News

Data Storage Services

September 09, 2010 09 Sep'10
NetApp and Oracle settle long running patent battle

NetApp and Oracle have settled their legal battle over a patent disagreement that goes back more than ten years and buried the hatchet enough to talk of working more closely together.
September 03, 2010 03 Sep'10
HDS adds posts to boost services capability

Hitachi Data Systems has added to its UK management team in an effort to bolster its services capability. The storage specialist has created chief technology director and chief technology officer roles in the UK and hired a fresh face to fill its ...
September 02, 2010 02 Sep'10
HP extends use of iQuote tool to StorageWorks

Hewlett-Packard is trying to simplify partner engagement by rolling out a stock availability, pricing and configuration tool through commercial storage distributors.
August 27, 2010 27 Aug'10
Dell matches HP bid valuing 3Par at $1.8bn

The battle for ownership of 3Par is going down to the wire with Dell matching HP's latest bid of $1.8bn in an attempt to seal the deal.

August 26, 2010 26 Aug'10
Dell revised offer gets backing from 3Par

Dell has matched Hewlett-Packard's offer of $1.6bn for storage player 3Par and talked up the reasons why it deserves to win the bidding war for the firm.
August 25, 2010 25 Aug'10
3Par will talk with HP but still backs Dell bid

3Par is starting talks with Hewlett-Packard following the bid of $1.6bn the tech giant tabled earlier this week but is giving Dell the option of coming back with a counter bid.
August 23, 2010 23 Aug'10
HP stumps up $1.6bn bid to get 3Par away from Dell

Dell is facing a fight to get its hands on storage player 3Par after HP put in a higher offer in an attempt to get the vendor away from the clutches of its rival.
August 19, 2010 19 Aug'10
NetApp Q1 numbers up but CEO notes public sector cuts in UK

Public sector austerity measures are beginning to be felt by NetApp in the UK, according to its CEO Tom Georgens. The storage giant has filed historic numbers for the first quarter of its fiscal 2011 with sales up 36% to $1.14bn (£730m) and ...
August 16, 2010 16 Aug'10
Dell buys 3Par to boost enterprise storage family

by Cliff Saran Dell is planning to boost its storage product family with the acquisition of 3Par, a company that specialises in thin provisioning, which enables IT managers to allocate only the storage they use, rather than allocate storage that ...
August 04, 2010 04 Aug'10
Majority of end-users misuse backup, recovery tools

A majority of enterprise customers are failing to follow advice surrounding information management practice, with many improperly using backup and recovery software packages, according to new information from security specialist Symantec.

July 01, 2010 01 Jul'10
Dell KACE sets out indirect ambitions

Systems management specialist KACE has set its sights on extending its reseller base following on from its acquisition by Dell with a channel refresh waiting in the wings.
June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10
Former EMC channel boss moves to systems integrator Tieto

EMC's former global channel head has moved to Nordic systems integrator and outsourcer Tieto with part of his remit to expand the footprint in the UK operation.
May 19, 2010 19 May'10
Deputy PM Clegg talks of reducing storage of personal data

Those who get twitchy over the government's habit of losing sensitive personal data will be relieved to hear the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg talk of a new politics which avoids the need to keep numerous emails and web records.
April 30, 2010 30 Apr'10
Business sales marching up the hill

GfK's month-on-month market comparison shows climb out of decline. Carl West explains the figures with most year-on-year sales comparisons not truly indicating a return to the more buoyant levels of 2008, it is useful to see how a month-on-month ...
April 23, 2010 23 Apr'10
HP marks XP birthday with search for ultimate challenge

There are a fair few anniversaries taking place this year in the storage world as vendors and technologies hit particular milestones.
April 22, 2010 22 Apr'10
EMC off to strong start in 2010

EMC is planning on growing faster than the market this year by taking share from rivals and got off to a good start in a bullish first quarter.
April 16, 2010 16 Apr'10
EMC asks new channel boss to assess EMEA distie strategy

EMC has appointed Nicolas Leblanc as EMEA channel boss and tasked him with assessing and preparing the distribution channel for a tender process. However the storage behemoth is in no rush to push through changes too quickly, as it sifts through the...
April 09, 2010 09 Apr'10
EMC channel boss steps down

EMC's global channel boss Willem Hendrickx has resigned and plans to exit the storage arena after more than eight years at the firm to hone in on another sector in the industry.
April 09, 2010 09 Apr'10
Buoyant first quarter builds channel optimism

Opinion is divided over whether or not the recession is over, but the outlook for 2010 is positive overall, writes Steve Moyes.
April 08, 2010 08 Apr'10
NetApp acquires object based storage specialist Bycast

