In Depth

In Depth

IT hardware

• Where now for storage? Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage

  Part II: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models  Continue Reading

• Where now for storage? Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE

  Part I: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models  Continue Reading

• Data warehouse storage: Has cloud made on-premise obsolete?

  There once was no alternative to building a data warehouse on-premise, but with cloud providers targeting analytics, building data warehouses on-site is looking obsolete  Continue Reading

• Ecolabels and data sanitisation key to recycling and reusing IT assets

  Ecolabels on hardware and data sanitisation of devices are key to recycling and reusing old IT equipment respectively, helping enterprises avoid unnecessary asset destruction and contributing to increasingly high levels of electronic waste globally  Continue Reading

• Preparing for enterprise-class containerisation

  As more workloads are deployed in containers, IT teams will need to assess how to manage container sprawl, reduce cloud bills and support databases  Continue Reading

• Backup appliances the hot topic for Pas-de-Calais fire brigade

  With requirements for strict, long-duration backup and archiving, French fire brigade set out to replace optical media with a StorageCraft appliance and disaster-proof storage  Continue Reading

• The 3-2-1 backup rule: Has cloud made it obsolete?

  The 3-2-1 backup rule was made for small-scale use in the pre-cloud era when tape still ruled. Is it relevant in the 2020s, or can we repurpose its fundamental principles?  Continue Reading

• QLC flash storage: What it costs and its best use cases

  QLC flash brings high capacities at costs coming down close to spinning disk. So what are the use cases for QLC solid state, which make best use of its relatively low endurance  Continue Reading

• Containers for a post-pandemic IT architecture

  One of the positive effects of Covid-19 is that it has put IT at the top of the business agenda – and containerisation is part of that strategy  Continue Reading

• Ski firm dumps ‘motley’ storage for DataCore software-defined

  Eurogroup cuts power usage by 70% and rackspace from 84U to 7U as it consolidates multiple physical servers and storage protocols onto SANsymphony software-defined storage  Continue Reading

• Five ways that disaster recovery changes in a pandemic

  Covid-19 has changed IT. Previously, working remotely was a business continuity measure, but now it is the norm. That means disaster recovery has to adapt to new risks and new ways to respond  Continue Reading

• Data lake storage: Cloud vs on-premise data lakes

  The data lake is a fundamental concept of data management. But what type of storage do you need to build a data lake on and what are the pros and cons of on-premise vs the cloud?  Continue Reading

• Five key points about unstructured data storage on-prem and cloud

  We look at unstructured data, the myriad forms of data it comprises and the key storage options available, which include NAS and object storage on-prem and in the cloud  Continue Reading

• Five key questions about Kubernetes backup answered

  We look at when to back up containers, what to protect, the main methods of backup for Kubernetes and the main Kubernetes backup products available in the market  Continue Reading

• Five key benefits of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud file storage

  The big three offer cloud file storage that can ease hybrid cloud operations, with consistency between cloud and on-premise as well as greater enterprise application compatibility  Continue Reading

• Cloud DR from the Big Three: Who’s best at what?

  We look at cloud disaster recovery from AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google to see which is best for provision of turnkey solutions, breadth of portfolio and modular building blocks  Continue Reading

• Data Dynamics aims at single view of unstructured data

  Data volume is ballooning, and storage is becoming more disparate, which makes the need for a single platform to manage storage and compliance a key requirement for organisations  Continue Reading

• Robin.io aims its Kubernetes storage at databases and big data

  Cloud-native storage runs in Kubernetes and pools storage media to present it to application persistent storage needs, including snapshots and backup on top  Continue Reading

• Five key points about cloud vs in-house disaster recovery

  The cloud is well suited as a disaster recovery failover option. The key questions are about what you should keep on-site and what goes to the cloud. We look at five key points to consider  Continue Reading

• Five hyper-converged infrastructure use cases to watch

  We look at workloads ripe for hyper-converged infrastructure deployment. These include virtual servers and desktops, SMEs/remote offices, Kubernetes, and analytics and machine learning  Continue Reading

• A tech reboot of retail

  With 2020 having been the toughest year on record for bricks and mortar retailers, we look at some tech innovations that may be heading for the high street  Continue Reading

• Paris post-product studio uses Atempo Miria for live restores

  France-based À La Plage Studio decided on tape as a medium to store its visual production work, with Atempo ADA/Miria as a means to access and restore data to work on  Continue Reading

• RAID, flash and erasure coding: What works best with solid state?

