Storage

Case study: Airbus sets out challenges of changing IT supplier

Aircraft manufacturer sets out what it learned from switching IT provider after 12 years of working together Continue Reading

Disaster recovery planning: Where virtualisation can help

The disaster recovery planning process is not fundamentally technology-centric, so when can virtualisation make it quicker and easier to restore services after an unplanned outage? Continue Reading

The most influential people in UK IT 2015

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we announce our sixth annual UKtech50 list of the 50 most influential people in UK IT, and talk to this year’s winner – BT chief executive Gavin Patterson, about the challenges facing the telecoms giant in 2016. Also, we find out how the genomics industry is pushing big data technology to its limits. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Top five things to know about flash and storage tiering

Automated storage tiering boosts storage efficiency and saves money, but why is tiering different from caching, why is it suited to use with flash and how do suppliers differ? Continue Reading

Microsoft steps up efforts to clarify cloud security and privacy policy

Microsoft debuts merged security information hub to make it easier for cloud users to find out more about the privacy and security policies of its hosted products Continue Reading

Snapshots: Hypervisor vs Array

Snapshots are a valuable part of the data protection toolkit, but where is it best to run them from – the hypervisor or the storage array? We look at the pros and cons Continue Reading

Equinix rolls out AWS Direct Connect in Slough datacentre

Datacentre provider launches private internet connection to Amazon Web Services to help customers build hybrid clouds Continue Reading

DDN revamp adds SFA14K plus hyper-converged and all-flash options

DataDirect Networks upgrades core HPC storage arrays to create SFA14K, and adds hyper-converged SFA14KE plus all-flash IME14K front end to smooth I/O bottlenecks Continue Reading

Snoopers’ charter will force ISPs to raise broadband prices

The Science and Technology Select Committee hears that ISPs may be forced to put up their service charges to cover the cost of retaining communications data, should the Investigatory Powers Bill become law Continue Reading

Object storage: Cloud vs in-house

Object storage is a rising star in data storage, especially for cloud and web use. But what are the pros and cons of cloud object storage or building in-house? 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

Lack of data classification very costly to firms, says survey

Most data retained by organisations is not identified or classified and gobbles budget spent on storage, as well as being potentially non-compliant, reveals Veritas-sponsored survey Continue Reading

Commvault drops Simpana brand and adds features

Commvault will drop the Simpana name from the end of 2015 as it opens up to third-party data and attempts to bridge the gap between backup and replication Continue Reading

Google offers free cloud apps to encourage Office 365 users to ditch Microsoft

Google ups ante in ongoing war to dethrone Microsoft as the enterprise's preferred provider of cloud-based productivity tools Continue Reading

VMware reacts to the cloud and containerisation

At VMworld Europe, VMware restates products and roadmap visions that see it react to the perceived inevitability of the cloud, while also getting a grip on containers Continue Reading

Dell set to buy storage company EMC

Two years after his audacious bid to reinvent the company he founded by re-privatising it, Michael Dell has put in a bid for storage giant EMC Continue Reading

EU Data Protection Regulation: What the EC legislation means for cloud providers

With the European Commission's data protection rules set to drop before 2016, take a look at what the changes mean for the cloud and datacentre community Continue Reading

Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in Hyper-V

We run the rule over the key functionality in Microsoft Hyper-V that can help with disaster recovery, including backup, migration, high availability and replication Continue Reading

Keeping up with Cassandra, the NoSQL database

What does Call of Duty, the Hive smart thermostats, Social Weather and the William Hill bookie app all have in common? They are all powered by the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database Continue Reading

Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in VMware

The key areas of functionality in VMware that can help with disaster recovery – including VMware backup, migration, high availability and replication Continue Reading

Legal documents reveal HP's failings over Autonomy

The board of Hewlett-Packard (HP) knew about Autonomy’s failings – yet voted the $11.1bn acquisition through regardless, internal memos have revealed Continue Reading

Apple's Irish datacentre build hit by possible planning permission appeal delay

A "valid appeal" has reportedly been raised in response to Galway County Council's decision to grant conditional planning permission for Apple's Irish datacentre build Continue Reading

Flash in NAS file access storage: Does it need it – and, if so, how much?

