Storage management and strategy

SME disaster recovery: Five key points to consider

We look at key DR considerations for SMEs, including RPOs, RTOs, infrastructure needed for effective continuity and the right combination of cloud and in-house provision Continue Reading

CXL in the datacentre: Boosting memory for hungry workloads

We look at CXL, how it revolutionises connectivity between memory components, potentially saves energy, and adds oomph to heavily memory-dependent workloads such as AI analytics Continue Reading

HPE storage comes with full IT stack, hybrid cloud and as a service

Storage profile: We look at HPE, its Alletra storage refresh, and Greenlake and the ways the company is re-branding as a full-stack provider across on-prem and hybrid cloud Continue Reading

VMware builds vSAN Max, consolidates multicloud and online deployment

VMware launches new iteration of vSAN Max with up to 8.6PB of independently scalable storage, NSX gets a “+” as it unifies networks and Ransomware Recovery ups efficiency Continue Reading

Podcast: AI threats mean backup and security must work as one

Malicious use of artificial intellience against scattered data stores means data protection and security must go hand-in-hand. That’s the view of Gaidar Magdanurov, chief success officer at Acronis Continue Reading

CW APAC: Expert advice on storage and backup

In this handbook, focused on storage and backup in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at why 3-2-1 backup is still relevant, how researchers are overcoming restraints found in typical DNA storage systems, Dell’s latest offerings and the future of HDDs Continue Reading

Nutanix GPT-in-a-Box aims hyper-converged at AI/ML use cases

Nutanix targets a pre-configured bundle of AI/ML and GPT software with hyper-converged infrastructure and GPT to help organisations safely take advantage of learning networks Continue Reading

Huawei a big storage hitter despite international troubles

Huawei is a leading storage player with an enterprise product offer across file, block and object storage, and the cloud, despite controversy and trading difficulties Continue Reading

Podcast: File synchronisation benefits and use cases

If you’ve got the bandwidth and you need to share files or even synchronise virtual desktops, file synchronisation is worth a look. That’s the view of Peer Software CEO Jimmy Tan Continue Reading

Podcast: HDDs have a long life ahead in certain workloads

Spinning disk hard drives are far from dead, and with data volumes set to explode, there are use cases that suit them well. That’s the view of Rainer Kaese of Toshiba in this podcast Continue Reading

HPE’s Alletra MP marries storage to cloud and software-defined choices

HPE’s Alletra was launched in April with an architecture that ties in with GreenLake consumption purchasing, SaaS configuration and addition of software-defined storage services Continue Reading

Cubbit offers cut-price cloud with DS3 distributed storage

Cubbit’s DS3 offers cloud at up to 20% the cost of the main providers via on-premise software that builds a cloud with other users and targets unstructured data use cases such as backup Continue Reading

Vast Data Platform aims at storage everywhere for AI/ML workloads

Vast Data to offer storage with data lake and warehouse functionality built in natively, in anticipation of a huge surge in AI/ML workloads and a need for ever-larger data stores Continue Reading

Evaluate object storage advantages and disadvantages

Object storage advantages include capacity and flexibility, while access time is one of the disadvantages. Compare key pros and cons of this trending type of storage. Continue Reading

Podcast: Sizing data storage for AI/ML workloads

Artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads come with I/O profiles of different shapes and sizes. We talk to Curtis Anderson of Panasas about how best to procure and size storage for them Continue Reading

Generative AI: Automating storage and backup management

We look at how generative artificial intelligence is being deployed to automate monitoring of repetitive tasks and report on enterprise storage and backup, but also the limits to its implementation Continue Reading

Backup in the age of cloud

The 3-2-1 backup strategy remains relevant in the age of cloud, giving rise to hybrid approaches that combine on-premise and cloud backups to minimise data loss, reduce downtime and improve redundancy Continue Reading

NUS researchers develop biological camera to store images

NUS researchers have built a biological camera to store and organise images on live cells, potentially shaking up the data storage industry Continue Reading

Software-defined storage: What’s available from key players

What’s available in software-defined storage from the big storage players, software-defined storage specialists, and SDS options focused on cloud, virtualisation and containers Continue Reading

Hitachi Vantara: Small part of a big corp and analytics focus

We look at Hitachi Vantara, its storage, its cloud offer, the workloads it targets, and its efforts in containerisation and consumption models of storage purchasing Continue Reading

Johnson Controls opts for container-based app delivery with Portworx

Buildings management giant built a suite of customer-facing products using containers and opted for Pure Storage Portworx for hybrid cloud container management and data protection Continue Reading

