Object storage
Object storage does away with the tree-like hierarchical file system of NAS and replaces it with a flat structure in which all objects have a unique identifier, with rich metadata that allows indexing, search, and analytics.
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News
05 Mar 2023
FlashBlade//E to open up new opportunities in Australia
Pure Storage’s FlashBlade//E will enable the storage supplier to target medical imaging and remote backup workloads and attract new customers in Australia Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Feb 2023
Unstructured data and the storage it needs
We look at unstructured and semi-structured data and find increasing amounts of production workloads that have their own storage hardware – file and object – needs, including flash Continue Reading
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News
20 Feb 2023
Veeam bundles backup products into Veeam Data Platform
Backup and data protection specialist Veeam upgrades and rebrands, with a focus on the challenges of ransomware and rapid recovery, and a claimed 500 new functions Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Feb 2023
Container storage platforms: Big six approach starts to align
Container storage is a complex but vital task. We survey the big six storage makers and see methods are starting to align around management platforms Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Jan 2023
Green storage: Savings to be made but tricky to achieve
Storage upgrades can bring energy savings. New hardware, the cloud and as-a-service procurement models all cut costs, but can need careful tweaking to get right Continue Reading
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News
23 Jan 2023
NGX: Turkish arrays to challenge US mainstream storage vendors
Ankara-based NGX offers block, file and unified storage with use of cache and RAM to speed access. Software-defined storage, cloud and NVMe-over-fabrics are also coming Continue Reading
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News
20 Jan 2023
Atempo plots course to containerised backup with S3 storage
Containerised modularised backup services will allow integration with third-party systems and backup storage unified onto S3 object storage for cost and analytics purposes Continue Reading
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News
20 Dec 2022
Top 10 emerging storage trends stories of 2022
There’s a seismic shift to the cloud. In its wake, object storage, unstructured data, analytics, unified file and object, and consumption models of procurement have all been boosted Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Dec 2022
Top 10 storage and backup customer stories of 2022
Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 storage and backup customer stories of 2022 Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Nov 2022
From capex to opex: Storage procurement options bloom
We look at the growing list of possibilities when it comes to paying for storage infrastructure, ranging from upfront purchases with upgrades to pure pay-as-you-go options Continue Reading
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E-Zine
29 Nov 2022
How to stop data retention from killing the planet
In this week’s Computer Weekly, there’s a hidden environmental cost to the vast volumes of data being generated – we examine what can be done to address it. We talk to the CISO of consumer reviews site Trustpilot, about building trust in IT security. And we look at what IT leaders can do if they inherit a toxic team environment. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
28 Nov 2022
Panzura partners with AWS on ransomware counter-measures
Panzura might have slipped beneath the waves, but it’s come back reinvigorated, and now boasts integration with AWS with ransomware protection and Outposts hardware Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Pure aims at near bare metal I/O with Portworx PX-Fast
PX-Fast is driven by customer need for scale and high performance in containerised environments and sees reworking of Portworx data architecture to slash storage access time Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Nov 2022
Cloud storage: Key storage specifications
We look at the key specs in cloud storage, including availability – such as five nines – bandwidth, IOPS and latency, capacity and tiering functionality, egress charges and security Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Nov 2022
How to get structure from unstructured data
We look at how to gain structure from unstructured data, via AI/ML analytics to create new records, selecting object data via SQL and storing unstructured files in NoSQL formats Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
Scality Ring 9 brings Storage Accelerator enhanced flash tiers
Scality upgrade to Ring 9 of its object (and file) storage software sees enhancements to tiering, the introduction of Prometheus-based monitoring and hooks into VMware vCloud Director Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2022
NetApp launches BlueXP as single console across on-prem and cloud
BlueXP gives customers monitoring and control over all NetApp storage on-site and in multiple clouds. Meanwhile, its Ontap OS has added S3 object storage access Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2022
Huawei pushes OceanStor’s Arm chip benefits at Paris love-in
Chinese giant trumpets green benefits on its Arm processor hardware with OceanStor Dorado V6 range, which offers huge capacities and performance at the high end Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Oct 2022
Is object storage good for databases?