NetApp has acquired image and video storage specialist Bycast in a move that reflects the growing importance of multimedia.
April 06, 2010 06 Apr'10
Fines for losing data come into force

The threat of £50,000 fines for losing data becomes a reality today as the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) gets the powers to go after those businesses that are careless with customer and staff records.
March 23, 2010 23 Mar'10
Emulex welcomes conviction of storage counterfeiters

Storage player Emulex has welcomed the conviction of a couple of counterfeiters that had been actively ripping off several brands. By refurbishing recycled products and then putting forged trademarks on them the convicted fraudsters were selling ...
March 01, 2010 01 Mar'10
EMC pays out millions to wind up US pricing probe

EMC is restating its fourth quarter results after paying out $87.5m to end a probe into its pricing by the Department of Justice.
February 19, 2010 19 Feb'10
Channel fuels NetApp sales rise

A 16% growth in channel sales has helped contribute to record third quarter revenue and income for network storage and data management company, NetApp.
February 08, 2010 08 Feb'10
Dell EqualLogic adds CMS Peripherals to UK channel

Dell has finally spoken out about its appointment of CMS Peripherals and the plans to take its EqualLogic storage range to a wider community of resellers.
February 02, 2010 02 Feb'10
Dell keeps shtum on CMS Peripherals appointment

Dell is keeping mum on the appointment of CMS Peripherals except to brand talk of the partnership as "rumour and speculation". The London-based distributor must therefore be carrying a different Dell EqualLogic on its web pages nestled amongst the ...
February 02, 2010 02 Feb'10
Xploite continues with acquisition plans and post profits

Investment vehicle Xploite is forging ahead with a strategy to acquire smaller SaaS-based firms, having just signed off profitable management accounts for fiscal 2009.
January 06, 2010 06 Jan'10
EMC readies mid market resellers for cloud services push

EMC will ramp up the technical and sales courses for mid-market resellers this year to help them get to grips with selling cloud services.
January 04, 2010 04 Jan'10
Cloud not yet getting through to CIOs

Over half of CIOs fail to see how cloud computing can save them money despite the reduction of capital expenditure being a fundamental tenet of the cloud proposition.
December 18, 2009 18 Dec'09
EMC to sign up DNS Arrow in January

DNS Arrow will become EMC's third UK distributor from January as the manufacturer seeks to plough a furrow in the small to medium-sized reseller market.
December 03, 2009 03 Dec'09
Seagate gives Tech Data the heave ho

Tech Data has become the latest distributor to be given its marching orders by Seagate Technology in a rationalisation exercise that has the number of EMEA partners almost halved in the past six months.
November 23, 2009 23 Nov'09
Azlan grabs Walker for server and storage team

Azlan has staged a dawn raid to bolster its server and storage team with Mark Walker due to join the distributor from next year to manage the unit along with an expected slew of vendor signings.
November 02, 2009 02 Nov'09
EMC mulls over expanding UK distribution

EMC is reviewing the UK channel to ascertain if it needs to appoint a third distribution partner to concentrate on SME and specialist technologies.
October 29, 2009 29 Oct'09
HP tipped to hand Azlan storage contract

Hewlett-Packard is expected to make Azlan the fifth distributor to carry its enterprise storage line-up from next month.
October 26, 2009 26 Oct'09
Massive server refresh on horizon, says IDC

Virtualisation sales have been dented by the recession proving that no markets are immune to the economic maelstrom, but a massive refresh pending in the server market should give resellers a reason to be cheerful.
October 20, 2009 20 Oct'09
Five minute interview: Craig Whitney, Axway

Microscope puts its questions to Craig Whitney, vice-president and managing director of Axway. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? Always have a ‘plan B' - from a former manager. Stuff happens, so be prepared for it. What ...
September 16, 2009 16 Sep'09
HP warns datacentre budgets will take time to return

Those expecting a return to pre-recessionary ordering patterns from data centre customers might have to wait slightly longer than they were expecting.
July 15, 2009 15 Jul'09
SAP reveals lax user attitude to data management

The mantra about IT being able to help businesses make the right decisions in recession has been embraced by users but is still not being acted on.
July 13, 2009 13 Jul'09
Cloud backup positioned as SME headache solver

Although there has been some questions raised about the satisfaction levels surrounding SME customer experiences with the cloud those promoting backup services believe the market remains strong.
July 06, 2009 06 Jul'09
ThinkGrid unveils cloud storage offering

