Storage fabric, switches and networks

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

Storage hardware shortage causes and how to mitigate them

We look at the IT supply chain shortages that have hit data storage equipment, their causes and what organisations can do to work more smartly to mitigate them Continue Reading

Singapore’s met service to get new supercomputer

The Meteorological Service Singapore is getting a new Cray supercomputer to improve weather forecasting and tropical climate research Continue Reading

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

NFS vs SMB vs CIFS: File storage protocols defined

We take a close look at NFS and SMB – the key file storage access protocols – and weigh up their pros, cons and suitability to differing datacentre environments Continue Reading

Edge storage: What it is and the technologies it uses

Storage is moving from the datacentre to the edge. We define edge storage, look at the characteristics of edge computing that shape it and the technologies it requires Continue Reading

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

Inside Russia’s Ukraine information operations

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we get the inside track on Russia’s disinformation operations attempting to spread propaganda and cyber threats about the invasion of Ukraine. Our new buyer’s guide looks at customer and employee experience management. And we assess 10 top Kubernetes backup suppliers. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

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

Dell server, storage, PC sales grow despite component supply chain woes

Dell executives cite the company’s use of “alternative” component supply chains as server, storage and PC sales grow despite difficulties for most of the market sourcing parts Continue Reading

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

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

Need rapid networked storage? Take a look at NVMe-over-TCP

Lightbits helped develop NVMe-over-TCP to provide shared NVMe storage capacity over existing TCP-based networks Continue Reading

Spy tech gets high tech – why MI6 invests in startups

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we’re used to James Bond and his gadgets, but now MI6 is investing in tech startups to develop new intelligence capabilities. Our exclusive IT Priorities survey suggests IT leaders are optimistic about 2022. And our new buyer’s guide examines the latest emerging technologies. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

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

NVMe-over-fabrics: Five need-to-knows

We look at five need-to-knows about NVMe-over-fabrics, such as its implementations – RDMA, Fibre Channel and TCP – use cases, hardware and operating system support Continue Reading

Five things you need to know about NVMe over Fabrics

We look at NVMe-oF, which extends fast flash across the network – what it is, how it works, use cases, benefits and limitations, and the suppliers of NVMe-oF products Continue Reading

Five things you need to know about NVMe over Fabrics

We look at NVMe-oF, which extends fast flash across the network – what it is, how it works, use cases, benefits and limitations, and the suppliers of NVMe-oF products Continue Reading

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

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

IBM refreshes entry-level FlashSystem arrays with a little NVMe

Big Blue refreshes three entry-level systems – the 5200, 5035 and 5015 – with the flagship of them gaining all-NVMe flash storage capability and cluster scaling to 10s of PB Continue Reading

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

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

Four Decades Of Ethernet!!!!

It may be an anniversary that passed people by in the current bizarre climes, but "good old" Ethernet recently celebrated its 40th birthday. I don't think any vendors released a special 40Gbps ... Continue Reading

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

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

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

A peek into the future of storage

Flash-based storage is here to stay and will continue to be enhanced, even as helium and DNA are being primed for use in the distant future Continue Reading

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

Storage analytics: How AI helps storage management

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

Pavilion adds object storage to NVMe Hyperparallel Flash Array

Pavilion responds to customer demand for object storage to support AI/ML, big data analytics workloads with multi-controller NMVe flash storage architecture Continue Reading

Nebulon emerges with software-defined storage, but from the cloud

Startup to offer on-site storage with local I/O and some controller functionality in the cloud, combining software-defined and cloud to bring “fleet management at scale” Continue Reading

SoftIron aims at data too valuable for commodity storage

UK array maker hopes to be the storage provider of choice for those that really value their data, with highly optimised Ceph-powered hardware aimed at HPC users and enterprises Continue Reading

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

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

IT Priorities 2020: Cloud storage key but SAN/NAS alive and well

In the Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey cloud dominates storage spending priorities for 2020, but on-premise technologies such as SAN and NAS are still key to IT Continue Reading

IBM unifies storage arrays under FlashSystem brand

IBM to bring together all non-mainframe storage arrays as FlashSystem product, with options from entry-level to petabyte-scale with NVMe flash and storage class memory Continue Reading

Inside NetApp’s transition into a data management firm

NetApp’s leaders in Asia-Pacific discuss the company’s pivot into data services and its traction in the region Continue Reading

Is facial recognition happening too fast?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the information commissioner calls on police forces to slow down the introduction of facial recognition, we examine the issues. We look at what the use of DevOps methods means for storage strategy. And we talk to Microsoft’s global cyber security chief. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Is NVMe flash the right choice for you?

