News

Storage

July 02, 2008 02 Jul'08
Business continuity means more than just securing your data

When it comes to disaster recovery, data is only one aspect of the entire business continuity framework.
July 02, 2008 02 Jul'08
Ten considerations for email archiving - Part 2

We conclude our piece on ten email archiving considerations, with considerations six through ten!
July 02, 2008 02 Jul'08
Friction grows between storage vendors, VMware

As the booming server virtualisation market spawns new competitors to VMware, how virtual machines connect with storage is becoming a matter of contention among vendors.
July 01, 2008 01 Jul'08
Ten considerations for email archiving - Part 1

Email archiving products vary in their features and technical structures. Here's how to select an archiving tool that's a good fit for your company's needs.

June 30, 2008 30 Jun'08
Comic Relief chooses Compellent SAN for tiering, provisioning features

After its existing SAN infrastructure hit a wall, charity opts for Compellent Technologies SAN for its data tiering and thin provisioning provisioning features. You could say that Red Nose Day goes green.
June 26, 2008 26 Jun'08
UK storage admins eye data deduplication to shrink backup windows, but remain wary

Users need to speed up backups and are eyeing data deduplication to shrink their backup windows, but some wonder if dedupe fits their data profile.
June 23, 2008 23 Jun'08
Council sticks with IBM for £150,000 SAN project

Dumfries and Galloway council opts for IBM SAN to support 50% cut in server numbers enabled by government-funded broadband connections to 150 remote offices.
June 23, 2008 23 Jun'08
When should hard drive capacity be part of the purchasing equation?

When it comes to purchasing disc drives for consolidated storage, a key question is whether the additional benefits of the best currently available products are justified. Or are they an unnecessary expense?
June 19, 2008 19 Jun'08
National Library of Wales chooses optical disk media for digital archive

With its digital archive growing at a rate of 2 to 3 TB annually, the National Library of Wales chooses Plasmon ultra-density optical media for long-term storage of data.
June 16, 2008 16 Jun'08
Unified NAS storage plugs business continuity leaks for water company

A utility overhauls its storage infrastructure as part of a disaster recovery initiative, and by deploying NetApp NAS filers in lieu of tape backup, reduces data recovery times from a week to just minutes.

June 16, 2008 16 Jun'08
How server virtualisation reduces the need for backups

Server virtualisation is not only changing the role of backup in the enterprise, it is also responsible for the traditional backup function moving down the priority order for IT organisations.
June 12, 2008 12 Jun'08
Copan CEO: Putting spindown on disk arrays isn't MAID

Mark Ward, CEO of Copan, isn't worried about EMC or HDS offering technology similar to Copan's MAID because, he says, layering spindown onto traditional disk arrays is like putting lipstick on a pig.
June 09, 2008 09 Jun'08
Hull university turns to BridgeHead archiving software in tiered storage move

The University of Hull implements archiving software from BridgeHead as part of a 25-year data lifecycle plan driven by green storage policy to lower the TCO of storing data.
June 05, 2008 05 Jun'08
Pharma firm sets out on ILM journey to shrink backup windows, classify data

An IT infrastructure designer begins a diary of his company's implementation of ILM and its plans for data classification and archiving to curtail growing data volumes, reduce backup windows and improve data retention.
June 04, 2008 04 Jun'08
How much data protection do mirror copies provide?

Do mirror copies of data and snapshots provide all the data protection offered by backup products?
June 02, 2008 02 Jun'08
Not so much storage in IBM's UK storage roadmap

IBM storage UK chief strategy officer Mark Vargo discusses IBM's storage roadmap for the UK and how its goal is to reduce the amount of data that busineses store.
May 29, 2008 29 May'08
How to buy an entry-level iSCSI SAN

Has your small business reached the point at which it needs a SAN? If so, this guide to simple SANs will make it easier to navigate your first purchase.
May 28, 2008 28 May'08
Only one way to know how restores will perform: Complete them

Backups are only done for recovery, but when we are targeted against a backup success rate, it's easy to lose sight of that. Most backup environments are designed to place as much data to tape as possible in as short a time as possible. But will a ...
May 23, 2008 23 May'08
Managed services provider adopts Dell EqualLogic