We look at object storage vs block access SAN storage and ask if object storage can be used for database workloads, or is it just good for bulk storage of analytics datasets? Continue Reading
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News
13 Oct 2022
Bowled out: NVMe flash pioneer Pavilion Data ceases business
Last of the pioneer NVMe flash storage array makers, Pavilion made multiprotocol highs-speed boxes – but it seems to have run out of sources of investment and gone out of business Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2022
PoINT to offer on-site S3 object storage archive on disk and tape
Archival Gateway can cluster up to 256 tape readers to provide S3 object storage clusters capable of storing 50 billion objects per bucket, and giving throughput of 230GBps Continue Reading
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News
09 Sep 2022
Panasas’s double NAS offer aims at multiple analytics workloads
ActiveStor Flash and ActiveStor Ultra XL target I/O profiles from rapid AI/ML to processing-heavy modelling but remain firmly on-prem, with object and cloud declared ‘interesting’ Continue Reading
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News
07 Sep 2022
VMware’s vSAN 8 gets a rebuild for the solid-state storage era
At VMware Explore 2022, we interview VMware’s John Gilmartin about the new, faster vSAN, plans to use DPUs, the vSAN+ cloud offering, and VMware Ransomware Recovery Continue Reading
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News
15 Aug 2022
Lightbits offers NVMe-over-TCP at 5x less than NVMe-over-FC et al
Lightbits builds NVMe-overTCP SAN clusters for Linux servers with Intel cards that accelerate network processing to give millions of IOPS with storage for public and private clouds Continue Reading
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Podcast
05 Aug 2022
Podcast: How storage AIOps is revolutionising hybrid cloud ops
We talk to Tintri about storage and AIOps, which is the application of AI and machine learning-based software to monitor storage infrastructure to be able to detect patterns and predict failure, the need to upgrade, and so on Continue Reading
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Podcast
03 Aug 2022
Podcast: Storage at the edge – impact and opportunities
We talk to Tobias Flitsch of Nebulon about the rise of edge computing and how that will drive demand for more storage that needs to be secure and resilient and centrally manageable Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jul 2022
Unstructured data storage – on-prem vs cloud vs hybrid
We look at storage for unstructured data on-premise, in the cloud and across multiple locations. There are advantages to a hybrid approach, but there can be hidden costs, too Continue Reading
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News
21 Jul 2022
Four key need-to-knows about CXL
Compute Express Link will pool multiple types of memory and so allow much higher memory capacities and the possibility of rapidly composable infrastructure to meet the needs of varied workloads Continue Reading
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News
13 Jul 2022
NHS trust cuts costs and refresh cycle with Wasabi cloud storage
Imperial College NHS Trust expects to saves 30% in storage costs and cut back on five-year refresh headaches in a move that has seen backup and archive data move to the Wasabi cloud Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Jul 2022
File, block and object: Storage fundamentals in the cloud era
We look at the three basic ways that storage accesses data – via file, block and object – as well as the ways in which the rise of the cloud and distributed systems have brought changes to them Continue Reading
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Podcast
21 Jun 2022
Podcast: The legacy and modern apps that drive object storage
We talk to object (and file) storage vendor Scality about the ways the application and development environment is changing and how that is driving object storage Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Jun 2022
Data gravity: What is it and how to manage it
Data gravity can attract increasing amounts of data, and brings with it onerous management overheads. We look at how to mitigate data gravity in datacentre and cloud Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Jun 2022
Unified file and object storage: Three suppliers and their approaches
We look at unified file and object storage products from NetApp, Pure Storage and Scality, the differences, the workloads aimed at, and how unified they actually are Continue Reading
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News
08 Jun 2022
Pure FlashBlade//S and Evergreen//Flex boost as-a-service push
FlashBlade//S brings two new arrays in which customers can upgrade controllers and capacity, while //Flex allows capacity to be bought and moved across any QLC or TLC Pure array Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Jun 2022
Four obstacles to hybrid cloud storage – and possible solutions
We look at obstacles to hybrid cloud storage, such as complexity, a need for object storage, application suitability, and cost, with potential ways to mitigate the problems Continue Reading
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News
18 May 2022
Veeam to continue growth momentum in APAC
Veeam expects its backup offerings that protect ‘strategic workloads’ such as Microsoft 365 and Salesforce to continue driving its growth momentum in the region Continue Reading
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News
18 May 2022
Portworx adds anti-ransomware to PX-Backup for Kubernetes
Pure’s Kubernetes storage and data protection platform adds object locking to combat ransomware Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2022
Video effects firm cuts costs by 20% and goes hybrid with Hammerspace
Jellyfish Pictures saves on rising power and office space costs, as well as Brexit difficulties, by using Hammerspace to allow access to large files from any geographic location Continue Reading
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News
11 May 2022