Aussie-built database migration tool makes global debut

MongoDB’s engineering team in Australia has built a database migration tool to help customers migrate traditional relational databases to its document database Continue Reading

Generative AI: Data privacy, backup and compliance

We look at generative AI and the risks it poses to data privacy for the enterprise, implications for backup, and potentially dangerous impacts on compliance Continue Reading

Podcast: Cloud security, compliance and data classification

The rise of cloud has led to a proliferation of enterprise data and a rise in risk. We talk to Vigitrust CEO Mathieu Gorge about how to ensure compliance in a multicloud world Continue Reading

Oracle opens first EU-based sovereign cloud regions in Germany and Spain

Database software giant is making good on its July 2022 pledge to open a series of sovereign cloud regions to cater to the data protection needs of EU-based enterprises Continue Reading

Pure Storage: HDDs dead by 2028 and our flash will replace it

Pure Storage says spinning disk is doomed, and only it can provide a replacement. We look at the rationale behind its bold message, and the possible impacts of such a scenario Continue Reading

Podcast: Containers, Kubernetes, data protection and compliance

Containers offer benefits to application deployment, but they proliferate, so tracking them for compliance purposes can be a challenge. We talk to Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust Continue Reading

Progress Software releases patch for second MOVEit Transfer vulnerability

Progress Software releases a patch for a second MOVEit Transfer issue, which was uncovered by third-party security specialist Huntress Security during post-incident code scanning Continue Reading

Podcast: Storage, backup, AI and data classification at RSA 2023

Much discussion at RSA 2023 about artificial intelligence, the risks to data protection, storage and compliance, plus risk and data classification, especially its impacts on access and data management Continue Reading

Software-defined storage: What it is and variants available

SDS is available in numerous variants. It is usually cheaper, flexible to deploy and brings storage efficiencies, but there are pitfalls in complexity, management and performance Continue Reading

ESA uses NetApp as-a-service for space data ‘hot’ archive

The European Space Agency collects data from millions of miles away. It must get storage right when there’s no chance of a u-turn to take more photos or re-record data Continue Reading

Panasas to add S3 support to edge storage and cloud moves

Scale-out NAS maker – which specialises in large capacity for AI/ML and HPC – has come out of its on-prem shell and now plans further moves towards cloud-friendly object storage Continue Reading

Almost all ransomware attacks target backups, says Veeam

Some 93% of ransomware attacks go for backups and most succeed, with 60% of those attacked paying the ransom, according to a Veeam survey Continue Reading

Cohesity Turing aims AI tools at backup and ransomware

Backup supplier continues to enrich its ecosystem with more artificial intelligence for backup and ransomware, with chat-like reporting functions and new security partners in its alliance Continue Reading

Aston Martin gets F1 pole position with NetApp storage

AMF1 race team tracks hundreds of car sensor metrics for raceday and post-event analysis that has seen it surge forward in recent Formula One rankings with NetApp NVMe storage Continue Reading

NetApp to promise ransomware warranty payout

NetApp will recover data hit by ransomware or pay a warranty, and has added entry-level SAN arrays and full access to all NetApp software across its hardware families Continue Reading

Nebulon aims Tripline at ransomware detection in storage

Tripline claims ransomware detection from samples every 30 seconds and works in conjunction with snapshots to deliver recovery from an attack in four minutes Continue Reading

OVHcloud aims to bring Glacier-like cloud archive to Europe

OVHcloud makes Cold Archive GA with deep archive storage cheaper than AWS’s offer and all based on IBM 3592 tape hardware spread across four sites with Atempo backup Continue Reading

Data classification tools: What they do and who makes them

Data classification is necessary for all organisations for reasons that range from simply putting data on the most cost-efficient media to ensuring legal and regulatory compliance Continue Reading

Quantum computing: What are the data storage challenges?

Quantum computing will be able to process massive amounts of data at extraordinary speeds, but challenges exist in data storage. How will today’s storage systems keep pace? Continue Reading

Seagate launches 22TB IronWolf straight into QNAP NAS partnership

Seagate’s 22TB IronWolf Pro HDD equals Western Digital for capacity. Of the big drive makers, only Toshiba now lags behind. QNAP NAS to offer petabyte capacities with new Seagate drive Continue Reading

Podcast: No more hard disks in five years, says Pure

We talk to Shawn Rosemarin of Pure Storage, who argues there will be no more hard drive sales in five years because energy costs and capacity needs can only be fulfilled by flash Continue Reading

Veritas shows off software SAN for Kubernetes at KubeCON 2023

Veritas InfoScale aims to provide high-performance block access storage despite limitations such as a maximum node count of 16 per cluster Continue Reading