  We look at RAID and flash to highlight key choices when it comes to drive data protection. What RAID levels work best with solid state and when is erasure coding a good choice?  Continue Reading

• A safe bet: How Covid-19 is fuelling investor interest in the datacentre industry

  With demand for cloud and colocation capacity soaring on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, datacentres are looking like an increasingly attractive bet for the investor community. Computer Weekly finds out why  Continue Reading

• IP surveillance: The storage it needs, on-premise and in the cloud

  Surveillance is changing, with the evolution from simple streams of sequential images to the application of AI to video, as well as an increasing move to use of the cloud  Continue Reading

• Brain researchers get NVMe-over-RoCE for super-fast HPC storage

  French neurological researchers deploy Western Digital OpenFlex NVMe array for super-fast HPC storage with Ethernet-based NVMe-over-Fabrics connectivity across several floors  Continue Reading

• Need to know: Five key things about backup testing

  We look at five key things to consider when it comes to backup testing – what to test, how often, making sure backups work, whether recovery is effective and ensuring processes are consistent  Continue Reading

• Intel Optane Persistent Memory aims to fill the gap DRAM can’t

  We look at Optane and its PMem product that Intel believes will fill a big gap between memory and storage that DRAM technology just cannot deal with  Continue Reading

• Spinning disk hard drives: Good value for many use cases

  When it comes to storage media, all talk is of flash, but there are plenty of use cases where – far less costly – spinning disk can do a perfectly adequate job in the enterprise  Continue Reading

• Unified file and object storage: The best of both worlds?

  Unified file and object storage tackles growing volumes of unstructured data in a way that’s compatible with traditional and cloud-era applications, and friendlier to analytics  Continue Reading

• NVMe-over Fabrics: How NVMe-oF revolutionises shared storage

  NVMe brought super-fast flash storage to the datacentre, but it needs NVMe-oF to allow it to bring the benefits of rapid access and low latency to SAN and NAS shared storage  Continue Reading

• Backup audit: What is a backup audit and why do we need them?

  Backup and recovery are vital components to protect against data loss, whether technical or causes such as ransomware. So how can a backup audit help protect our key assets?  Continue Reading

• Erasure coding vs RAID: Data protection in the cloud era

  Erasure coding has come to prominence with its use in object storage and, by extension, in the cloud. We run the rule over its pros and cons vs RAID data protection  Continue Reading

• Top five ways backup can protect against ransomware

  Ransomware threatens to put your data beyond reach, so the best way to prepare is to have good-quality data you can restore from backup. We look at the key things to consider  Continue Reading

• Top five ways to benefit from tape today

  We look at the benefits that tape can bring, including in backup and recovery, long-term and ‘warm’ archiving, compliance and WORM use cases and ‘air gapping’ to protect data  Continue Reading

• Storage analytics: How AI helps storage management

  We look at storage analytics products that measure key metrics in storage hardware, single-vendor and multi-vendor tools, and how AI-based storage management and AIOps is emerging  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage costs: How to get cloud storage bills under control

  Many organisations look to the cloud to cut storage budgets, but the potential costs are many and varied. So what are the key ways to cut cloud storage costs?  Continue Reading

• Five on-premise and cloud options for network-attached storage

  We look at five options for file access storage, from ‘traditional’ NAS in a standalone appliance to distributed hybrid cloud file storage and NAS cloud gateways  Continue Reading

• Storage skills in the age of the cloud and convergence

  Storage skills was a discrete area in the IT jobs market, but that’s being eroded by the cloud, hyper-convergence infrastructure, and virtualisation. So, what are the key storage skillsets today?  Continue Reading

• Storage pros and cons: Block vs file vs object storage

  Despite the many changes in storage, there are still some fundamentals that hold true. We look at the key defining characteristics and use cases of block, file and object storage  Continue Reading

