Server hardware
Servers are the workhorse of every IT infrastructure, and new developments are constantly delivering greater processor power, higher performance, more storage capacity and better energy efficiency. From mainframes to blade servers, we analyse the trends and technologies that matter in server hardware.
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Feature
11 Apr 2024
Storage technology explained: AI and data storage
In this guide, we examine the data storage needs of artificial intelligence, the demands it places on data storage, the suitability of cloud and object storage for AI, and key AI storage products Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2024
Breakthrough may herald secure home quantum computing
An emerging approach to quantum security dubbed blind quantum computing may one day help spur mass adoption of quantum computing safely and securely, using technology that is already available today Continue Reading
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News
05 Mar 2021
Clarification needed on IT ‘super-deduction’ allowance
Chancellor announces that companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery assets will be able to claim a ‘super-deduction’ allowance Continue Reading
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News
03 Mar 2021
IBM eyes hybrid cloud opportunity in ASEAN
The hybrid cloud message is resonating among Southeast Asian enterprises that are looking to modernise their applications and systems, says IBM’s general manager for the region Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2021
Oracle unveils final cog in cloud strategy
Oracle’s Roving Edge Infrastructure is getting interest from mining companies in Australia and manufacturers in ASEAN that are looking to run cloud-based workloads in edge locations Continue Reading
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News
26 Jan 2021
Saudi IT spending to hit $11bn in 2021
Saudi Arabian organisations will spend about $11bn on IT this year, with emerging technologies high on shopping lists Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Dec 2020
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
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Blog Post
10 Dec 2020
Throwback Thursday: x86 Server virtualisation check point
As our contribution to the bit of fun that is Throwback Thursday, we're taking a weekly stroll in the Freeform Dynamics archives. To say that server – and indeed data centre – virtualisation has ... Continue Reading
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News
09 Dec 2020
HPE offers on-demand high-performance computing managed service via GreenLake
HPE claims its preconfigured HPC service can speed up the deployment of high-performance computing projects and reduce capital expenditure Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Dec 2020
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
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Feature
04 Dec 2020
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
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30 Nov 2020
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
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News
27 Nov 2020
NI police unable to delete data seized unlawfully from journalists for 10 years
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to delete terabytes of unlawfully seized data taken from journalists who exposed police failings in the investigation of the Loughinisland sectarian murders Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Nov 2020
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
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Feature
09 Nov 2020
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
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News
05 Nov 2020
Slot of the Antarctic: Tape the best option for polar survey backup
Tape deemed the best medium for backup on board the Antarctic research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough, with Quantum’s Scalar i3 chosen in a fully redundant deployment Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2020
HPE to build new Pawsey supercomputers
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has snagged a A$48m deal to deliver a supercomputer for Australia’s Pawsey Supercomputing Centre Continue Reading
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E-Zine
20 Oct 2020
Why is IBM splitting in two and what does it mean for CIOs?
In this week’s Computer Weekly, IBM is splitting in two, hiving off its services business to focus on hybrid cloud – we examine what it means for CIOs. Our new buyer’s guide looks at how intelligent workload management can cut cloud complexity. And we analyse how getting backup right can help tackle ransomware threats. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
13 Oct 2020
DBS to deploy IBM z15 mainframes
Singapore’s DBS Bank has signed a seven-year deal with IBM to run and modernise mission-critical applications on z15 mainframes Continue Reading
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News
07 Oct 2020
Carhartt shifts old data to the cloud with Komprise
US-based workwear manufacturer cuts storage costs from $1 to $0.25 per gigabyte as it deploys data management software and shifts old files to Microsoft Azure Blob and Cold storage Continue Reading