Podcast: Ransomware, data protection and compliance

Ransomware is a huge and ever-present threat, but there are ways to avoid it and to mitigate its effects. We get key practical steps from Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust Continue Reading

IT Priorities 2023: Cloud and disaster recovery top storage and backup plans

Cloud storage still the biggest project planned in data storage in 2023, with disaster recovery the most important area in data protection cited by TechTarget/Computer Weekly survey respondents Continue Reading

HPE launches GreenLake for File and Block, and unified arrays

HPE upgrades its storage-as-a-service offer with Greenlake for File and for Block, configurable via the cloud but deployable on-prem. Meanwhile it shows new Alletra MP arrays Continue Reading

Podcast: Cloud storage, data protection and compliance

The lure of cloud storage hides its drawback, namely that you can lose control of it from a compliance perspective. We talk to Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust, about how to tame it Continue Reading

IBM Storage launched with backup appliance plan

Prosaically named brand will replace Spectrum products, while IBM rationalises offer for AI/ML, hybrid cloud and malware, which it sees as the backdrop to contemporary IT Continue Reading

HDD specs: Assess SATA vs SAS, sustained data rates and block size

In part two of a two-part series, we look at sustained data rates in hard disk drive specs, SATA versus SAS, drive security, and how HDD makers pack density into products by shingling Continue Reading

Why Veeam thinks ransomware warranty payouts are unlikely

Veeam Data Platform v12 offers a financial guarantee to customers that can’t restore after ransomware attacks, but the backup supplier is convinced it won’t be making many payouts Continue Reading

The risks of an imbalance in AI

In this week’s Computer Weekly, a leading AI expert explains the risks of an arms race in artificial intelligence caused by the domination of private sector providers. Our latest buyer’s guide examines ways to reduce IT’s energy use. And we analyse the latest damning revelations from the Post Office scandal inquiry. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Vast Data’s ‘Act 2’ builds data management layer on QLC flash

Vast Data offers QLC flash bulk storage with a rapid cache I/O layer. Now, it has embarked on offering big data, analytics and application access to highly available data stores Continue Reading

CW APAC: Buyer’s guide to SASE

Appropriate networking and security functions are integral to cyber defence. In this handbook, focused on secure access service edge in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at its key benefits, how cloud security firm Zscaler aims to improve, the dangers of advanced persistent threat groups and why Australian businesses are waking up to the importance of security investment. Continue Reading

QLC edges into mainstream, but what are its advantages?

QLC flash offers high density but has lifecycle limitations. But what does it really cost compared with TLC and MLC, and how are suppliers implementing it and getting around durability issues? Continue Reading

Liverpool Football Club signs Wasabi in on-premise-to-cloud storage transition

Liverpool Football Club has transitioned from lead-footed on-premise infrastructure to Wasabi cloud storage that’s well-suited to its video production and distribution requirements Continue Reading

Velero wants to become the Kubernetes backup standard

Open source Velero offers modular data protection and disaster recovery functionality via API for Kubernetes container clusters in an effort to become the standard in the field Continue Reading

CW EMEA: How Sweden is accelerating digitisation

Large conglomerates with diverse business portfolios face challenges when digitally transforming because one size cer-tainly doesn’t fit all. In this month’s CW EMEA, we find out how Richard Ventre, group CIO at Dutch company SHV Holdings, goes about ensuring his IT department pro-vides the foundations for a wide variety of businesses to thrive digitally. We also find out how to make the most of a composable enterprise architecture and how green storage can deliver savings if done right. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Podcast: 2023 compliance and storage outlook

Geopolitical instability casts its shadow as organisations must think about cyber attacks, data location and what to do if things change quickly. We talk to Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust Continue Reading

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

Backup testing: The why, what, when and how

We look at backup testing – why you should do it, what you should do, when you should do it, and how, with a view to the ways in which it will be made easier by forthcoming developments in backup software Continue Reading

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

How Dell is future-proofing its business

Dell Technologies is building a more resilient supply chain, investing in growth areas like edge and multicloud, and responding to shifts in consumption models to position itself for long-term growth Continue Reading

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

Porsche revs up Formula E team with NetApp hybrid cloud

Porsche’s electric car racing team has to set up on city street courses in short order, and does it with a portable server setup and hybrid cloud storage managed by NetApp GFC Continue Reading

Rakuten targets big edge deployments with Symworld Cloud

Japanese giant Rakuten bought Kubernetes management platform Robin.io and put it in 50,000-plus telco antennas. Now it aims Symworld Cloud at enterprise edge deployments Continue Reading