Cloud specialist ThinkGrid has taken the wraps off a hosted storage service that provides a range of data tools that are designed to help those struggling to keep on top of their data.
July 03, 2009 03 Jul'09
Disaster recovery plans failing to cover virtualised systems

Disaster recovery has climbed up the agenda in customerboardrooms but a more needs to be done to ensure that customers are taking thesafety of their data more seriously. According to the results of the latest Symantec disaster recovery survey ...
May 21, 2009 21 May'09
NetApp splashes out $1.5bn to pick up Data Domain

NetApp has put $1.5bn on the table to buy de-duplication specialist Data Domain as consolidation among storage vendors continues unabated.
April 07, 2009 07 Apr'09
NetApp heralds mid market channel focus

NetApp has heralded its 1,000th reseller as evidence of its ability to service the mid market with its MSE product line.
April 06, 2009 06 Apr'09
Hitachi GST builds division on Fabrik acquisition

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has completed the acquisition of external storage specialist Fabrik to form the basis of a branded business division.
March 17, 2009 17 Mar'09
Cisco partners must skill up for data centre push

Cisco is urging partners to start skilling up to meet demand for its Unified Computing System (UCS), a new computing architecture launched yesterday that knits together compute, network, storage access and virtualisation into a modular system.
March 11, 2009 11 Mar'09
HP talks up storage virtualisation offerings

Hewlett-Packard has announced an extension to its virtualisation offerings as it moves to offer customers greater choice and flexibility.
February 27, 2009 27 Feb'09
Infortrend unveils enterprise strategy

Storage RAID specialist Infortrend has announced plans to enter the enterprise market using CeBit next month as a platform to show off a high performance product range and court resellers.
February 06, 2009 06 Feb'09
Recession boosts uptake of managed services

The provision of managed services is likely to be one of the brighter spots in an otherwise difficult economic landscape this year and has the potential to become a safe haven for those channel partners that get their offerings right.
February 06, 2009 06 Feb'09
NetApp reaffirms strategy after SME shift

NetApp has hit back at rivals circling its SME customer base following the vendor’s announcement of plans to scrap its small business product range.
January 27, 2009 27 Jan'09
EMC looks to second-half for better market conditions

EMC has refused to provide revenue guidance due to the uncertain macro-economic conditions but reckons global IT spending will decline in the mid to high digits this year, and that budgets will free up more in the second half of the year.
January 15, 2009 15 Jan'09
Dell names Hammer as storage and blade distributor

Dell appears to be warming to the idea of a two tier supply chain following the revelation that it has signed Hammer to distribute its EqualLogic storage line as well as the entire range of servers, with a particular focus on blades.
January 10, 2009 10 Jan'09
Storage shows resilience despite recession

The impact of the recession is hitting the storage market with customers considering switching to lower cost products or freezing budget.
December 08, 2008 08 Dec'08
Making the most of legacy systems

The widening credit crunch and fear of recession have led to a drop in confidence among IT buyers. New projects are being delayed or sliced into smaller pieces that are easier to pass through the purchasing and financial departments.
December 03, 2008 03 Dec'08
HDS helps dealers justify storage spend

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has given resellers access to its in-house Storage Economics analytical methodology in the hope of easing the sales process and enabling end-user IT managers and CIOs to justify spending during the recession.
December 02, 2008 02 Dec'08
Quantum bolsters channel funds in face of tough year ahead

Storage specialist Quantum has diverted $250,000 marketing spend into the channel as it positions its partners for next year. The vendor is ploughing the funds into its Alliance Channel Programme that will also be backed by increased numbers of ...
November 11, 2008 11 Nov'08
Quantum warns of short termism over data storage

According to research from storage specialists Quantum the pressure is increasing on customers as the recession starts to bite and the consequences for their long-term storage strategies could be severe.
November 07, 2008 07 Nov'08
FCoE: the next generation of storage

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is being heralded as the next-generation storage connectivity. Originally proposed to the standards committee ANSI T11 in April 2007 by storage vendors including Brocade Communications Systems, Cisco Systems, EMC, ...
November 07, 2008 07 Nov'08
Small screen solutions

Holiday season is fast approaching, and even in a financial downturn, some consumers will be looking for ways to store their multimedia at home. Which storage formats are available, and how can they be most effectively sold? Blu-Ray is the darling ...
October 20, 2008 20 Oct'08
Toshiba linked with SanDisk purchase

The battle to acquire SanDisk could be a two-way contest with Toshiba’s name coming back into the frame as a possible buyer.
October 14, 2008 14 Oct'08
Green set to dominate debate at Storage Expo