Pure to offer on-prem object storage as Snowflake data source
Pure Storage partnership with Snowflake will see the cloud data warehousing platform make use of on-prem FlashBlade fast file and object storage as a source for analytics data Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2022
Ctera opens up its storage to third-party analytics via APIs
File system software builds pools of NAS-like storage accessible from anywhere, with APIs to third-party tools to interrogate data for business processes, anomaly detection and more Continue Reading
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News
04 May 2022
PeerGFS to add AI/ML anomaly detection to distributed file system product
Peer will add AI/ML-based anomaly detection as it ramps up security protection in its PeerGFS distributed file management software, with Linux server support also to come in 2022 Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Apr 2022
Storage requirements for AI, ML and analytics in 2022
We look at what is needed for artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the pros and cons of block, file and object storage to store and access very large amounts of often unstructured data Continue Reading
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Podcast
07 Apr 2022
Pure says unstructured data needs storage scale and performance
Podcast: Pure Storage says huge growth of unstructured data and its diversity means storage has to be able to scale with it and offer performance to gain insights Continue Reading
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News
24 Mar 2022
Ad agency slashes NetApp costs with Datadobi data migration
US-based branding agency needed to migrate 20TB of large files to new NetApp hardware, but unwilling to stomach the vendor’s migration costs it chose Datadobi instead Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Mar 2022
Storage suppliers put Kubernetes platforms centre stage
How to orchestrate the orchestrator? Storage suppliers’ Kubernetes management platforms aim to meet storage and data protection challenge in containerised application environments Continue Reading
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E-Zine
15 Mar 2022
How the tech sector is supporting Ukraine
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the global tech sector response to the invasion of Ukraine, and how hackers are responding to calls for an IT army to target Russia. Our latest buyer’s guide looks at cloud-based ERP and other business applications. And IBM’s UK chief tells us how Big Blue is reinventing itself. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Mar 2022
Five key points on file locking vs object locking
We look at file vs object storage locking mechanisms, how different forms of storage ensure data consistency, and especially how object storage is tackling the challenge Continue Reading
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News
22 Feb 2022
Hammerspace offers follow-the-sun access to on-prem and cloud storage
Startup aims to succeed where others have failed and present file, block and object storage data from any and multiple locations as if it were local to the user Continue Reading
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Feature
21 Feb 2022
Storage and 5G: Big impacts likely as wide-area topologies evolve
Enterprise 5G will boost the need for storage generally. It will also push capacity needs closer to the edge and create new locations for processing and storage Continue Reading
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E-Zine
14 Feb 2022
On a mission to track space junk
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the space experts tracking orbital debris using graph database technology. We meet the startups taking very different approaches in trying to develop commercial quantum computers. And we ask why it’s so difficult to build a data science team and how to overcome the challenges. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Feb 2022
Posix vs object storage: How much longer for Posix?
We look at Posix compliance in storage and why it is being challenged by object storage and the need to scale much further than Posix-oriented storage was ever intended to Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Feb 2022
How open source is shaping data storage management
Open source data storage offers a great deal of flexibility, but unlocking its benefits will require strong technical resources to meet requirements such as stability, high availability and security Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2022
TV provider MediaHub boots SAN and NAS for Scality object storage
Sydney-based TV content provider MediaHub got tired of performance issues and scaling difficulties with SAN and NAS, so powered its as-a-service offer with Scality object storage Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Jan 2022
Cloud storage data residency: How to achieve compliance
There’s a conflict between cloud storage and the need to comply with local laws and regulations. We look at cloud data location, data residency, data sovereignty and data adequacy Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Jan 2022
Object storage: How research institute got 850TB for €150,000
French scientific research institute had its budgets cut and to meet the new cost constraints, it settled on Swarm software-defined object storage from DataCore Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Dec 2021
Scale-up vs scale-out: Horizontal vs vertical scaling for storage
We look at the differences between scale-up and scale-out in storage – or horizontal vs vertical scaling – and the key ways it can be carried out on-prem and in the cloud Continue Reading
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News
14 Dec 2021
IT priorities 2022: Ransomware and cloud drive storage and backup
The pandemic and the move to the cloud has driven cloud storage as a key priority Continue Reading
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E-Zine
18 Nov 2021
CW APAC: Expert guide to storage management