While flash is rapidly going mainstream for primary storage with the all-flash datacentre, does NAS file access storage need flash – and, if so, how much? Continue Reading

UK CIOs lament lack of IT support for cloud services

Research from ElasticHosts suggests most cloud users are unhappy with the level of tech support they receive from their providers Continue Reading

Cloudian boosts object storage HyperStore compliance features

Distributed object storage software maker Cloudian upgrades HyperStore with added granularity of data protection features that can help meet compliance requirements Continue Reading

SanDisk InfiniFlash flash arrays get Nexenta software-defined storage

SanDisk offers its all-flash array InfiniFlash IF100 with Nexenta's storage software on-board in another move in the trend towards choice in storage hardware and software deployments Continue Reading

Computer Weekly – 25 August 2015: Coping with a crisis

In this week’s Computer Weekly, IT leaders discuss their experiences of dealing with disaster and the importance of planning to ensure business continuity. Jaeger’s CIO talks about bring the iconic fashion brand into the digital age. And we look at the issues around writing supplier contracts for agile software development. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Cloud storage service Wuala to close in November

Seagate-owned cloud storage player confirms its closure and gives users three months' notice to remove their data from its servers Continue Reading

IaaS providers pin hopes on spending cut reprieve for G-Cloud 7

G-Cloud suppliers are calling on the government to step up, rather than scale back, investment in the framework as spending cuts loom 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

Netflix shuts down final datacentre to go all-in on public cloud

Netflix is gearing up for the closure of its final datacentre, as it makes good on its earlier pledge to move more of its IT infrastructure to the public cloud Continue Reading

Data unlocks personalised customer service

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine how companies are starting to use big data analytics to deliver more personalised customer services. We talk to the government's IT procurement chief about improving public sector tech purchasing. And Volvo's CIO tells us how connected cars will reshape the automotive sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

OpenStack Swift 101: the object store for OpenStack apps

We run the rule over the OpenStack Swift object storage architecture, its key components, how it achieves resiliency and the data protection methods in use and development Continue Reading

All-flash vs hybrid flash for virtual desktop storage

With massive random I/O and a huge bias towards writes, virtual desktop storage – especially for the more feature-rich VDI 2.0 – requires the speed of all-flash and hybrid flash storage Continue Reading

TLC flash storage: What it is and what it's good for

We run the rule over triple-level cell (TLC) flash: What it is, how it performs, what it's good for, why it's a competitor to disk, and how it's all been made possible Continue Reading

Genomics England rejects open source to deploy EMC Isilon HPC storage

100,000 Genomes Project rejects building open-source parallel file system on x86 servers and opts for EMC Isilon clustered NAS deployed by Capita S3 Continue Reading

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 winners revealed

The winners have been announced for the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015. See who made the top spots Continue Reading

OpenStack Cinder: Block storage on the open-source cloud platform

OpenStack Cinder 101: The fundamentals of Cinder, how it is implemented, how to provision it, how it works with third-party storage arrays, its features and more Continue Reading

NetApp adds AFF All-Flash FAS 8000 series storage arrays

NetApp boosts its SSD array portfolio with the addition of AFF All-Flash FAS 8000 series storage arrays built on Data ONTAP, but still no sign of FlashRay general availability Continue Reading

Veritas plans to revive backup fortunes with big data analytics

Symantec spin-out Veritas plans major backup product releases that leverage metadata to make backups more efficient and unlock valuable information via big data capabilities Continue Reading

Council dodges £300,000 NetApp outlay with Atlantis flash caching

Somerset local authority avoids spending £300,000 on extra hard drives for its NetApp arrays and pays half that for Atlantis ILIO flash caching software that runs VDI from RAM Continue Reading

Which in-memory DBMS best fits your company's needs?

Database expert Craig S. Mullins examines some top in-memory DBMS software offerings to help you determine which is the best fit for your organization. Continue Reading

OnApp helps small public cloud firms take on AWS, Google and Microsoft

The OnApp Federation marketplace will help smaller firms compete more effectively with the public cloud giants, it is claimed Continue Reading

How to cull old, potentially risky data

Unused data is a potential security risk, with old spreadsheets, reports and email containing industry secrets and laced with company gossip. If it's no longer useful, it's time to delete it Continue Reading

The file-sharing face-off: Box or Dropbox

In this week's Computer Weekly, we look at the two most popular tools for cloud-based enterprise file sharing and assess the relative merits of Box and Dropbox. We talk to some of the early pioneers in developing smartwatch apps. And we find out why IT security spending is shifting from prevention to detection and response. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

VMware vs OpenStack: How they handle storage

The opportunities and challenges presented by the two virtualisation environments when it comes to storage, backup and disaster recovery. Continue Reading

OpenStack Manila: File access storage for the open source cloud

OpenStack Manila is the file level access method in development by the open source cloud platform. What is it, how does it work and when will it be ready? Continue Reading

CW Europe – June 2015 Edition

Employment across Europe – Why industry has a responsibility to ensure the IT workforce adds to Europe's economic value. Continue Reading

Pure Storage replaces FA series all-flash arrays with FlashArray//m

Pure Storage upgrades FA series all-flash arrays with FlashArray//m series devices Continue Reading

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist

Find out who made the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist Continue Reading

A tale of two boxes: Choosing between Box and Dropbox

Box and Dropbox are in the content and collaboration business, but the two cloud services have taken very different approaches Continue Reading

