Data center and networking architecture to keep your data safe and moving
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What's the easiest way to install an iSCSI target onto your network? You can set one up in your storage array using a NetApp filer or EMC appliance, or wade through Linux or Windows to figure out how... More >
Does anyone really care about hardware anymore? That's the question posed by Drew Robb in this provocative post on Server Watch. He laments the loss of enthusiasm that used to greet every new hardw... More >
Why, exactly, would a storage company like EMC suddenly branch out into the tricky world of server management and analytics? According to this article in internetnews.com , it's all about gaining a ... More >
So is Fibre Channel over Ethernet the savior of Fibre Channel SANS in the age of the Ethernet, or is it a sinister plot to rid Cisco of its perennial thorn-in-the-side Brocade? Storage Network... More >
There's an interesting article by storage consultant Henry Newman on Enterprise Storage Forum explaining in detail what I've been trying to get across for over a year now: too much server virtualiz... More >
Desktop virtualization represents nothing less than a complete reworking of your enterprise infrastructure, with new servers, clients and umpteen new points of failure to worry about in between. You'... More >
The Sun/Fujitsu collaboration is moving along at a steady clip, unveiling its second major enterprise server product within a month. The M3000 server is an entry-level SPARC machine sporting... More >
Like dominoes, the cause-and-effect repercussions of the financial crisis are playing out in the data center, but this time the process is unfolding in reverse. Instead of dominoes falling over, they... More >
As data loads get heavier and heavier, many enterprises are seeing application performance suffer. The rise of application delivery platforms has helped somewhat, but many of the leading systems are ... More >
Expert opinion has it that 2009 will be a breakthrough year for solid-state disks (SSDs) in the enterprise. And while I wouldn't presume to question the opinion of the experts, the technology still ... More >
Industry support is starting to line up behind 6 Gbps SAS technology, with no fewer than six top server vendors stepping up to the plate this week. LSI Corp. announced that it has gained purc... More >
The benefits of virtualization are well known by now, but only lately has the industry started to recognize the risks. Chief among them is the issue of reliability. As more critical applications find... More >
Microsoft wants to show the world that it has not entered the virtualization market on a whim. The company is out to prove its seriousness through an enhanced management platform aimed at keeping vir... More >
When the going gets tough, the tough...? Open up their technology, apparently. How else to explain IBM and Intel's sudden decision to release the switch module specifications on the BladeServ... More >
To say that establishing a cohesive enterprise architecture is complicated is like saying the Titanic was a really big ship. More often than not, architectures tend to evolve along vendor-driven para... More >
One day, back in the late 1970s when I was just a lad, my father came home in a brand new Oldsmobile. It was shiny and blue, and it was the first car I'd ever seen with automatic windows, which were ... More >
IBM is taking another stab at bringing the mainframe to the masses with a new low-cost version of the System z that offers better performance and nearly four times more memory than previous models. &... More >
I came across an interesting article over at The Register this week predicting the end of Fibre Channel as we know it. As readers of this blog well know, there's no shortage of opinion as ... More >
Fujitsu and Gennum Corp. say they have devised a new low-cost, high-performance 10 GbE architecture by integrating their respective switch and chip modules and tying them directly to optical networ... More >
Tough economic times inevitably lead to belt-tightening, not just in IT but in all facets of an organization. When it comes to long-term storage, however, the pressure to cut costs is running headlon... More >
EMC is throwing its weight behind Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) as the means to deliver high-end storage networking over 10 GbE infrastructures. The company is basing its Connectrix NEX-... More >
Now that tough economic times are upon us, you can expect the front office to put on the pressure to cut costs like never before. From a systems point of view, this can only mean one thing: consolida... More >
Intel formally took the wraps off its new enterprise-class solid state drive (SSD) in a bid to keep storage performance on par with its processors. The X-25E is a Serial ATA (SATA) device ai... More >