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

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

UK and Middle East PR firm ditches NetApp for Nutanix and Talon Fast

Four Communications needed better connectivity for collaboration between the UK and its gulf sites, so dumped server/storage for hyper-converged and a distributed file system Continue Reading

Dutch group works on digitising collaborator archives created in aftermath of World War 2

Experiments have been carried out to ascertain the best technology to open up the analogue archives of the Central Archive of Special Justice in the Netherlands Continue Reading

Pure Storage APAC CTO talks up storage trends

Flash-based storage will be around for at least two decades more, while crystal- and DNA-based storage needs a lot more work before becoming mainstream, according to Pure Storage’s CTO for the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading

Pure Storage sees stellar growth in APAC

Pure Storage is expanding its footprint in key markets such as Australia, Japan and South Korea, even as it proceeds with caution in China Continue Reading

French national research centre insources with Rubrik backup

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

Virtual Instruments to add cloud monitoring with Metricly

Storage monitoring specialist Virtual Instruments buys Metricly to add monitoring of AWS compute CPU, memory and resource utilisation to save customer costs Continue Reading

Storage: How ‘tail latency’ impacts customer-facing applications

Henry He of Virtual Instruments looks at tail latency, the small percentage of storage I/O that could be causing big and costly problems for business applications Continue Reading

Australia to upgrade supercomputer in HPC boost

The Gadi supercomputer at the Australian National University will run 10 times faster than its predecessor, giving researchers access to high performance computing resources to solve the toughest research problems Continue Reading

APAC buyer’s guide to NVMe storage

NVMe storage is becoming popular among Asia-Pacific enterprises that want to reduce latency and speed up application performance Continue Reading

CW APAC: Buyer’s guide to NVMe storage

In this handbook, Computer Weekly looks at how NVMe storage is gaining popularity in the race to reduce latency and speed up application performance, and throws light on seven misconceptions around the use of NVMe. Continue Reading

What's In A Number? Er, Lots Of Packets Per Second...

I remember when first testing Gigabit Ethernet (Packet Engines and Foundry Networks for the record) and thinking: "how do we harness this much bandwidth - maybe take a TDM approach and slice it? ... Continue Reading

APAC buyer’s guide to NVMe storage

NVMe storage is becoming popular among Asia-Pacific enterprises that want to reduce latency and speed up application performance Continue Reading

Pure launches ObjectEngine cloud dedupe, plus inter-rack NVMe

Flash storage pioneer offers flash-to-flash-to-cloud ObjectEngine on-premise and in the cloud while boosting connectivity between datacentre racks with NVMe-over-fabrics Continue Reading

Cloud and backup top storage priorities for 2019

Deploying the cloud for primary and secondary storage and backup and archiving project top project priorities in 2019. SAN, NAS and hyper-convergence also prominent Continue Reading

Payday lender cuts troubleshooting by 30% with Virtual Instruments

Curo Financial thought storage was slowing down its websites, but found virtual machine and network issues were to blame. To fix this, it’s going proactive on storage performance issues Continue Reading

Virtual Instruments aims to be “the brain of the datacentre”

Virtual Instruments hopes artificial intelligence and machine learning functionality that helps IT staff spot connections between application and storage performance could put an end to the “war room” Continue Reading

GDPR compliance and storage in digital transformation projects

Key considerations when transforming physical data into digital, the impacts on compliance and how to ensure access, encryption to data and safe disposal of physical assets Continue Reading

Storage 101: Self-encrypting drives' benefits and limitations

Self-encrypting drives are a cost-effective way to ensure compliance in certain situations. We look at self-encrypting drives, what they’re good for and their limitations Continue Reading

A guide to choosing and using all-flash array storage

We take a look at the considerations when devising an all-flash array storage strategy, and what enterprises can do to get the most out of the technology Continue Reading

Taking stock of Dell EMC’s growth in Asia

Tech supplier Dell EMC is riding on growing demand for servers and hyper-converged infrastructure, and investing in more technical resources to support enterprises in digital transformation efforts Continue Reading

Tackling the digital identity problem

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as UK government attempts to create a digital identity standard flounder, we examine progress on establishing the online ID system the digital economy needs. Barclays Bank talks about its move to DevOps and public cloud with Amazon Web Services. And we find out how using AI and chatbots could help improve IT service management. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Future-proofing Gatwick Airport’s networks

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we go behind the scenes at London Gatwick Airport and talk to its CIO about a critical network upgrade to support passenger growth. Our latest buyer’s guide examines automation and intelligent systems management. And we assess and compare the latest technologies for boosting storage performance. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How the internet of things and edge data impact data storage