• Drive to improve flash reliability

  Due to its limited write cycles, flash-based storage can corrupt data. Computer Weekly looks at how flash reliability is being addressed  Continue Reading

• Decision points in storage for artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data

  Artificial intelligence and machine learning storage is not one-size-fits-all. Analytics work differs, and has varied storage requirements for capacity, latency, throughput and IOPS. We look at key decision points  Continue Reading

• How Malaysia’s industries are tapping IoT

  Computer Weekly speaks to four industries that claim to have benefited from various IoT deployments and how it has changed their businesses  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage on-site hardware: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud

  We look at the big three cloud vendors’ on-site offerings: AWS’s Outposts, Gateway and Snow hardware, Azure’s Stack and Arc appliances, and Google Cloud’s software-defined Anthos  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: How to go back to the office safely and securely

  Security teams should be used to supporting remote workers effectively by now, but what’s going to happen when people start returning to their offices? We look at the risks and how to address them.  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage 101: NAS file storage on AWS, Azure and GCP

  We look at NAS file storage options in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. All three offer native-based and NetApp-based file storage, with Azure adding single namespace cache services  Continue Reading

• The datacentre chill-factor: Finding the right conditions

  Computer Weekly explores a variety of cost-effective, energy-efficient services currently using innovative methods to keep datacentres cool  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage 101: File, block and object storage in the cloud

  We run the rule over file, block and object storage from the big three public cloud providers: AWS, Azure and GCP. We look at what’s on offer and the use cases they are aimed at  Continue Reading

• Mainframe storage: Three players in a market that’s here to stay

  Far from disappearing, the mainframe market and the storage it needs is here to stay for some time. The three key array makers compete with high-end flash-equipped products  Continue Reading

• Storage 101: Replication vs backup, and synchronous vs asynchronous

  Storage 101: Can replication replace backup? What are the pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous backup? What’s the best way to mix backup and replication?  Continue Reading

• Storage 101: Crash-consistent vs application-consistent snapshots

  We look at crash-consistent and application-consistent snapshots and backup, how they are defined, the pros and cons of each and the benefits and limits of Windows VSS  Continue Reading

• Snapshots 101: Array vs backup software

  We run the rule over snapshots in storage arrays and backup software and find a range of capabilities that go from mere support to fully snapshot-centric approaches  Continue Reading

• Storage 101: Snapshots vs backup

  We go over the basics of snapshots. They are a quick and accessible way of protecting data, but they are not a substitute for backup. So how do you combine the two?  Continue Reading

• High-performance object storage: What’s driving it?

  Object storage is getting its performance on to meet the needs of content delivery, analytics and IoT use cases while enabled by rapid flash storage media and other tech advances  Continue Reading

• Australian firms soldier on amid Covid-19 outbreak

  From the largest financial institutions to small companies, Aussie firms have been dialling up their use of technology tools to keep their businesses humming during the coronavirus pandemic  Continue Reading

• Multicloud storage 101: Pros, cons, pitfalls and strategies

  Not putting all your eggs in one basket can be helpful to an enterprise’s resilience strategy. We look at multicloud storage and the benefits and pitfalls it brings  Continue Reading

• NAS backup: Which suppliers have gone post-NDMP?

  NAS backup with NDMP has many drawbacks so some vendors have moved to a data management approach that tracks changes and allows for incremental forever protection  Continue Reading

• Top five compliance concerns for UK business in 2020

  We look at the top five legal and regulatory compliance concerns for UK businesses in 2020. It’s a list that includes GDPR, the DPA, PECR, PCI-DSS and the CCPA  Continue Reading

• What’s the problem with NAS backup?

  NAS backup has always been problematic, but what exactly are the issues with NDMP, and what are backup suppliers doing to make a decades-old storage staple easier to protect?  Continue Reading

• Computational storage: What is it and what are its key use cases?

  Computational storage brings the CPU to the storage and so boosts system performance by tackling processing tasks, such as near the edge or in AI/machine learning workloads  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: How to implement safe and secure remote working

  Find out what CIOs and CISOs need to know to enable their end-users to work remotely and stay secure during the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis, and learn how users can help themselves  Continue Reading

• How Oxeva delivered budget analytics with Pure Storage flash NAS

  Web hosting provider Oxeva thought the consultants were mistaken and that what suited the web giants for analytics/big data wasn’t necessarily what was needed for enterprise customers  Continue Reading

• Container storage 101: What is CSI and how does it work?