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News
07 Oct 2020
Nvidia reveals its plans for Arm
Nvidia intends to acquire Arm for £31bn, as part of its plan to “create the computing company for the age of AI” Continue Reading
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Feature
06 Oct 2020
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
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Feature
02 Oct 2020
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
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News
29 Sep 2020
Red Hat rivals VMware and Nutanix with hyper-converged OCS 4.5
Red Hat’s OpenShift 4.5 extended container orchestration to virtual machines. The arrival of OCS 4.5 moves the solution into the realm of hyper-converged systems Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2020
Iliad Group makes €2.2bn Play acquisition
In a move covering Poland, France and Italy, parent company of French operator Iliad announces public tender offer for leading Polish mobile provider Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2020
Nutanix boosts storage performance by 50% with BlockStore
Hyper-converged infrastructure pioneer Nutanix boosts access to NVMe and potentially Optane storage with BlockStore, which avoids the need to access the deepest layers of the OS Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2020
Broadcom launches Brocade gen7 Fibre Channel switches
New generation Fibre Channel doubles performance to 64Gbps with switches and HBAs now available. But what future for Fibre Channel with NVMe-over-fabrics hitting the datacentre? Continue Reading
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News
02 Sep 2020
Nimbus Data launches 64TB of QLC flash in one drive for £8,000
Flash pioneer aims QLC-equipped ExaDrive NL at AI/ML, analytics, media streaming and archiving use cases. Nimbus eschews NVMe for well-established SAS and SATA connectivity Continue Reading
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News
26 Aug 2020
HPE sees IT spending increase – expect server prices to rise
Organisations are buying more tech to keep operations running, but DRAM shortages will lead to server price increases Continue Reading
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News
25 Aug 2020
Intel’s DAOS tops the IO500 speed challenge for HPC storage
Following on from Lustre, Intel’s DAOS is an object storage-based system with that is designed specifically for use with Optane for metadata and SSD for bulk storage in HPC environments Continue Reading
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News
14 Aug 2020
Russia’s Fancy Bear targets Linux environments with Drovorub malware
The Russian intelligence-linked Fancy Bear group is deploying a new malware called Drovorub against Linux environments as part of a cyber espionage operation, according to US warnings Continue Reading
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News
12 Aug 2020
Pure and Cohesity launch FlashRecover for flash-speed restores
Flash market pioneer links up with scale-out backup product maker to provide bundled backup plus super-fast recovery based around Pure FlashBlade storage arrays Continue Reading
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Photo Story
12 Aug 2020
Preview of The National Museum of Computing’s virtual tour
We preview a new exhibition running at The National Museum of Computing Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2020
Nutanix launches Clusters in AWS for hybrid cloud hyper-converged infrastructure
HCI pioneers launches Nutanix Clusters, which will provide hyper-converged deployments across customer datacentres and the Amazon cloud, but only in Acropolis and on AWS for now Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2020
Nutanix Clusters on AWS debuts in 20 cloud regions
In technical preview since 2019, Nutanix Clusters on AWS will enable unified operations across private and public clouds Continue Reading
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News
05 Aug 2020
Atos signs £5m supercomputing deal to support Oxford University-led AI research push
University-led push to accelerate the pace of machine learning and artificial intelligence research in UK enters new phase with the deployment of a second supercomputer Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jul 2020
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
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Feature
24 Jul 2020
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
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News
22 Jul 2020
Inside Intel’s transition into an enterprise tech company
Computing giant Intel is pushing deeper into the enterprise with investments in data-centric and emerging technologies along with partnerships with local firms to develop new solutions Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2020
University graduates to Nutanix Files hyper-converged NAS
The University of Reading had already deployed Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure so it made sense to add Nutanix Files when its ageing NAS boxes bit the dust Continue Reading
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E-Zine
14 Jul 2020
Is digital art coming of age during lockdown?
