| NAS news |
Caringo Offers Free 4TB
Cloud Storage Evaluation
Editor:- June 23, 2009 - Caringo today
announced
it's offering a free way to evaluate the benefits of its cloud storage -
with the release of a Windows compatible CloudFolder linked to 4TB storage.
The
company says users can drag and drop individual files or whole directories to
CloudFolder for remote storage and can also make it a shared folder. Retrieving
files is as easy as double clicking on a file or folder.
Mark Goros,
CEO at Caringo says "We believe CloudFolder will inspire users to test and
deploy private cloud storage within an organization or throughout a network of
managed service customers."
QLogic Ships 40Gbps InfiniBand Switches
Editor:-
June 8, 2009 - QLogic
today announced general availability of its
12000
Series 40Gb/sec QDR InfiniBand switches.
"With 864 ports and
bandwidth of 51 terabits per second, the QLogic 12000 series is the highest
capacity general purpose QDR InfiniBand switch on the market today," said
David Vellante, co-founder of Wikibon.org. "The
huge bandwidth of this solution brings HPC customers better scale-out
performance, lower latencies, simpler management and reduced costs."
See
also:- SAN switches,
InfiniBand
Dedupe Company Gets Duplicate Offers to Acquire It.
Editor:-
June 1, 2009 - EMC
says it wants to buy
Data Domain
for approximately
$1.8 billion.
EMC says its all-cash offer represents a 20%
premium to the cash
and stock offer made by
Network Appliance
for Data Domain on May 20, 2009.
What's the fuss about? - Maybe the big companies think that customers
are ready to put their money into dedupe technology after years of vendors
talking about it.
See also:- this article by Data Domain -
Is Deduplication of
Data Safe? - and More Deduplication FAQs
FCIA Reports on 2nd FCoE Plugfest
Editor:- May 20,
2009 - the Fibre Channel
Industry Association today
announced that
it successfully completed its 2nd FCoE Plugfest the week of May 12th at the
University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab.
Seanodes Warns of Virtual Storage Indigestion
Editor:-
May 20, 2009 - in what I initially assumed would be a bland
press
release yesterday from Seanodes I saw this
thought provoking observation from Frank Gana who founded the
iSCSI software company.
He
said - "The paradox in the 'virtual world' is that businesses invest in
VMware Infrastructure to reduce costs and simplify their environment, but then
find they need high-end
network storage, which
eliminates a large part of these benefits. Although the model is sound, Storage
Virtual Appliances are not immune from some of the same pitfalls, so we caution
users not to trade a headache for a stomachache just because their budget is
small."
Seanodes is warning that although IT users are looking
at storage virtual appliance to control costs during the economic downturn -
there can be hidden costs or technical problems if you choose the wrong route.
Amen to that - I say. Rushing to save costs by tampering with quick
fixes to technology infrastructure can be the worst way to go about it. Action
is not a substitute for careful research and planning to avoid failure.
Samsung Buddies up to Fusion-io
Editor:- May 19,
2009 - Fusion-io
announced it's
collaborating with Samsung
on memory technology for its ioSAN (its
PCIe form factor SSD
card with dual integrated 10GbE
or Infiniband
ports.
"Fusion-io has developed new types of solid state storage
products, and our work with them will enable enterprises to take advantage of
this innovative technology in the very near future," said Jim Elliott, Vice
President, Memory Marketing of Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.
...Later:-
May 22, 2009 - an article in
The Register
summarizes recent people IO changes at Fusion-io.
Streaming Surveillance Camera Storage
Editor:-
April 27, 2009 - SoleraTec
has incorporated support for the
Real Time Streaming
Protocol that allows for the direct video feed capture of IP-based video
surveillance cameras in version 5.2 of its
digital surveillance manager
software (SVM).
SoleraTec says its software is unique in its
ability to provide a file-based search and retrieval interface that enables the
user to actually play video surveillance files without first needing to retrieve
original hi-res assets from storage.
When its SVM ingests files, it
automatically creates low-resolution proxy files for fast search and view. Once
a desired video asset has been selected, clipped, and marked for export, the
new, user-configurable "extended export" functionality enables the
user to export needed data in a variety of ways, such as FTP, email, and local
file systems. Pricing for Phoenix 5.2 starts at $996.