Secure hosting company manageNET has adopted EqualLogic product to support its move into virtualised hosting.
May 22, 2008 22 May'08
UPDATE - EMC reveals new backup lineup AND document management plans

EMC has announced a raft of new backup hardware, and a refresh of its document management plans.
May 21, 2008 21 May'08
Storage on demand deal helps Barclays meet green storage targets

HDS to supply storage on demand for Barclays' new datacentre as bank seeks to boost utilisation and sidestep power and cooling constraints.
May 20, 2008 20 May'08
Old tape libraries never die -- someone needs the data

Bertha was my first big tape library. I had complete authority over the backup system that sent her little tasks, and total responsibility for correcting her numerous fibre card problems.
May 15, 2008 15 May'08
What is Thin Provisioning and why does it matter

Up tp 50% of storage goes un-used. Thin provisioning lets you allocate storage more dynamically, saving money and ensuring the storage you bought gets used.
May 14, 2008 14 May'08
Storage channel set for 'momentous changes,' says analyst

A possible economic slowdown may lead to IT projects being delayed or even abandoned, but storage and virtualisation projects will not be affected.
May 14, 2008 14 May'08
Partial backups are a success. . .aren't they?

We've been led to believe that a backup that completes with a partial success is a success. And in terms of the backup application it is. But in real terms it is not. A partial success is a backup which is in fact not 100% successful, meaning that ...
May 12, 2008 12 May'08
D2D2T plan helps council slash backup window

When Shepway council's legacy backup software could not scale to protect a growing number of servers, the council implented Bakbone software as part of a D2D2T strategy that also allowed it to slash the duration of its backup window.
May 09, 2008 09 May'08
Rein in NAS with file virtualisation

File virtualisation can reduce storage TCO and increase availability, as we explain in this feature on the technique.
May 08, 2008 08 May'08
O'Neill rides data deduplication wave with Data Domain storage arrays

Surfwear manufacturer cuts backup times from 14 hours to two and slashes restores as it implements D2D2T with Data Domain appliances across European sites.
May 07, 2008 07 May'08
Why cross charging for backup can be tricky

Disk storage is a good starting point for cross charging, but cross charging for backup carries risks. Finding the right balance between too little chargeback or too much is critical.
May 06, 2008 06 May'08
Bulky backups spur Council to consolidate, centralise

Local authority's move to centralised backups and a mixed NAS/SAN storage infrastructure results in faster, more efficient backups because less backup traffic goes over the network than before.
May 06, 2008 06 May'08
The State of Continuous Data Protection

Continuous data protection is one of the latest backup tools, yet few understand how it fits in with other products ... until they read this guide!
May 01, 2008 01 May'08
SNIA: Expect XAM products by late 2008

Products based on the eXtensible Access Method spec, which addresses long-term data retention and migration issues, will be available by year-end. SNIA's Wayne Adams expects XAM to unlock the CAS market, but will also find application in enterprise ...
April 30, 2008 30 Apr'08
Encryption and off-site tape storage

Glasshouse Technologies (UK) consultant Brian Sakovitch says it makes more fiscal sense to encrypt tape than to eliminate tape. But encryption is not as easy as vendors would have you believe. There are cost implications, performance issues and ...
April 28, 2008 28 Apr'08
Tape vs. disk: how to calculate the cheapest option

Tape vs. disk is about more than dollars. Here's how to make your choice based on the value of your data, rather than the value of equipment.
April 23, 2008 23 Apr'08
Separating storage networking marketing from reality

SearchStorageUK writer takes one of SNIA's storage networking courses and learns about SAN, NAS and how to avoid storage vendor lock-in.
April 18, 2008 18 Apr'08
FalconStor CDR thrashes IBM at fee-paying school

Bradford Grammar School implements real-time protection of vital data, choosing FalconStor continuous data replication over competing products from IBM and Neverfail.
April 18, 2008 18 Apr'08
Optimising iSCSI SANs with the right Ethernet switch

iSCI SANS are now within the reach of many small businesses. Here's how to make sure the SAN works best, by optimising the supporting network.
April 18, 2008 18 Apr'08
3Com's SAN push stalls