With Storage Expo kicking off tomorrow in Olympia in London for a couple of packed days the organisers have given an early indication of what will be under discussion at the event.
October 09, 2008 09 Oct'08
Storage Expo preview

Every year the great and the good of the storage world meet at Storage Expo to show off their wares and inform resellers and customers about the general state of the market.
October 06, 2008 06 Oct'08
DataCore expolits LeftHand uncertianty

Virtualisation player DataCore has lined up a programme to wooLeftHand Networks’ resellers with software discounts and rebates in a bid to unsettlethe rival’s channel following the proposed acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. Last week HP confirmed it...
October 01, 2008 01 Oct'08
Virtualisation in the pipeline for most customers

A meagre two percent of companies have no plan to implement virtualisation, according to a survey of more than 350 companies by Storage Expo, illustrating growing adoption of the technology by customers.
October 01, 2008 01 Oct'08
HP buys LeftHand Networks to bolster storage portfolio

In a move that will extend its offerings in the lower end of the storage market Hewlett-Packard has agreed to buy LeftHand Networks for $360m in cash.
September 18, 2008 18 Sep'08
Hammer signs trio of vendors to bolster portfolio

Hammer has announced a trio of vendor signings to bolster its portfolio in the crucial fourth quarter. The storage distributor has appointed Texas Memory Systems (TMS), BridgeHead Software and BakBone.
September 16, 2008 16 Sep'08
Glasshouse offers managed services to cover virtualisation skills gap

GlassHouse has taken the wraps off a managed virtualisation service in response to a skills gap in the market that threatens to hold up the adoption of the technology in some corporates.
September 15, 2008 15 Sep'08
VMware unveils cloud and datacentre operating system

There have been several announcements coming out of VMworld that should take the vendor on from its server virtualisation routes. VMware is facing a certain amount of pressure to keep its momentous rise going, particularly after its CEO Diane Green ...
September 12, 2008 12 Sep'08
Hammer event to focus on solutions

Hammer is holding its second Storage Focus event next month aiming to point resellers in the direction of business opportunities. Despite the continuous gloom of the credit crunch there are still areas of growth in storage including in the defence ...
September 03, 2008 03 Sep'08
EMC launches online backup Mozy service in UK

The number of vendors offering hosted solutions has beenbolstered by the addition of EMC which has started from today to offer itsMozy online backup for SMEs using Lenovo as its hardware partner. The service is being offered to Lenovo customers for...
August 25, 2008 25 Aug'08
Alternatives to a tangle of tape

When it comes to backing up data, tape has been the preferred option for many years.
August 08, 2008 08 Aug'08
HDD meets rising storage demands

The rise of automated manufacturing processes, automated ticketing machines, self-service/mobile point of sale retail machines, and the widespread use of data capture equipment such as CCTV cameras has led to a data explosion among industrial and ...
August 07, 2008 07 Aug'08
Flexibility boosts RAID revenues

Maintaining or increasing revenues from well-established technologies might seem like a hard task, but this is not necessarily the case. Take RAID subsystems, for example.
August 01, 2008 01 Aug'08
Time and tide wait for no WAN

In a virtualised environment, IT managers need to pay careful attention to the impact wide area network (WAN) performance has on application performance.
July 29, 2008 29 Jul'08
Brocade points to Foundry buy as channel opportunity

Brocade has expanded on its reasons for buying Foundry Networks and the repercussions for the channel underlying the increase in opportunities it presents for partners.
July 28, 2008 28 Jul'08
Replicate data to protect servers

Many organisations are adopting virtualisation in their data centres to better use hardware, reduce power consumption and simplify management. The reliability of the infrastructure is critically important but what is the best way to protect virtual ...
July 21, 2008 21 Jul'08
Demystifying data deduplication

When it comes to data deduplication technology the opportunities for resellers are clear - provided they present it and match it to their customers' needs effectively.
July 15, 2008 15 Jul'08
Hitachi Data Systems hands rebate power to resellers

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has decentralised its global payment model and given local resellers more say on the mix of rebate and marketing funding they receive. But under the changes distributors will lose out on channel development compensation as...
July 04, 2008 04 Jul'08
Logicalis aims to boost mainframe business

Logicalis has made a bid to ramp up its mainframe computing business with the launch of an IBM System z Test Environment at its Innovation Centre.
July 03, 2008 03 Jul'08
Seagate pumps cash into Derry plant

Hard-disk vendor Seagate has responded to ever-increasing global demand for digital storage by injecting £120m into its Springbank facility in Northern Ireland.
June 30, 2008 30 Jun'08
Margirus calls more more intelligent sales from resellers