The storage landscape is evolving at pace. In this handbook, focused on storage management in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at how firms are rising to the storage challenge, Lenovo’s viewpoint on the region’s market opportunities, how the Malaysian Highway Authority made itself more cyber secure and the advantages of Nexustorage’s latest offering Continue Reading
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News
10 Nov 2021
Vast Data: Big shifts promised for an AI future
Purveyor of Universal Storage says AI and GPU-based compute will dominate, and is set to benefit with its (relatively) cheap, deep and quick QLC-plus-Optane offer Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2021
Spectra Logic unveils Vail hybrid cloud storage virtualisation
Vail provides single pool of storage overlay to on-premise flash, disk and tape, plus cloud via object storage interface with Posix-compliance promised in future releases Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Oct 2021
APAC expert guide to storage management
In this expert guide to storage management in Asia-Pacific, we unpack the developments shaping storage management and key strategies to extract business value from data Continue Reading
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News
12 Oct 2021
NetApp adds CloudCheckr to Spot portfolio
CloudCheckr brings multi-cloud audit capabilities as well as visibility of security and governance in an acquisition that adds to its cloud price optimisation in the Spot portfolio Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Oct 2021
French Caisse uses NetApp to move backups to object storage
State financial arm wanted to move backups held on NAS file-based storage to object storage, so stuck with NetApp StorageGRID and achieved near-seamless migration Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2021
Nexustorage aims at file and block access to object storage
New Zealand-based startup to release Nexfs, which chops files into sub-file chunks and tiers them off to cheap and deep object stores with NFS and iSCSAI access for Posix applications Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Sep 2021
Dell, NetApp and Pure: Healthy results on Covid easing
Dell’s still top of the storage supplier pile with midrange arrays doing well, but meanwhile NetApp and Pure are making gains on the rise of public cloud Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Jul 2021
Storage-as-a-service: Consumption models from the big six
We look at the big six storage makers’ consumption model offers, which allow customers to pay for on-prem hardware and cloud storage capacity on a pay-per-use basis, within limits Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Jul 2021
Briefing: Cloud storage performance metrics
We look at some of the key storage performance metrics that determine what your applications will get from cloud storage, plus cloud essentials that are beyond simple measurement Continue Reading
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News
07 Jul 2021
Flexify brings virtualisation layer to multi-cloud storage
Cloud storage virtualisation provider allows application access via S3 API calls to a single destination while capacity can be in numerous clouds with migration between them Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Jun 2021
Lakehouse concept aims to merge data lake and data warehouse
Data lakes are big, amorphous and difficult to access, while data warehouses are costly and aimed at structured data. The data lakehouse aims at analytics in an age of unstructured data Continue Reading
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News
25 Jun 2021
France TV repatriates backup and archive from public cloud
France Télévisions Publicité couldn’t always get to critical data, so decided to repatriate backup and archiving from the cloud to on-site locations, with help from a managed service Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Jun 2021
Cloud storage APIs: What are they and what can be done with them?
We look at the kinds of application programming interfaces (APIs) available to expose cloud storage to applications, from SME-targeted solutions to higher-end hooks Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Jun 2021
Storage performance metrics: Five key areas to look at
We look at the essentials in storage performance metrics: capacity, throughput and read/write capability, IOPS and latency, and hardware longevity measured by failure rates Continue Reading
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E-Zine
08 Jun 2021
The jobseekers turning to cyber crime in the pandemic
In this week’s Computer Weekly, security researchers say people left unemployed by the pandemic are turning to cyber crime – we find out why. We examine the confluence of distributed cloud and edge computing technologies. And controversial uses of facial recognition technology come under further scrutiny. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
25 May 2021
Valence brings storage virtualisation for the cloud era
Startup 22dot6 launches Valence, software-defined storage that throws a virtualisation layer over any backend storage via multiple nodes that split metadata and storage services Continue Reading
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Feature
20 May 2021
What digital transformation means for data storage
We survey the key planks of digital transformation and look at the storage technologies emerging to support it, such as NVMe and QLC flash, hyper-converged infrastructure and cloud storage Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2021
Scality launches Artesca container-native object storage
Object storage specialist gets on a burgeoning container object storage market with Artesca, which runs from Kubernetes to provide persistent storage for containerised applications Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2021
Ctera KubeFiler to bring Kubernetes storage to its cloud gateways
KubeFiler uses the container storage interface to allow Kubernetes to access persistent storage as if it were from a local NAS device, and while keeping existing access profiles Continue Reading
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Feature
06 Apr 2021
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