Another sign that the future of data center performance lies not in processing and storage but in advanced high-speed networking: Intel's recent purchase of the Ethernet assets of the defunct NetEff... More >
Still more news from Storage Networking World in Dallas this week: QLogic has released a new high-bandwidth router capable of handling both 10 GbE iSCSI and 8 Gbps Fibre Channel traffic . The... More >
Sun Microsystems has really upped the ante when it comes to cutting the power draw of modern servers. The new Sparc Enterprise T5440, co-developed with Fujitsu, incorporates just about every power-s... More >
Teradata is gung-ho on the marriage of data warehousing technology and solid-state disk (SSD) drives, saying the combination will bolster the analytical prowess of its platforms and lower power requi... More >
Conventional wisdom has always held that iSCSI is the less expensive option for storage networking, although you have to give up on the flexibility and robustness that is available from Fibre Channel... More >
IDT says it is pushing the new PCIe Gen-2 standard beyond the capabilities spelled out on paper in a bid to develop the system as the de facto system interconnect for both enterprise computing and ... More >
Last week brought the news that HP was buying network storage provider LeftHand Networks . LeftHand specializes in iSCSI solutions for small and mid-market organizations, which, as it turns out, is ... More >
What to do about data archiving? Even while many vendors continue to tout their software platforms that enable you to establish your own internal archiving system, they are rapidly buying into hosted... More >
Despite the ongoing arguments over the respective benefits of iSCSI and Fibre Channel, the fact is that many enterprises will be dealing with mixed environments for quite some time. So in lieu of a u... More >
HP has made its selection of solid state drives (SSDs) on the ProLiant blade, and surprisingly, they're not from Intel. Even though HP had a lot of nice things to say about the Intel drives ... More >
Fiber optic cabling is more efficient, flexible and has more bandwidth than copper cabling. It's also more expensive, which is why, in light of the dismal prospects for IT budgets going forward, you'... More >
Note to Unisys users: You're about to get more bang for your buck with a series of upgrades to the ClearPath Dorado 700 series . The company announced this week that the system will sport a n... More >
Just in time for what will certainly be a round of belt-tightening in the enterprise, leading server vendors are upping the number of cores in their low-end models in a bid to offer more power at les... More >
Storage systems are becoming more varied as the industry attempts to tailor its designs to an increasingly diverse IT industry. Check out this new offering from Fujitsu . The UDS 1000 is a 24... More >
One of the first things the Fibre Channel community realized as the age of unified fabrics approached was that it would have to find a way to make nice with the Ethernet. Enter Fibre Channel over Eth... More >
It's well known that improved application and load management can have dramatic effects on network performance. However, most management systems are tailored to specific operating environments. ... More >
The multitude of revolutionary technologies that has hit the enterprise in the past few years is fueling more and more talk about the next-generation data center. Everything from virtualization and m... More >
IBM System i and p users have a powerful new application acceleration/data recovery solution at their disposal, the fruit of a new partnership between leaders in both fields. Expand Networks a... More >
It makes no sense to put non-crucial or little-used data on your most expensive storage tier. But how many of you actually know what percentage this static data occupies on your primary storage syste... More >
There is software that can help manage your power consumption on the server, storage and network side, and then there is software that can manage your actual power and cooling systems. But rarely do ... More >
6 Gbps SAS technology is getting closer to actual production environments, putting another thorn in the side of Fibre Channel enthusiasts looking to maintain their hold on higher-end storage networki... More >
Despite the prospect of losing its dominance in the server virtualization market to Microsoft and Citrix, VMware is pulling no punches when it comes to extending the technology further into the data ... More >
Consolidation around iSCSI SAN solutions continues for the major vendors. HP has announced it will buy LefHand Networks for a cool $360 million in an all-cash deal. The acquisition brings th... More >
The Multicore Association offered a lifeline of sorts to software developers struggling to meet the demands of parallel processing in the form of a new API designed to enhance intercore communication... More >
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