Magirus has used its appointment as a CommVault distributor to warn resellers that in the current climate it is vital they sell storage more intelligently or risk losing the attention of customers.
June 30, 2008 30 Jun'08
Overland Storage snaps up Adapteq NAS operation

Overland Storage has acquired the Snap Server NAS business from Adapted for $3.6m (£1.8m) with $2.1m paid upfront in the cash and the rest settled within 12 months.
April 15, 2008 15 Apr'08
SSD frenzy grips vendors

Maybe the Storage Networking World (SNW) event in Orlando has been the spark but the storage hardware inventiveness index has suddenly rocketed. A drive array was a drive array was a drive array was the rule.
April 14, 2008 14 Apr'08
Brocade aims high

In the wake of last month's imprisonment of its former human resources chief Stephanie Jensen — for backdating and falsifying corporate records between 2000 and 2004 — storage vendor Brocade has come out fighting and reaffirmed ambitious growth ...
April 14, 2008 14 Apr'08
Bright future for virtualisation

With the credit crunch looming, resellers are understandably keen to get any advice on product areas that can withstand budget cuts.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
Virtualisation market poised for growth

Growing IT labour costs coupled with concerns around reliability and performance will make the market for storage virtualisation continue its solid growth rate, according to a survey by F5 Networks.
April 04, 2008 04 Apr'08
De-duplication can boost performance

De-duplication in itself is easy to understand – optimised storage capacity usage by eliminating duplicated data. However the devil is in understanding the different technologies, techniques and implementations in the market and relating these to ...
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
Blu-ray in the ascendant as 2.5in drives on the horizon

There have been numerous product launches around the flash arena and that trend is set to continue with the introduction of smaller drives writes Chris Mellor. 2.5 inch drive surge coming. Xyratex has announced one of the first mainstream 2.5-inch ...
April 02, 2008 02 Apr'08
Frenzy in storage market as data growth casts shadow

It was flash, bang, wallop in the first three months of this year. The major storage firms exploded bombs en route to making sure they grow and prosper as crazy file storage growth threatens to overwhelm datacentres.
March 24, 2008 24 Mar'08
Could a recession be the answer?

An incoming company is bright eyed and bushy tailed at one end of the tape market, while another at the opposite end is almost at its wits end as it struggles to avoid bankruptcy. What is going on? The tape world is supposed to be in trouble.
March 17, 2008 17 Mar'08
Bright future for storage

Storage resellers looking for research that will back up their anecdotal evidence that customers are facing greater problems will draw considerable comfort from EMC's latest thoughts on the subject.
March 17, 2008 17 Mar'08
Bell Micro signs virtualisation deal

by Simon Quicke Bell Micro has secured a deal with Parallels to add server and desktop virtualisation to its portfolio. The distributor already has relationships with Brocade and DataCore, but is now adding Parallels to encourage resellers to ...
March 10, 2008 10 Mar'08
NetApp to rebrand products

NetApp could rejig its distribution channel under a rebranding exercise in an attempt to raise the profile of the StoreVault range aimed at small businesses.
March 03, 2008 03 Mar'08
No clear winner in storage race

There are various questions vexing my mind at the moment. What's best, unified storage or point products? Is it better to have a unified storage product line or point products? Are resellers better off with a NetApp or an EMC?
February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08
Runaway capacity headache

The continued growth of storage installations in mid-sized organisations is a time bomb set to explode in the near future unless businesses consolidate infrastructures to drive efficiencies.
February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08
Economy to boost virtualisation

Magirus has extended its trading relationship with FalconStor from mainland Europe to the UK and believes the uncertain economic climate could increase storage virtualisation adoption as companies look to consolidate.
January 28, 2008 28 Jan'08
Lights-out data centres to grow

An era of unmanned data centres is drawing nearer as environmental and economic factors drive users towards a world where the technology takes the strain.
January 28, 2008 28 Jan'08
Partial refreshes to increase

In one of the more off-the-wall predictions for the storage market in 2008, IDC believes customers will increasingly demand partial hardware replacements to cut costs and up the ante on green initiatives.
January 21, 2008 21 Jan'08
Clustering influences future

Consolidation at disk array level is forcing major storage vendors to reconsider more scalable options that industry observers predict will replace monolithic systems in the not-too-distant future.
January 21, 2008 21 Jan'08
Global plans for Dell buy

Dell has paid an undisclosed sum for UK server and storage consultancy The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC) and plans to offer its services globally.
January 14, 2008 14 Jan'08
Big switch or small beer?

Preparing for storage Armageddon? Nicholas Carr thinks you should be, because computing-as-we-know-it is in the process of vanishing.