Cache-A Launches Tape Archive for Video Editors
Editor:-
April 17, 2009 - Cache-A
today announced its 1st product - the
Prime-Cache data tape deck -
an LTO-4 compatible
NAS appliance for the
digital film and professional video industry.
"Today's digital
film and video professionals working with file-based workflows need a highly
reliable and cost-effective storage medium for content archiving, interchange
and backup," said Phil Ritti, President and CEO of Cache-A Corp. "We
are delighted to offer these professionals a new line of products specifically
designed to meet their needs while extending the current base of award-winning
A-Series technology into future generations."
Cache-A has licensed Quantum's A-Series technology compatible with
industry-standard LTO data tape drives - the most successful line of
tape drives ever produced
- with more than 2.5 million drives deployed and 100 million cartridges
shipped.
Cache-A says that with a single Prime-Cache system, a user could
manage a 200TB archive for a total cost of less than $20,000 including media -
and with an archive life of 30 years.
SAN Solutions will Unveil Media Verification Engine at NAB
Editor:-
April 13, 2009 - SAN
Solutions announced that it will showcase the company's new Crawler
media verification engine next week at The
NAB Show.
In scanning file systems and indexing and verifying
media across a
SAN or
NAS based architecture, the
Crawler confirms the ongoing utility and value of stored media, and also enables
the content owner to federate storage archives and use a central database to
search all of its media assets.
Pillar Launches Axiom SSD Brick
Editor:- March 9,
2009 - Pillar Data
Systems launched the Axiom SSD Brick, a storage module with upto 12
Intel SSDs which
is compatible with Pillar's distributed RAID systems.
Pillar's
application
aware QoS software dynamically chooses storage types (SSD, FC-HDD, or
SATA-HDD) and tunes performance to satisfy quality of service priorities
based on user selections for each type of application.
Petabyte NAS for Gas has Small Footprint
Houston,
TX - February 17, 2009 - Landmark announced today the immediate
availability of its PetroStor disk storage platform, which provides
petabytes of online capacity for users with large seismic data sets in the oil
and gas exploration markets.
Combining enterprise-class storage
from NetApp with
real-time compression from Storewize,
the PetroStor costs less than $1,000 per terabyte. Landmark can help users
migrate their archives from tape to disk and also index files according to their
specific architecture, as well as incorporate metadata that makes users' files
easy to find in their ever-growing libraries of data.
"The
traditional tape model is
cumbersome and it restricts an organization's ability to make timely, informed
decisions," said Patrick Rogers, VP of Solutions Marketing at NetApp. "With
the PetroStor storage solution, customers can keep all their data on enterprise
disk storage - providing fast, efficient and reliable access to data and thereby
enhancing their decision-making process while also eliminating the financial and
operational burdens of tape."
The House Always Wins - with Greener Storage
Palo Alto, Calif. -
February 10, 2009 - Pivot3, Inc today announced that 3 casinos have
chosen its IP SAN storage for a large-scale video surveillance expansion
project in Oklahoma.
By making this switch to
Pivot3's
Serverless Computing the Stringtown, McAlester, and Grant casinos stripped
out approximately 90 Dell
servers from the project. In addition to the
green benefits
of nearly 70kW saved, the casino saved more than $300,000 in lower acquisition
costs, lower surveillance data center build-out costs, and reduced power and
cooling. ...Pivot3
profile, NAS,
surveillance
- editor mentions
NetApp Starts Walking the SSD Talk
Sunnyvale,
Calif. - February 3, 2009 - NetApp unveiled 2 strands in its solid
state storage acceleration strategy today - support for Texas Memory
Systems' RamSan-500 flash SSD array and also a new Performance
Acceleration Module.
Support for the 100K IOPS
RamSan-500 SSD is
supplied by NetApp's V-Series storage controller and Data ONTAP software. The
RamSan-500 can be utilized as a large, fast networked cache, or otherwise
partitioned to maximize storage efficiency.
