Cloud-based services, like backup and disaster recovery, offer attractive alternatives for many SMBs. They’re simple to set up and operate, can be scaled easily and paid for on a monthly basis. But companies typically have to give something up, usually…
The concept of an all-flash array once seemed impossibly expensive, but now almost a dozen companies ship a storage system that has no hard disk drives inside. The bigger question is if and when the entire data center can become…
Data centers of all sizes are looking to the cloud to perform computational workloads like databases and other applications. They are expecting a cloud provider to either run the entire workload in the cloud or make capacity available for bursting…
A recent blog by B&L Associates brought to light the problem of data loss. The entry cites surveys from Kroll Ontrack and EMC, which indicated that organizations see data loss as their single most significant risk and that the cost…
For years vendors have been trying to drive down the cost of flash so that the all-flash data center can become reality. The problem is that even the rapidly declining price of flash storage can’t keep pace with the rapidly…
Most data does not need to be on flash storage. It is either seldom accessed, or improving the speed of its access won’t impact application performance or user productivity. But there is a core set of data in the data…
In a recent article we discussed three potential problems with software defined storage (SDS). When we write these types of articles the goal is to bring to light areas of consideration for IT professionals contemplating taking the SDS plunge. The…
Snapshots are powerful tools for creating a primary storage data protection system, one that offers faster recovery and can even replace traditional backup altogether. But protecting against primary storage system failure, which would render the snapshots useless, requires a second…
Most converged infrastructures are designed to help enterprise data centers rapidly roll-out virtual infrastructures. As we discuss in our column “What Are Converged Infrastructures? – Hardware Convergence” many of these converged systems are a pre-integrated optimization of independent hardware solutions.…
Software defined storage (SDS) promises to reduce storage capital and operational costs by abstracting data services from the storage hardware. To deliver on these promises, SDS typically enables the use of commodity storage which should lower storage acquisition costs. It…
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