Remote device data poses challenges for the datacentre, but edge processing, analytics and the cloud can help businesses profit from the promise of the internet of things Continue Reading

NVMe over Fabrics brings benefits of NVMe to shared storage

NVMe over Fabrics – with NVMe carried over Fibre Channel, Ethernet, Infiniband and other protocols – could revolutionise shared storage. We look at how the market is shaping up Continue Reading

NetApp adds Google Cloud NAS and AFF A800 NVMe flash array

NetApp gets on the cloud NAS bandwagon with Google Cloud Platform file storage access, while adding its first NVMe flash-equipped storage array, the AFF A800 Continue Reading

StorageOS makes hybrid cloud container storage platform generally available

StorageOS releases tool that allows management of persistent storage for containers that can operate on-premise, in public cloud and hybrid cloud to provide deployment, QoS and protection Continue Reading

Unitrends launches ‘Veeam killer’ VM Backup Essentials

Backup specialist Unitrends says Veeam has become “arrogant” and abandoned large elements of its customer base. VM Backup Essentials aims to fill gap for VMware users Continue Reading

Pivot3 Cloud Edition adds backup from hyper-converged to AWS

Hyper-converged infrastructure node maker dips its toes into hybrid cloud operations with Pivot3 Cloud Edition on Amazon Web Services to add cloud backup to HCI Continue Reading

Load Dynamix is now WorkloadWisdom and adds more NAS support

Virtual Instruments enhances NAS testing and monitoring capabilities with SMB and 25GbE support in WorkloadWisdom but hybrid cloud monitoring will remain off limits for now Continue Reading

Net gain? Why networks matter when it comes to hyper-convergence

The rise of hyper-convergence is radically changing how enterprises manage their IT estates, but its effect on the network has yet to be fully realised Continue Reading

CW ANZ: Flash arrays make a splash

In this month’s CW ANZ, we find out why a growing number of Australian enterprises are turning to all-flash storage technology to replace spinning disk storage systems, thanks to lower costs and reduced complexity. We also hear from a senior Veritas executive about why extracting more metadata to improve business processes and data management will become more important. And we take a look at how public cloud services have empowered Australian startups to scale up and go global from day one, and identify the key drivers for the development of hyper-converged systems and how they will transform the way applications are delivered. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

British Airways IT glitch caused by human error, says IAG CEO

Airline’s datacentre power failure was caused by an engineer accidentally switching the power off and on again, says parent company Continue Reading

How to tune storage performance for different workloads

We run the rule over what’s needed to get the best storage performance for databases, virtual servers and desktops, web and email servers and analytics use cases Continue Reading

Pure Storage launches FlashArray//X with NVMe drives

FlashArray//X has NVMe drives but end-to-end storage-to-host NVMe connectivity will have to wait for an NVMe-over-fabrics (NVMf) version planned for release later this year Continue Reading

Kaminario looks forward to NVMf, but not this year

All-flash maker Kaminario plans to add NVMe drives, but only when it can replace existing fabric protocols with NVMf and a full stack of advanced storage features Continue Reading

Storage performance 101: Server, array and fabric/network basics

We look at the key performance attributes of storage media in use today, and the choices and basic tuning steps you can take to get the most from your storage Continue Reading

Storage 101: Queue depth, NVMe and the array controller

We look at queue depth and fan-out and fan-in ratios. With NVMe they could become a thing of the past, but for now there’s still a bottleneck at the storage array controller Continue Reading

NVMe: PCIe card vs U.2 and M.2

We talk NVMe form factor choices – add-in card vs U.2. vs M.2 – and their uses, for primary storage or cache, with Server StorageIO founder and analyst Greg Schulz Continue Reading

NVMe over fabrics vs Fibre Channel, Ethernet, Infiniband

NVMe over fabrics takes the built-for-flash advantages of the PCIe-based protocol, and allows NVMe to be sent via Fibre Channel, Ethernet and Infiniband networks Continue Reading

Top 10 ANZ enterprise IT stories of 2016

Here is a rundown of Computer Weekly’s most popular ANZ enterprise IT articles for 2016 Continue Reading

Broadcom buys Brocade but will sell off IP network business

Chipmaker will acquire Brocade for $5.9bn to broaden its storage business, and plans to sell off most of its acquisition’s networking business Continue Reading

CW ANZ: Harnessing the power of server/storage architecture

In this month’s CW ANZ, read about how a council in south-east Queensland swapped its compute and storage systems for cloud services. Redland City Council CIO Glynn Henderson explains why the organisation went for a hybrid cloud system. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Hypergrid adds metered usage and networks to hyper-converged kit