3Com's plan to push into storage has stalled, with localisation of its SAN on the back burner.
April 16, 2008 16 Apr'08
Second EqualLogic SAN for London publisher

Ink Publishing set to deploy disaster recovery site with second EqualLogic SAN bought at £18,000 off list price. Also plans VMWare project and SANs at overseas offices
April 16, 2008 16 Apr'08
Backup window traps

Backup windows are getting longer and longer as companies generate more data to be backed up. Add in maintenance work and there's a good chance your environment will not be ready by start of business.
April 15, 2008 15 Apr'08
Melbourne Health consolidates 1000 DAT tapes into a single database

Melbourne Health has created new infrastructure to manage medical images
April 14, 2008 14 Apr'08
Fire service replaces Windows backup with more reliable tool

South Yorkshire fire service replaced its WIndows backup environment with a more reliable product from Yosemite, but it's missing support for Oracle.
April 11, 2008 11 Apr'08
CommVault boosts Simpana e-discovery and data reduction

CommVault's first service pack for Simpana 7.0 includes e-discovery updates and new integration between replication and file-level single instancing.
April 11, 2008 11 Apr'08
Xiotech and Atrato forge self-healing storage market

New disk array designs use sealed components, resulting in storage systems that may not need servicing for five years or more.
April 11, 2008 11 Apr'08
IBM: roadmap for data dedupe, thin prov, SSDs and MAID

IBM's storage general manager and chief technical strategist provide clues to IBM's storage roadmap in data deduplication, thin provisioning, solid-state disks and MAID.
April 11, 2008 11 Apr'08
Tape has soul

In the cupboard under the stairs is my VHS machine. It chewed up the last two cassettes I attempted to play on it (about 6 years ago). So with an odd assortment of tapes it remains there gathering dust. But for some nostalgic reason I haven't thrown...
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
EMC pockets Iomega to create consumer storage division

After chasing its consumer storage partner for two weeks EMC has finally acquired Iomega and its strong consumer channels for about $213 million (£106.5m).
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
Cisco buys Nuova and launches FCoE-compliant switch

Cisco buys subsidiary Nuova Systems and pushes out its first Fibre Channel over Etherent (FCoE) switch; QLogic, Emulex and Intel also launch FCoE products.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
Xiotech unveils self-healing storage systems at SNW

Xiotech's Emprise storage systems use a proprietary technology to reduce heat and vibration. Xiotech claims that an Emprise system will incur zero service events over five years.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
The AA saves £34 million a year with NetApp iSCSI SAN

Car breakdown service, The AA swaps out EMC and HP/Compaq Fibre Channel SAN for NetApp iSCSI storage, halving IT costs and slashing storage staff from 16 to one.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
EMC to buy Iomega

Capping weeks of rumours, EMC has announced it is acquiring Iomega.
April 08, 2008 08 Apr'08
SNW Roundup: Sun adds data deduplication to VTL

Sun comes out with VTL Prime, a virtual tape library with FalconStor's data deduplication; Attune gets into file archiving; and SGI, Fujitsu and Dot Hill launch storage systems.
April 08, 2008 08 Apr'08
Storage power in the data centre

The energy and power consumed by storage systems, especially backups is starting to raise some eyebrows in the data centre.
April 07, 2008 07 Apr'08
Law firm set to climb email compliance mountain

Michelmores plans to implement email compliance, document management and inter-site replication following successful Hitachi SAN deployment.
April 07, 2008 07 Apr'08
Isilon reveals turnaround plan

Clustered storage vendor vows to continue to spend on product development, sales and marketing, despite losing nearly $27 million (£13.5m) in its first year as public company.
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
Nimbus adds solid state to 10 GigE iSCSI NAS systems

Nimbus Data expands 10 Gigabit Ethernet capability and adds solid-state drives to IP storage systems that support iSCSI, NFS and CIFS.
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
UK debut for storage compression appliance

Ocarina claims a tenfold reduction of file data on primary storage. Alpha-testing UK photo sharing site set to put appliance into production
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
IBM-Novus SERP tool aimed at storage resource management customers

The first refresh of Novus' SERP broadens its support for heterogeneous SRM tools, but it keeps customers waiting for better backup reporting support from IBM.
April 02, 2008 02 Apr'08
EMC to buy IT services firm Conchango for £42m

