying attention to, including Kaminario, which has a clear and solid vision.
Dell Adds AppAssure to Its Storage Portfolio
March 05, 2012 09:00 AM
Dell recently announced the acquisition of AppAssure, which it describes as a next-generation data protection solution because it deals not only with physical IT assets, but also with virtual and cloud environments. Dell plans to integrate the AppAssure software product with its Fluid Data architecture. AppAssure is the first acquisition that Dell has made since the creation of its new Software Group and will be part of its enterprise storage and software portfolio. This acquisition is another significant signpost that Dell is aggressively attacking the storage and storage management market, and the software market overall, more broadly.
PerspecSys: Removing a Key Security Barrier to Public Cloud Adoption
February 23, 2012 13:00 PM
Several months ago, an IT trade publication (which will remain nameless) published an article whose title stated that public cloud security remains "mission impossible." While the article was well-reasoned and backed off from the title's hyperbolic assertion, the damage had already been done. Actually, the title should have been something more like, "Public cloud security is mission possible, but proceed cautiously."
EMC VFCache: Project Lightning Strikes
February 13, 2012 09:00 AM
EMC's recent announcement of the culmination of the code-named Project Lightning resulted in the new VFCache solution, a server-based flash cache, which may be used as a complement or alternative to flash storage that appears as if it were a disk drive. This lightning strikes twice, though not in the same spot. The first is dramatically improved I/O performance for customers and the second is the challenge that VFCache brings to competitors trying to distinguish their own flash storage solutions.
dinCloud: Making a Big Impact in the Cloud
February 06, 2012 09:00 AM
Have you reached the saturation point yet on the cloud? The endless cacophony of cloud messages seems to have transformed into white noise, where trying to distinguish and differentiate among competitive cloud offerings can leave one in either a state of decision-making paralysis or trusting that familiar vendors know what they're talking about without, perhaps, the full measure of due diligence that is appropriate. Enter dinCloud, which plans to break through the droning blather and show how its approach to cloud is different.
Scale Computing: New Twists To Scale-Out Storage For The Mid-Market
January 27, 2012 15:30 PM
Startup Scale Computing delivers scale-out, unified storage for the mid-market, meaning users can access SAN/NAS resources from the same, scalable pool of disk storage. Scale Computing is by no means alone in doing this, but the company goes beyond just delivering storage in a box to delivering a data center in a storage box. And that is very interesting.
Dell Moves Ahead Fluidly in Storage
January 20, 2012 12:32 PM
The IT industry is always adapting to new trends, from client-server and the PC revolution of the '80s and '90s to cloud computing and big data today. These trends inspire successful new vendor entrants, but they can also be problematic for established IT vendors. Over time, some leaders don't adapt and die (see Digital Equipment Corporation), while others swoon and survive in a reduced state by being acquired by larger saviors (see Sun Microsystems).
GridIron Systems: Mining Big Data 'Gold' in a Flash
January 12, 2012 09:27 AM
Trends in the IT industry sometimes resemble gold rushes as vendors pan for revenue "nuggets." The use of solid state devices (SSDs)--most notably, flash memory--is the central point of one of these, but just as with the real 19th century gold rushes in California and Alaska, not all prospectors (that is, vendors) will be successful. Where the claims are staked can make all the difference in the world, and GridIron Systems is staking one with a focus on accelerating big data analyses.
iWave Raises The Flag For Storage Automation
December 28, 2011 07:01 AM
One of the fascinating things about the IT industry is its role as an ongoing incubator of innovation that impacts the lives of individuals, organizations and society. Now, if Raymond Kurzweil is to be believed, that trend will continue with no foreseeable end in sight. One hotbed of IT innovation is automation, particularly storage automation. And iWave plans to be a trend setter in storage automation.
IBM's STG Is On Track With Smarter Computing
December 21, 2011 07:00 AM
IBM's Systems & Technology Group (STG) represents, among other things, the hardware heritage of IBM, such as the mainframe, open systems servers and storage. But STG is deeply aligned with the company's software and services capabilities. IBM's annual STG analyst meeting is designed to bring industry (not financial) analysts up to speed on the group's strategy and direction.
Crossroads' StrongBox: Securing the Future of Data Archiving
December 09, 2011 08:33 AM
If you were asked which storage product--hard disk drives (HDDs) or tape--would decline precipitously in market share during the next five to 10 years, you would probably be one of the vast majority of people who said tape. You would also be wrong. Winning storage technologies have to excel on at least one dimension, either performance or capacity, and tape excels on capacity.
IBM's Broad, Deep Data Protection And Retention Portfolio Strategy
December 02, 2011 09:50 AM
That there is a data explosion is well-known. However, it is not simply an increase in volume for existing data and applications; it also involves new types of data for new applications. The resulting mix does not support all the same data protection and retention requirements businesses are used to, so a comprehensive portfolio of data protection and retention products and services is necessary to cover all requirements. IBM is one vendor that offers such a comprehensive portfolio.
NexGen: The Next David to Battle Midrange SAN Goliaths
November 29, 2011 11:04 AM
Small vendors, especially startups, often tend to follow baseball great Willie Keeler's advice of "hit 'em where they ain't" by targeting a market niche that has potential, but where larger vendors either don't play or have a very small footprint. NexGen, with its NexGen n5 Storage System, does just that but with a more direct twist. And that makes it very interesting.
EMC's Unified Storage Division Is Focusing on Customer Requirements
November 17, 2011 15:00 PM
Storage plays a vital role in such glamorous and revolutionary IT trends as virtualization, cloud and big data. While these are fun to watch and comment on, one should not forget the importance of product evolution. Day by day, customer requirements change. Storage products have to evolve to meet these specific needs, as well as be able to deal with the larger trends. EMC's Unified Storage Division illustrates how one vendor is keeping its eye on the customer requirements ball while also participating in the greater game.
Red Lambda: Security Revolution Or Just Evolution?
November 14, 2011 07:00 AM
Security statistics are depressing. The bad guys seem to be overwhelming the good guys, even when the good guys are well-known security vendors. So when an emerging company, such as Red Lambda, claims to have software that significantly improves the odds for the good guys, you need to pay close attention.
IBM's IOD 2011: A Cornucopia of Solutions
November 04, 2011 09:09 AM
IBM titled its Information on Demand (IOD) 2011 conference in Las Vegas "The Premier Forum for Information and Analytics." IOD featured innovation and a cornucopia of products and services that act a litmus test and checkpoint as to where the IT industry is and where it is going.
IBM Continues To Drive Storage Efficiency
October 18, 2011 07:12 AM
In its fall storage announcement, IBM continued to emphasize the efficiency of its storage products. Efficiency is always a good thing, as it has been defined by the late revered management guru Peter Drucker as "doing things right," and everybody wants to do things right. But saying that you want to do things right is easier than doing it. Continual improvement is the prime ingredient, and that is well-demonstrated in the latest IBM storage announcements.
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