In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the pandemic forces many sectors into a business rethink, digital art is hoping to capitalise on changing times. Chinese supplier Lenovo is dominating the supercomputer market – we examine how it got there. And as datacentre engineers become key workers, we look at the health and safety issues. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
01 Jul 2020
Lenovo, top-of-the-world Chinese supercomputer supplier, sweeps all markets
Supercomputers are not just about computing power, they are a symbol of political ambition. Chinese supercomputer supplier Lenovo is now the dominant supplier across the world Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2020
Inside Lenovo’s transition to a solutions provider
Lenovo’s long-term transformation from a primarily hardware supplier to an IT solutions provider is progressing, but the journey isn’t over yet Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Jun 2020
Vendors investigate chiplets as CPU expansion option
As chipmakers expand the amount of processing power in CPUs, some are considering the use of chiplets. These modular silicon pieces offer a possible option for scalable designs. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2020
Lidl Finland speeds up with new local server racks
Lidl brings server racks to its Finnish stores in a bid to improve connectivity and introduce new services to its customers Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Jun 2020
An in-depth look at calculating server hardware costs for SMBs
Servers can be expensive, but there's more to the purchase than just the price of the hardware. Learn what additional items an SMB must factor into the overall cost. Continue Reading
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Opinion
29 May 2020
The new future of work
We may come to stop talking about ‘remote’ working altogether after the coronavirus pandemic. It could become just ‘working’ – part of the normal mix of how things are done Continue Reading
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E-Zine
19 May 2020
Ocado makes the friendly workplace robot a reality
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how Ocado is making robot-human collaboration a reality with its Armar-6 smart robot. Unified communications has become a must-have lockdown capability – we assess the key technologies. And as contact-tracing apps emerge to help deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, we examine the data privacy challenges. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
07 May 2020
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
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Feature
05 May 2020
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
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News
23 Apr 2020
What comes after flash? Weebit Nano hopes its ReRAM will
Weebit Nano’s ReRAM stores bits by building resistive filaments and promises a 1,000x speed boost over flash in chips that can store data for years and is well-suited to edge uses Continue Reading
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News
22 Apr 2020
How DBS is reaping the dividends of digital transformation
At DBS Bank, the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated the value of technology and the investments it made over the past decade to modernise its technology stack Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2020
Folding@home invites people to share processors to combat coronavirus
In the 1990s, people could donate their spare computing in a distributed project to find aliens. Now distributed simulations are tackling the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading
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Podcast
14 Apr 2020
Podcast: Ruthlessly prioritise applications during Covid-19
We talk to Alex McMullan, CTO international at Pure Storage, about scaling up storage and compute for remote working and why that means prioritising applications Continue Reading
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News
03 Apr 2020
Singapore researchers get priority access to HPC resources
Singapore’s National Supercomputing Centre is fast-tracking access to its high-performance computing resources for researchers working on Covid-19-related projects Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Apr 2020
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
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News
27 Mar 2020
Huawei to boost Kunpeng ecosystem in cloud play
Chinese tech giant will shell out $200m this year to build an ecosystem around its Arm-based processor to bolster its position in the cloud computing market Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2020
Smartbox move to Nutanix HCI a catalyst for IT team revamp
Gift supplier reorganises IT team structures as Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure helps sweep away legacy architecture for hybrid cloud and containerised operations Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Mar 2020
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
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Feature
19 Mar 2020
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
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News
11 Mar 2020
Microsoft locks down new vulnerability with EternalBlue echoes
Microsoft has moved to get ahead of a serious remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1, which was accidentally disclosed then missed in its March Patch Tuesday update Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Mar 2020
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
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Feature
09 Mar 2020
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
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Feature
05 Mar 2020
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
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Feature
03 Mar 2020
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
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Feature
02 Mar 2020
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
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News
18 Feb 2020
China’s tech sector to shrink by 10% in Q1 amid virus outbreak
Hardware makers will be hit more badly than software houses, but the decline in China’s ICT market will be limited to the first quarter Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Feb 2020
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
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Feature
04 Feb 2020
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
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News
29 Jan 2020
Formulus Black Forsa turns memory into block storage
Forsa allows customers to bring application data into memory, by provisioning DRAM or persistent memory as block access storage with latency several times better than NVMe flash Continue Reading
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News
24 Jan 2020
Cyber gangsters publish staff passwords following ‘Sodinokibi’ attack on car parts group Gedia
Sodinokibi hacking group steps up pressure on German automotive manufacturer by publishing information, including the CEO’s computer password and sensitive details of its IT systems, on the internet Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Jan 2020
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