EMC to acquire UK IT service and e-commerce specialist Conchango for £42m in move that will provide access to blue chip customers and boost its European services presence
March 31, 2008 31 Mar'08
Lefthand SAN knocks out NetApp SAN for Anite's implementation

IT services supplier Anite selects software-and-server SAN from Lefthand on cost and hardware flexibility for networked storage to support VMWare virtualisation project
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
Security provider picks Pillar over EMC on cost

Dell shop chooses tiered SATA drives in Pillar Axiom mid-range array over Clariion SAN as storage for rapidly expanding Oracle 10g databases.
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
Users face buy-in challenge with disaster recovery

Attendees at Storage Decisions disaster recovery event in London this week face challenges of funding and planning because of difficulties gaining business buy-in.
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
No-maintenance array aims to eliminate hard drive swaps

SAID - a Self-managing Array of Identical Disks - will self heal and are aimed at giving three to five years of maintenance free performance
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
Selling BC/DR to management

When it comes to disaster recovery IT gets it. Business execs don't. This article provides a detailed list of what to include in a business case to sell BC/DR to management.
March 19, 2008 19 Mar'08
Archiving can complicate backups if you're not careful

Adding an archiving system to your storage environment helps reduce costs long term, but if you're not careful it can throw a wrench into the backup environment.
March 17, 2008 17 Mar'08
Smaller pizzas should mean leaner, smarter storage

Storage professionals need to prioritise projects that squeeze more data into fewer storage assets using less staff as economic uncertainty threatens to cut IT budgets
March 14, 2008 14 Mar'08
EMC gives Centera a software refresh

EMC has tweaked the software for its Centera archiving system with an emphasis on handling more pieces of data rather than sheer bulk of information stored.
March 13, 2008 13 Mar'08
Is your data too fat for your backup window?

Glasshouse Technologies (UK) consultant David Boyd looks at how to fit ever-increasing data volumes into acceptable backup windows.
March 13, 2008 13 Mar'08
NetApp says flagging economy could boost its sales

The current economic downturn may actually help boost NetApp's appeal to storage users, according to company officials at its US Analyst Day
March 11, 2008 11 Mar'08
Cancer Research picks Bakbone for Mac backup

Medical research organisation chooses Apple-native software over buggy and hard-to-use rivals in a meagre Mac backup marketplace
March 11, 2008 11 Mar'08
Almost a third of businesses unprepared for disaster

IDC survey shows large number of businesses without business continuity plans. Concrete assessment of likely threats and best possible response is the key say analysts.
March 11, 2008 11 Mar'08
Resellers beat EMC to local Mozy launch

EMC may not be willing to disclose the ANZ launch date for its storage-as-a-service business, but resellers are already bringing the Mozy service to Australia.
March 10, 2008 10 Mar'08
Dell storage VP: We are no longer just a reseller

With its $1.4 billion acquisition of iSCSI SAN vendor EqualLogic complete, Dell storage VP Darren Thomas says Dell is now a storage developer rather than merely a reseller.
March 09, 2008 09 Mar'08
Hot Spots: A new level of backup reporting

A bumper crop of backup reporting tools can provide invaluable insight into backup operations for you and the boss.
March 07, 2008 07 Mar'08
Mergers happen quickly but backup fallout can last years

When organisations merge the question of what to do with back ups acquired needs a serious strategic approach to minimise management headaches
March 07, 2008 07 Mar'08
S3 backup Firefox plugin a diamond in the rough

A plugin that turns a web browser into a rough and ready archiving tool has potential, but is probably too unstable for anything other than personal use.
March 06, 2008 06 Mar'08
Green IT gripes from CeBIT

Europeans are said to be more concerned about green IT issues than Americans, but that's not the sentiment I discovered at CeBIT in Germany this week.
March 03, 2008 03 Mar'08
UK storage startup boosts US market presence

iSCSI SAN software specialists Stormagic adds US storage industry consultant to its team in a push to break into the SME market stateside.
February 28, 2008 28 Feb'08
NetApp ships new StoreVault iSCSI SAN

The S550 iS CSI SAN goes for just over $5,000 for 12 TB capacity; storage vendors rally around Windows Server 2008.
February 28, 2008 28 Feb'08
Windows Server 2008: The wow stops now?