  We look at the container storage interface, which provides an interface to persistent storage in the products of storage array makers, and how it relates to Kubernetes  Continue Reading

• Molotov.tv streams 24/7 with Dell EMC and Scality object storage

  France-based Molotov.tv has offered streaming TV services on digital platforms since 2016, based on Dell EMC servers with GPU acceleration and Scality Ring object storage  Continue Reading

• Upcoming conflict minerals regulation does not cover major technology companies

  A forthcoming regulation designed to stem the flow of conflict minerals is unlikely to change the behaviour of technology companies because loopholes in the new rules mean they are not covered  Continue Reading

• Cache vs tier: What’s the difference between cache and storage?

  We look at the key distinctions between cache and tiers of storage, and where the line has become blurred with fast flash, 3D Xpoint and storage class memory technologies  Continue Reading

• Flash storage tiers: Performance, cost and use cases

  We look at performance, cost and potential use cases for the key flash storage types available, such as Nand flash, 3D Xpoint and Intel Optane, plus SAS, SATA and NVMe connectivity  Continue Reading

• Rook 101: Building software-defined containerised storage in Kubernetes

  Rook – think castles, not birds – uses the principles of containerisation and the methods used in Kubernetes to build storage that’s abstracted from the hardware it lives on  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes storage 101: Container storage basics

  We look at the basics of creating storage and specifying it for applications in container storage using Kubernetes Persistent Volumes and Persistent Volume Claims  Continue Reading

• From Pixar to GovTech: The inside story of Singapore’s AI whizz

  After nearly a decade at Pixar, GovTech’s Chong Jiayi is leading a team of experts to solve hard problems in robotics and artificial intelligence  Continue Reading

• How IT can back up ESG efforts to do environmental and social good

  Organisations’ environmental, social and governance programmes depend on IT leaders for technological backup  Continue Reading

• Caribbean island hospital rebuilds after hurricane with DataCore

  Hurricane Irma tore the roof off a server room and flooded IT hardware, but that was an opportunity to rebuild redundant IT using DataCore’s SANsymphony software-defined storage  Continue Reading

• Top four compliance considerations for SMEs

  We look at the key data compliance regulations that affect smaller companies – such as GDPR, the Data Protection Act, PCI-DSS and PECR – and some key industry-specific frameworks  Continue Reading

• Six disaster recovery pitfalls and how to avoid them

  We look at some key pitfalls in disaster recovery, such as failing to plan, not testing the plan, not protecting backups, poor communication and neglecting the human element  Continue Reading

• Spread of Kubernetes spurs backup and disaster recovery products

  Growth of containerised applications brings with it the need to back up and provide disaster recovery. But what do you need to protect, and who provides the products?  Continue Reading

• Industrial edge requires a focus on machines

  After the office edge and the mobile edge comes the industrial edge. We look at a shift in computing paradigms  Continue Reading

• Do you use cloud storage for these use cases yet?

  We look at the use cases most suited to a quick transition to the cloud: backup, archiving, disaster recovery, file storage and cloud bursting – cloud storage’s low-hanging fruit  Continue Reading

• Big storage meets cloud in the datacentre 'as-a-service' revolution

  Cloud is mainstream but the datacentre’s here to stay. This has resulted in a trend towards as-a-service in the datacentre where big storage array makers and the cloud giants meet  Continue Reading

• DRaaS decisions: Key choices in disaster recovery as a service

  We examine the key decisions when considering DRaaS. Whether to go full self-service, assisted or managed will depend on what you need to protect and your in-house resources  Continue Reading

• Five ways that backup has changed since the days of tape

  Back in the day, all this was tape, but times have changed, with cloud-to-cloud backup, cloud storage, virtual and physical backup appliances and myriad endpoint hardware  Continue Reading

• Life on the edge: A new world for data

  Edge computing is regarded as the next frontier for data, with rapid growth expected in the market. We assess the prospects  Continue Reading

• Processors re-imagined: Will cloud and AI lead mean all change in the datacentre?