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News
14 Jan 2020
Citrix NetScaler vulnerabilities won’t be patched until end of January
Some vulnerabilities identified in Citrix products will not be fully patched until the end of January 2020 Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2020
Secure data erasure is needed to ensure more people recycle their tech
A dedicated team of IT recycling experts offers free data erasure to give people confidence that their old tech can be safely disposed of Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Jan 2020
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
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News
07 Jan 2020
Scale’s HE150 the first of a big push to small edge HCI hardware
Scale Computing aims to scale to micro-sized hyper-converged with a lightweight operating system it claims its competitors can’t match for edge and remote location deployments Continue Reading
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E-Zine
07 Jan 2020
Digital fashion for sustainable consumption
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at fashion for online personas, report on a programme to get more young women into cyber security, and examine edge computing as the new data frontier and how cloud-native platforms and AI might transform the datacentre. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Jan 2020
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
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Feature
23 Dec 2019
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
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News
15 Dec 2019
Top IT predictions in APAC in 2020
The rise of super apps, Wi-Fi 6 enabled services and cross-functional platform engineering teams are likely to dominate the Asia-Pacific IT landscape in 2020 Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Dec 2019
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
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News
09 Dec 2019
China bans foreign computing kit from government contracts
All government offices and public institutions must eliminate foreign hardware and software within three years, according to a leaked directive dubbed 3-5-2 Continue Reading
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News
04 Dec 2019
AWS Outposts debuts in Australia
Amazon Web Services rolls out Outposts in Australia, enabling enterprises to run a consistent version of the AWS platform at locations that require low latency Continue Reading
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Opinion
03 Dec 2019
Security Think Tank: In-depth protection is a matter of basic hygiene
The belief that effective perimeter security is the best way to protect data is a fallacy that is being repeatedly exposed. We must recognise the need for a data-centric security model to protect data from both internal and external threats, but what does this mean for security professionals? Continue Reading
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News
25 Nov 2019
University of Leicester dumps SANs and LUNs for Cloudian object storage
One-to-one mapping between Dell SANs and media servers had passed their sell-by date and caused vulnerabilities for the University of Leicester, which fixed the problems by a move to “stateless” object storage on Cloudian Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Nov 2019
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
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News
20 Nov 2019
Swedish hospitals suffer IT crashes
Hospitals in Sweden’s West Götaland region have suffered computer problems because of as-yet unexplained hard drive crashes Continue Reading
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News
19 Nov 2019
Businesses failing to wipe data from old endpoints
Organisations are not taking adequate precautions to sanitise data held on endpoints when refreshing their PC or mobile device estates Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2019
DataCore adds file and S3 object storage with vFilO
Software-defined storage specialist DataCore has added file storage and S3 object storage access with vFilO, which lets customers create virtual pools from on-site and remote datastores Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Nov 2019
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
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Feature
08 Nov 2019
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
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News
08 Nov 2019
Security pros urged to get ahead of incoming BlueKeep exploits
The BlueKeep RDP vulnerability is beginning to be exploited in the wild, and security teams have no excuse for not trying to get in front of it, says Microsoft Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Nov 2019
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
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News
29 Oct 2019
NordVPN enlists ethical hackers, launches bug bounty programme
Breached consumer VPN supplier details steps it is taking to shore up its cyber security posture after an unknown actor gained access to one of its servers Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2019
Total saves £95,000 a year with Nutanix hyper-converged
Gas and electricity supplier struggled with ageing traditional infrastructure, but moved to hyper-converged for projects that include containers and DevOps deployments Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2019
NordVPN blames datacentre provider for server breach
VPN provider insists no user data was compromised in a March 2018 server breach, and says its datacentre provider failed to inform it of the issue Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2019
APAC spending on AI systems to hit $6.2bn in 2019
Led by China and organisations in the banking industry, APAC spending on artificial intelligence is set to grow by almost 64% this year, according to IDC Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2019
Virtual Instruments is now Virtana and aims at cloud, containers
Searches for “Virtual Instruments” returned too many synthesizers, so storage monitoring pioneer went through a blue sky ordeal. It has new plans for cloud and container capability, too Continue Reading
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News
01 Oct 2019
Intel previews Optane persistent memory, QLC SSD and even PLC
Intel sets out roadmap for second-generation Optane persistent memory – between SSD and DRAM – as well as QLC SSD, with talk of PLC (penta-level cell) after that Continue Reading
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News
30 Sep 2019
HPE refurbishes legacy IT assets to make money for users
HPE Financial Services is giving old IT assets a new lease of life at its tech renewal site in Erskine, near Glasgow, as part of a promotion of the circular economy Continue Reading
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News
27 Sep 2019
How Graphcore is putting AI on steroids
UK chipmaker Graphcore’s intelligence processing unit may just hold the key to unlocking the full potential of artificial intelligence Continue Reading
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News
23 Sep 2019
The perfect storm for silicon photonics
By packaging optics with silicon chips, silicon photonics will enable datacentres to keep up with the exponential growth in demand for bandwidth Continue Reading