Backup maintenance: Make sure backups can deliver

Deploying backup but overlooking the need to make sure it works is a common error. We look at the why and how of backup maintenance to help ensure you can recover from your backups Continue Reading

6 best practices for metadata storage and management

Metadata is crucial to getting the most out of data, so organizations should store it properly. Best practices include protection and understanding the IT architecture. Continue Reading

Tiger’s hybrid cloud storage targets medical imaging

Tiger Bridge targets vertical sectors that find it hard to migrate to the cloud by allowing data storage in the cloud while using files locally as if stored on-premise Continue Reading

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

IT’s shift to the cloud: Veeam’s data protection report in detail

With half of servers in the cloud, most backup and nearly all disaster recovery cloud-centric, the shift to the cloud is significant – but container backup is one area that is yet to settle down Continue Reading

DataCore software-defined storage helps car firm avoid breakdowns

Bontaz used to face regular IT outages that took too long to recover from. Then it got DataCore software-defined storage and the ability to rapidly recover from downtime Continue Reading

Veeam survey finds ransomware blocks digital transformation

Annual report shows secular trend to the cloud and increased use of containers, but prevalence of ransomware attacks means digital transformation is hindered Continue Reading

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

Top data storage best practices include security, sustainability

Budgets are tight and risks are pervasive, so it's critical for admins to get the most out of storage. These tips touch on areas such as sensitive data storage and sustainability. Continue Reading

Top 5 data storage trends for 2023

These five data storage trends include some that are just starting to get hot and some that are gaining in relevance, including sustainability and cloud repatriation. Continue Reading

The future of data storage must handle heavy volume

Storage manufacturers have an eye on the future with investments in technologies, but it's unclear if they will be able to effectively counter the exponential rise in data volumes. Continue Reading

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

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

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

Cloud-based fingerprint system for UK police nears completion

Police Digital Service announces that a new cloud-based fingerprint system developed under its Transforming Forensics programme is nearly complete, but data protection concerns around the use of US-based cloud providers remain Continue Reading

Survey: Most want green IT but many won’t get it soon

IT – and storage in particular – consume huge amounts of energy but sustainability targets are proving to be elusive, according to a survey commissioned by Pure Storage Continue Reading

Cohesity doubles down on cyber-defence failings via backup

Datahawk service and Data Security Alliance bring clean data restores, ransomware artefact detection, data vaulting and data audit for a clearer understanding of attack impact Continue Reading

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

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

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

Indefinite storage: What it is and why you might need it

Indefinite storage addresses the issue that archived data may need to be kept well beyond the lifespan of the technology it was written for Continue Reading

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

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

Cyber criminals target World Cup Qatar 2022

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the FIFA World Cup opens in Qatar, we examine the cyber security threats from criminals targeting the event. We report from the Gartner Symposium on the latest predictions for enterprise software development. And we talk to the CIO of Kyiv City Council about managing IT in the shadow of war. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Genome lab puts Vast Data’s rapid I/O to work on patient data

French government-backed SeqOIA ditched its Lustre-based storage after it reached performance limits and files got corrupted. That got fixed by a Vast Data QLC flash-based array Continue Reading

Ransomware, storage and backup: Impacts, limits and capabilities

We look at the impact of ransomware on storage and backup, how storage and data protection can best be used to combat ransomware, and how they fit in the fight against it Continue Reading

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

The next decade in enterprise backup

Backup set to adapt to deliver more security, ransomware protection and flash-speed restores, and deal with the complexity of multi-, hybrid cloud and container-based operations Continue Reading

A comparison of distributed file systems

There are many different distributed file systems available, so careful analysis of the options, as well as good project management, helps ensure a successful installation. Continue Reading

How to effectively compare storage system performance

Your power as a buyer is stronger before the sale closes: Ask for what's required to effectively evaluate storage vendors' system performance. Continue Reading

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

How the pandemic accelerated tech adoption in hospitality

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at how the hospitality sector is turning to technology to rebuild after it was devastated by the pandemic. Google’s cloud business is growing but remains well behind the market leaders – what does its future look like? And we look at the benefits of AIOps for storage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Cloud bursting: Six key steps in planning and decision-making

We explore the key stages in a cloud bursting project: assessing the data and workflows, variants in the mechanism, application suitability, having the right resources, and planning and testing Continue Reading

GRAID puts RAID on a GPU for cut-price disk protection and rebuilds

US startup puts its software on Nvidia graphics cards to offload RAID processing and throughput of 110GBps throughput across up to 32 NVMe solid-state drives Continue Reading

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