  We look at the changes cloud-native platforms and artificial intelligence could bring about in the datacentre.  Continue Reading

• Top 10 storage deployment stories of 2019

  Here are ComputerWeekly’s top 10 storage deployment stories for 2019, which see quite a move away from traditional SAN and NAS to hyper-converged, software-defined storage and object storage  Continue Reading

• How to buy hyper-converged infrastructure

  Simplicity, high availability, scalability and reduced cost are among the benefits of hyper-converged infrastructure. We survey the benefits, pitfalls and the key suppliers  Continue Reading

• Five essential steps to a sound disaster recovery plan

  We walk through the key steps to develop a disaster recovery plan – from risk assessment and setting recovery objectives, to the plan itself and a testing regime to keep it fresh  Continue Reading

• Figeac Aero manages growth with DataCore software-defined storage

  Global roll-out sees DataCore software-defined storage deployed on Huawei hardware to HQ and 14 worldwide sites as aero parts maker copes with acquisition and expansion  Continue Reading

• SME disaster recovery made easy with cloud, hybrid and HCI

  Disaster recovery is a lot easier for small businesses than it used to be, with use of the cloud, hybrid cloud, physical and virtual appliances, and hyper-converged infrastructure all among the choices on offer  Continue Reading

• NVMe-over-TCP brings super-fast flash over standard IP networks

  TCP is the latest transport protocol that can be used to connect NVMe flash storage. We explain how NVMe-over-TCP works and the key advantages for datacentre customers  Continue Reading

• What is QLC flash and what workloads it is good for?

  QLC flash offers low per-gigabyte costs and lots of capacity, but can be limited by endurance and I/O performance. It can be a good disk replacement for several workloads, however  Continue Reading

• Is NVMe flash the right choice for you?

  NVMe flash storage boosts performance for I/O-hungry operations, but how does it work, where can organisations best deploy it, and what are the key uses cases where it can make a difference?  Continue Reading

• Key storage choices: Cloud vs tape for archive storage?

  Tape still has benefits, such as an ‘air gap’ that can insulate archives from threats to data integrity. But what are the opportunities for cloud in tape’s traditional use cases?  Continue Reading

• Key differences between cloud storage offerings

  Cloud storage offerings are often largely similar. We run through the key areas where they can differ, such as location, range of services and data protection  Continue Reading

• DevOps and storage: APIs and flexibility key

  The details of back-end storage are irrelevant to DevOps engineers, but they need enough of it, when they want it, and the ability to manage it programmatically is key  Continue Reading

• Data storage: The top five storage deployment pitfalls

  Key pitfalls in data storage include silos, under-utilisation, backup and disaster recovery, plus neglect of skills and application requirements. We ask analysts how to avoid them  Continue Reading

• Storage and DevOps: What is required for agile development?

  DevOps brings continuous and agile application. Storage has to fit in and make itself just as responsive to development that does away with the inertia of stifling hierarchies  Continue Reading

• Top five cloud storage pitfalls

  Cloud storage offers apparent simplicity, but unexpected costs, complexity, data movement and integration challenges can arise. We look at how to avoid common cloud storage pitfalls  Continue Reading

• Scale-out NAS hits the spot for large datasets, AI and machine learning

  Despite the rise of cloud and object storage, scale-out NAS is a key choice for the big datasets increasingly prevalent in artificial intelligence and machine learning scenarios  Continue Reading

• On-premise object storage: Key products and use cases

  We run the rule over on-premise object storage, key use cases and suppliers, take a closer look at an organisation that has deployed object storage, and assess cloud compatibility  Continue Reading

• Building a 5G city: Bristol’s valuable lessons for the UK’s digital future

  West of England Combined Authority is taking part in DCMS’s 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, exploring applications for tourism and entertainment. We find out how it is applying its learnings to life in Bristol and Bath  Continue Reading

• French national research centre insources with Rubrik backup

  France’s national research organisation wanted to insource IT back from Atos and built its private cloud on VMware across two locations with Rubrik appliances for backup  Continue Reading