NetApp launches AltaVault hybrid cloud backup appliance family

NetApp repackages the SteelStore hybrid cloud backup appliances it bought from Riverbed as AltaVault physical, virtual and cloud products Continue Reading

CIF cloud certification scheme wins European Commission's backing

Cloud Industry Forum's Code of Practice has been added to European list of trusted certification schemes Continue Reading

Guide to LUN configuration and virtualisation

LUN storage configuration has long been a cornerstone of storage management. The LUN – a chunk of storage created from RAID partitions on a SAN – presents a logical volume of capacity to an individual server. That’s still relevant today in the era of virtualisation. Many users retain physical servers that need a one-to-one connection between host and LUN. But, the role of the LUN is also changing with the rise of server and desktop virtualisation. It now forms a container for the logical objects used by VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V etc. In this guide you will find all you need to know about LUNs, LUN configuration and management, including their use in virtualised environments. Continue Reading

CW Nordics – May 2015 Edition

Nordic countries top list of digital nations in the EU, outperforming others in the areas of broadband infrastructure, IT skills, web use, business digitisation and tech-based public services. Continue Reading

EMC plots managed cloud push with $1.2bn deal to acquire Virtustream

Storage giant claims latest purchase will reinforce its hybrid cloud proposition for enterprises Continue Reading

Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption Continue Reading

LTFS tape NAS: What it is and how to build it

In storage, cost is everything. So, imagine a storage medium with the frugal cost profile of tape and access times of NAS. Well, it already exists. Since 2010 the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) has allowed access to tapes as if they are spinning disk. Part of the LTO-5 tape format, LTFS partitions the tape, with one containing indexing information for all the data on the cartridge and the other contains the actual data. Marry this capability to a hardware NAS protocol front end with a disk cache and you have the potential for rapid access to massive amounts of data held on tape. Tiered storage is now mainstream. We have super-rapid flash for virtual machines and their data; Fibre Channel and 15k SAS for other fast access use cases. After that there is high-capacity SATA for bulk data, but here is where LTFS could start treading on the toes of disk vendors. That’s because, in some cases, where the use profile of data requires long retention and infrequent but relatively quick access, LTFS tape now rivals large capacity SATA as a nearline store. Maybe that’s why LTFS has failed to set the world on fire; there are just too many disk vendors who see it as a threat. Nevertheless, LTFS is worth looking at. And in this ComputerWeekly.com Guide you’ll find articles on why LTFS should be taken seriously and explanations of how tape NAS works and who sells products. Continue Reading

Erasure coding vs Raid for disk rebuilds

Erasure coding as a means of data protection has emerged with object storage and offers an alternative to Raid systems Continue Reading

Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems

Southwark's continuing care database included names of patients who had been dead for several years, a tribunal is told Continue Reading

EMC predicts return to double-digit sales growth

Storage giant's EMEA chief claims downbeat first quarter results are as bad as things will get for EMC, and that normal service will soon resume Continue Reading

VCE takes wraps off "hyper-converged" VxRacks to fast-track users to the cloud

EMC-owned converged infrastructure specialist expands portfolio of cloud-enabling platforms Continue Reading

Veeam upgrades Availability Suite to support VMware VVOLs

Virtual machine backup specialist Veeam upgrades Availability Suite version 8 to support VMware Virtual Volumes Continue Reading

Amazon first-quarter results value Amazon Web Services at $5bn

Amazon's Q1 results confirm Amazon Web Services – AWS – as its most profitable business, valuing the cloud services provider at $5bn Continue Reading

Load DynamiX adds OpenStack protocols to storage testing product

Storage testing and validation provider adds OpenStack Swift and Cinder support to existing protocols in its Enterprise version 2.6 hardware Continue Reading

How to determine if an in-memory DBMS is right for your company

Database expert Craig S. Mullins examines the pros and cons of the in-memory database management system, and the criteria you should consider during the request-for-proposal and evaluation period. Continue Reading

Docker storage 101: How storage works in Docker

Docker nails some of the shortcomings of virtualisation, but what about Docker container storage? Continue Reading

Taking stock of e-commerce systems

In this week's Computer Weekly, the first of our three-part buyer's guide to next generation e-commerce looks at managing inventory in multi-channel retailers. We highlight the six technology companies that are threats to the dominance of high-street banks. And we examine the top five issues in virtual machine backup. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup

MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection Continue Reading

Talon upgrades MobileFast for web and Windows file sync and share

Enterprise file sync and share provider Talon Storage adds web browser and Windows workstation access to MobileFast Continue Reading

VM backup down as a priority while disaster recovery still tops to-do lists

Our survey finds VM backup increasingly “job done”, while disaster recovery, cloud storage, flash storage and mobility remain high priorities; but where is mobile backup? Continue Reading