Hyper-converged appliance maker will allow customers to pay for what they use in hardware that will now add networking Continue Reading

Rubrik backup appliance adds physical platforms to hybrid cloud

Flash-powered backup appliances add MS SQL and Linux physical server to VMware backup and hybrid cloud archive in Firefly release, with more physical and endpoint support promised Continue Reading

CW ANZ: June 2016

Read how scientists at a major Australian university are benefiting from the latest storage technology to help them get the most out of advanced IT already in place. More than 100 scientific teams share the sophisticated high-performance computer facilities at Monash University’s eResearch Centre in Melbourne, Australia. To help scientists get the best from the computing facilities, Monash built a state-of-the-art software-defined storage cluster using open source technologies and cost efficient hardware from Dell. Continue Reading

CW ASEAN: June 2016

In this issue we look at a software-defined approach to storage management that combines storage, compute, networking and virtualization technologies. We find out how popular these hyper-converged and converged storage systems are among organizations in Southeast Asia and consider why organizations would move production systems to these. Also read whether Asian CIOs are ready for Docker and container technology. Containers are all the rage among developers. They are well suited to DevOps best practices due to their portability, fast deployment times and standard units of operations. We look at whether Asian CIOs are ready to use this open source technology to build, test and run applications in their organizations. Continue Reading

Software-defined storage the power behind Monash University microscopes

Australian academic institute uses the technology to help it deal with huge – and still growing – storage demands Continue Reading

How IT in a portacabin supports £1bn London Bridge station overhaul

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how a temporary IT set-up based in a portacabin is supporting the UK’s largest critical infrastructure project – the £1bn redevelopment of London Bridge train station. Our latest buyer’s guide looks at converged infrastructure products. And we analyse research showing data protection topping the list of UK security priorities. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Cisco recalls Ethernet switches over fault risk

A potential fault on a number of IE-5000 switches could give users a nasty shock, says supplier Continue Reading

NAS vs object: Which one for large volumes of unstructured data?

Both NAS and object storage offer highly scalable file storage for large volumes of unstructured data, but which is right for your environment? Continue Reading

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: think of us as a startup

As Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc finally part ways, UK managing director Andy Isherwood shares some insight on what the future holds for the newly minted enterprise business Continue Reading

Will digital government remain on course?

In this week's Computer Weekly, the UK government's digital chief has announced his shock departure, but what will it mean for the future of digital public services? Dell went back to a private company two years ago – has it proved to be a successful move? And our latest buyer's guide looks at big data appliances. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Wellcome Trust builds 1,728-core grid for DNA analysis

The Wellcome Trust Centre has deployed a high-performance computing cluster based on Fujitsu servers Continue Reading

Interview: The IT powering animated movie-making

Video special effects require similar processing to oil and gas, but lack the budget, says head of technology at Illumination Mac Guff, Bruno Mahe Continue Reading

EMC buys out Cisco’s stakes in VCE as year-on-year revenue jumps 9%

Storage giant EMC has reported a 9% increase year on year for the third quarter of 2014, thanks to revenue rises across its divisions Continue Reading

The challenges facing HP as it splits in two

HP is splitting its business in two - but it is a reaction to the changing way that businesses and consumers buy IT Continue Reading

Facebook shares lessons learnt from deploying Raid in HDFS clusters

Facebook deployed Raid in large HDFS clusters to increase capacity and reduce data replication, but it faced many challenges Continue Reading

How big data brings big donations for charities

In this week’s Computer Weekly, hear how big data is helping charities to improve their fundraising by better targeting potential donors. We find out how the UK’s biggest newspaper publisher is moving its IT to the cloud. And we examine the options for datacentre cooling technologies to cut your energy costs. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method

Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software Continue Reading

Converged stacks: What they are and the benefits they bring

We survey the converged stacks market: Servers, storage and networking in pre-configured product bundles for specific virtualisation and application use cases. Continue Reading

UK IT spending to outpace rest of Europe in 2014

Computer Weekly research reveals the IT spending priorities for UK and European organisations in 2014. Continue Reading

Business-defined storage will help reconnect businesses with IT, says Forrester

Business-defined storage and datacentres will make IT more business-centric, according to Forrester Continue Reading

Emulex ExpressLane and CrossLink boost HBAs for flash and Hadoop

Storage card maker Emulex has added QoS prioritisation for flash storage and leveraged RDMA via Fibre Channel to increase server performance in clustered operations such as Hadoop Continue Reading