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Feature
06 Apr 2021
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
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Feature
26 Mar 2021
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
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News
04 Mar 2021
Veritas looks beyond NetBackup for growth in ASEAN
Veritas has seen increased demand for its availability tools as it looks to address backup and recovery requirements from cloud, database and VMware workloads Continue Reading
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News
03 Mar 2021
UK’s Arkivum up for €4.8m EU science data archive project
CERN-led multi-petabyte scale research data archive bid will use Google cloud and compete with AWS-based and open source designs from other providers Libnova and Onedata Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2021
Veeam v11 adds continuous data protection and cloud archive
Backup specialist’s annual upgrade brings continuous data protection to offer better RPOs and RTOs than existing snapshot functionality and without impact on running processes Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Feb 2021
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
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News
17 Feb 2021
Executive interview: Tapping APAC’s storage potential
Lenovo’s head of storage in Asia-Pacific singles out the region’s market opportunities and predicts that the healthcare sector will go full-fledged with flash storage in the next year Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Feb 2021
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
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News
28 Jan 2021
Nakivo to use AWS Object Lock as anti-ransomware tool
Backup software maker leverages AWS Object Lock’s ability to create immutable WORM repositories as a means of helping organisations protect against malicious deletion or corruption Continue Reading
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News
22 Jan 2021
MinIO stakes leadership claims in cloud object container storage
2016 startup MinIO reckons it has first mover advantage as a container-native platform that provides private/cloud object storage in and orchestrated by Kubernetes Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Jan 2021
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
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Feature
18 Jan 2021
APAC buyer’s guide to data management
In this buyer’s guide, we look at the challenges surrounding why enterprises are struggling to deal with data, the use of cloud data management platforms, artificial intelligence, and recommend some best practices Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2021
Malaysia’s storage market dips amid uncertainty
Malaysia’s enterprise storage market declined 9.2% in 2020, but recovery is on the cards this year as business confidence improves Continue Reading
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News
23 Dec 2020
Top 10 cloud storage stories of 2020
Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cloud storage stories of 2020 Continue Reading
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News
24 Nov 2020
Pure adds block, Azure and convergence to as-a-service offerings
Pure customers can get its storage on-premise, in colocation or the cloud, and now it has added FlashArray C// block capacity and Flash Stack converged infrastructure to the catalogue Continue Reading
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News
10 Nov 2020
IT Priorities 2020: Covid-19 consolidates storage push to cloud
The emphasis on home and remote working has been felt in storage and backup as in all areas of IT, with continued evolution towards the cloud and as-a-service storage and backup Continue Reading
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News
10 Nov 2020
Canada ad firm subtracts 44U with HPE and Ctera hyper-converged
Glenn Davis Group slashed its hardware estate from 48U of rack space to 4U when it ditched its SAN and tape legacy kit for flash-based Ctera X Series and cloud backup Continue Reading
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E-Zine
10 Nov 2020
Using digital twins to cut costs and improve safety at Shell
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at Shell’s digital twin strategy, which combines AI, internet of things and big data to improve safety and cut costs. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the best practices and technologies in business process automation. And we find out why securing DNS is critical to fighting cyber crime. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2020
Quantum’s ATFS aims to classify and manage unstructured data
Quantum triumvirate now comprises ATFS for file system classification and management, StorNext for high performance with large files and ActiveScale object storage as a bulk store Continue Reading
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News
28 Oct 2020
NetApp boosts NVMe, QLC and container hybrid cloud offer
Storage giant NetApp unveils new AFF, FAS and E-series arrays with NVMe and QLC flash capability, plus object storage in Ontap and Spot cloud container resource management in Cloud Manager Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Oct 2020
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
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Feature
28 Sep 2020
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
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News
28 Sep 2020
Swiss ISP opts for Scality object storage for backup service
Move to object storage allows Lake Solutions to cut customer backup costs by 66% while providing new S3-based bucket storage for customers based on Scality on HPE Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2020
India’s storage market takes hit but hasn’t lost its shine
The slower growth in storage spending in India amid the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to be mitigated by digitisation efforts by financial services and manufacturing firms Continue Reading