Windows Server, SQL Server and Visual Studio have all got shiny new versions for the new year. So why does Microsoft say the wow stops> now?
February 27, 2008 27 Feb'08
Animal charity opts for clustered NAS over iSCSI SAN

Animal charity The Blue Cross has deployed an 11-site clustered NAS product over an EMC Clariion iSCSI SAN in an £18,000 project, reflecting the appeal of NAS to SMEs.
February 25, 2008 25 Feb'08
Publisher opts for EqualLogic iSCSI SAN system over Lefthand

Ink Publishing opts for Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN in two-horse race with Lefthand Networks, winning out on redundancy.
February 25, 2008 25 Feb'08
Quantum's Riverbed suit dismissed

Quantum's suit against Riverbed for de-dupe patent infringement has been dismissed due to a rights assignment technicality - Quantum did not own the patent in question.
February 20, 2008 20 Feb'08
The importance of backup training

Lack of knowledge about backup results in backups missing their window. Training, whether in-house or supplied by official programmes, can be beneficial.
February 19, 2008 19 Feb'08
School misses out on iSCSI by a few months

St Pauls School in London buys a Fibre Channel SAN through its partnership with Dell and EMC, narrowly missing out on an iSCSI SAN which it feels would have been a better fit.
February 19, 2008 19 Feb'08
City financial player guarded on deduplication

CMC markets is evaluating data deduplication but it's not just the technical characteristics of particular solutions it needs to look at but the spin-off effects on its processes.
February 18, 2008 18 Feb'08
Data Domain makes remote office data deduplication push

Data Domain launches its smallest data deduplication appliance specifically built to reduce and back up data at remote offices.
February 17, 2008 17 Feb'08
NAS product specifications

NAS is so easy to install and manage that NAS sprawl is a common problem. This is why NAS is often a prime candidate for consolidation initiatives. Learn how to purchase NAS appliances with an eye toward NAS storage consolidation.
February 17, 2008 17 Feb'08
VMware, LeftHand offer iSCSI SAN as virtual machine

Channel partners will bundle LeftHand's virtual SAN appliance with VMware licenses for an ESX infrastructure that can run on one piece of physical hardware.
February 14, 2008 14 Feb'08
Plasmon tries to raise fresh cash

Struggling optical archive supplier is looking to refinance to stay in the game.
February 13, 2008 13 Feb'08
Telco picks EMC Celerra over HP on "value for money"

HTK deploys an EMC Celerra for combined SAN/NAS access and affordability over its existing HP SAN.
February 13, 2008 13 Feb'08
Effective backup performance tuning and moving bottlenecks in the backup path in the backup path

Tuning throughput is considered an important part of running a successful backup operation.
February 13, 2008 13 Feb'08
HP exec: Storage blades may replace disk arrays in data center

An HP storage executive predicts that storage blades -- storage devices using the form factor and plug-and-play philosophy of blade servers - may replace disk arrays in the next 18 months
February 12, 2008 12 Feb'08
HP pondering storage blades to cut arrays out of the data centre

Hewlett Packard has begun to contemplate blade storage architectures that the company feels could replace dedicated storage arrays.
February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08
European distributor extends FalconStor's reach into UK

European IT distributor, Magirus has extended its distribution agreement with storage management software company FalconStor to cover the UK market in a move welcomed by resellers.
February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08
Rugby club puts backup in safe hands after data loss

Backup as a service is an option for all sizes of business and for different reasons but how do you decide whether your firm should outsource or not?
February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08
8 steps to better data security

Here are eight steps to consider when building a data security strategy.
February 07, 2008 07 Feb'08
Continuity Software turns disaster recovery into a service

Continuity Software enters the services game by offering disaster recovery management software.
February 06, 2008 06 Feb'08
Law firm plans to ditch tape

Irwin Mitchell plans to do away with tape, implement information lifecycle management and achieve BS25999 business continuity certification this year.
February 04, 2008 04 Feb'08
Horticultural Society puts tiered storage into action

The Royal Horticultural Society uses tiered storage automation to keep its picture library updated with the most frequently accessed images while also reducing power consumption.