Top five things you need to know about VMware Virtual Volumes

VMware’s Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) promise a revolution in storage for virtual machines, but what are the key things you need to know? Continue Reading

How to ensure your hot-desking colleagues keep their data secure

Once hot-desking is implemented, data security suddenly demands greater attention Continue Reading

$/GB vs $/IOPS and how to compare enterprise storage pricing

While raw drive prices are pennies per GB, the actual cost of enterprise storage is much higher. Finding a baseline can save you money Continue Reading

Dell adds Nutanix-powered XC630 and XC730 hyperconverged systems

Dell targets range of use cases with XC630 and XC730 Nutanix-powered server/storage nodes Continue Reading

PernixData FVP boosts RAM as host storage with up to 4x compression

Flash caching firm PernixData adds compression to FVP 2.5 for more scope to use RAM as host-based storage for high-performance datasets Continue Reading

Banks take the fight to the web giants

In this week's Computer Weekly, with internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook offering banking services, Santander is leading the fightback by launching a cloud storage service; but can it win? Our latest buyer's guide looks at cloud-optimised IT. And we examine how the economic trends will affect CIOs this year. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

IBM moves to MLC in FlashSystem 900 and V9000 all-flash arrays

IBM boosts density with new Micron MLC flash drives in revamped all-flash arrays, the FlashSystem 900 and the V9000 that includes SAN Volume Controller storage virtualisation hardware Continue Reading

Suse launches Ceph-based cloud software-defined storage

Suse launches commercially-supported object, block and file Ceph distribution Enterprise Storage, software-defined storage Continue Reading

Symantec continues cloud investment in spite of poor Q3 results

Symantec has reported third quarter 2015 revenue of $1.64bn, a drop of 4% compared with $1.70bn over the same period in 2014 Continue Reading

How to combat VM sprawl

VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it Continue Reading

Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong Continue Reading

EMC launches VSPEX Blue EVO:Rail hyper-converged appliances

EMC announces VSPEX Blue EVO:Rail hyper-converged appliance in general purpose and performance variants 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

UK's fastest supercomputer upgrades to 2Pflops and 5PB of tiered storage

The UK's fastest supercomputer upgrades to 4,920 nodes and 2 Petaflops performance with tiered storage including 5PB of direct-attached disk Continue Reading

Amatis Networks waves goodbye to LUN woes and deploys Tintri hybrid flash

Managed service provider Amatis Networks deploys Tintri hybrid flash to slash latency and cut time-consuming LUN storage management overheads Continue Reading

Thin provisioning – hypervisor vs array

Thin provisioning can be done at the storage array or virtualisation hypervisor. We look at the pros and cons of each – or both Continue Reading

Top five issues in VM backup

Virtual machine backup is a vital task for IT departments. But pitfalls abound. We look at the top five issues encountered in VM backup Continue Reading

Hero Group uses vMotion to replace SAN and servers with Nutanix

Baby food, fruit and cereal bar company Hero Group has migrated its Holland operations over to a single virtual platform Continue Reading

The future of networking

In this week's Computer Weekly, our latest buyer's guide looks at emerging networking technologies and assesses their impact on IT infrastructure. After Microsoft's major Azure outage, we look at the resilience of the public cloud. And we discuss the future of banking technology with the CIO of HSBC's investment banking arm. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Flash storage 101: How solid state storage works

Why flash writes are troublesome, why endurance is limited and what suppliers are doing to overcome these issues Continue Reading

Key challenges in storage and virtualisation, and how to beat them

Server virtualisation brings benefits but increases storage-capacity needs. Here we survey the key challenges and what to do about them Continue Reading

Migrating away from Windows Server 2003

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Microsoft prepares to end support for the popular Windows Server 2013 operating system, we assess the risk for organisations that fail to migrate in time. We hear from IT leaders delivering benefits from enterprise social media use to improve staff collaboration. And we look at criticisms from Oracle users about the supplier’s software licensing practices. Read the issue now. 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

Google joins enterprise cloud battle with additions to its cloud platform

Google made a raft of announcements at its GCP Live event, including enhancements to its networking stack and storage price drops Continue Reading

BBC takes iPlayer video production to AWS cloud to beat bottleneck and storage woes

Having run Video Factory on AWS for over a year, BBC's Robert Shield explains how he overcame iPlayer bottleneck and availability challenges 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

Backup and disaster recovery in the age of virtualisation

One of the benefits of using virtual machines is the scope for improved backup. We look at the product offerings from traditional and new suppliers Continue Reading

Why has HP split?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, HP has announced plans to split the company in two – we look at the reasons and assess the future prospects for the IT giant. We examine the best practice in security policy to support a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme for staff mobile technology. And we find out how one company moved its entire datacentre from Berlin to London. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Symantec splits storage and security

Symantec is splitting its storage and security business, following just days after HP announced its split Continue Reading