Meanwhile - the new
PAM
provides a read cache (16GB to 80GB) implemented by PCI Express DRAM cards.
These enables NetApp customers to significantly increase application
performance in FC disk arrays by 35% using 1/2 the number of hard disks
typically used in over-provisioned HDD arrays. Alternatively customers can
deploy lower cost, higher density SATA HDDs instead of FC disks while still
maintaining performance and making substantial savings in costs. ...Network Appliance
profile, ...Texas
Memory Systems profile
Editor's comments:- better late than
never - NetApp's announcements today make it easier and less risky for their
customers to feel comfortable in following a long established trend to
accelerate network applications performance with SSDs while reducing overall
systems costs
Although NetApp's PAM is a PCIe RAM card and not
a PCIe flash SSD -
it's just a short walk from one to the other. I have little doubt the company
has already been evaluating options in this market space..
Nimbus Unveils New High End NAS
San Francisco, CA -
January 22, 2009 - Nimbus Data Systems today announced the H-class DH200
4 port 10GbE iSCSI NAS.
Starting with a 2U rackmount base unit -
the DH200 is expandable upto 84TB using SATA hard drives or 10TB using flash
SSDs. Its proprietary
HALO storage OS
provides data protection and easy to use virtualization. Nimbus says its
cache management (upto 24GB of cache) and support for
hybrid
storage dramatically increases performance at a competitive price point.
...Nimbus Data Systems
profile, rackmount
SSDs
RMI Chip Aims at Consumer NAS Market
Cupertino, CA - January
9, 2009 - RMI Corp announced the availability of a comprehensive
reference design kit for the SMB NAS Market.
The solution is based
on RMI's XLS Processor, a dual-core multi-threaded SoC which, the company says,
supports outstanding networking performance, a rich feature set, and flexible
interface options, allowing customers to quickly release a powerful solution for
multimedia NAS applications. ...RMI profile,
storage chips |
|
| Brother Can
You Spare $55? - Adapter Brings NAS to the Masses |
San
Jose, CA - December 11, 2008 - Addonics Technologies today launched a
low-cost ($55 list) USB-NAS storage adapter.
Once on the network,
USB storage can be shared
by any network user just like any
NAS device.
The
NAS adapter supports both SMB (Server Message Block) and the open source Samba
network protocols. This allows for cross-platform access of all shared data for
most versions of Windows, Mac OS X, and various Linux distributions. The adapter
comes with a USB 2.0/1.1 connection and a fast Ethernet 10/100Mbps connection.
For remote users who are not connected over the LAN, the NAS Adapter
provides FTP access for up to 8 simultaneous users anywhere in the world with an
internet connection. In addition, the NAS adapter can also be used as a print
server or as a bit-torrent file downloading appliance. Other features include
support for fast Ethernet 10/100 Mbps; the ability to power most 2.5" USB
hard drives or any low powered USB storage device; simple installation; small
and light weight (about the size of a C battery); support for Samba and FTP
servers; and user management that allows read only or read/write access to
folders. The Addonics NAS adapter is compatible with all Windows OS, Mac OS,
Linux 2.6.x and above, Solaris 9 and above. ...Addonics Technologies
profile
Users Reluctant to Cut Spending on Storage Hardware - says IDC
Editor:- December 8, 2008 - IDC
has published 2 reports recently about the Storage Market in Q308.
According
to IDC the worldwide storage
software market grew 11.6% year-over-year with revenues of $3.1
billion.
And IDC says the worldwide external disk storage systems
market grew 8.8% year-over-year reaching $4.9 billion.
"Numerous
IDC surveys of IT users suggest that storage is one of a few hardware categories
where buyers are reluctant to cut spending independent of the economic situation"
said Natalya Yezhkova, at IDC. "At the same time, current market conditions
and tightening budgets are leading to longer purchasing cycles for storage
systems and to the adoption of technologies designed to optimize storage
utilization and/or reduce total cost of ownership." ...IDC profile,
market research
Sun Launches Hybrid NAS Storage
SANTA
CLARA, Calif. - November 10, 2008 - Sun Microsystems, Inc. today
announced the availability of its new 7000 family of rackmount storage systems
- which includes hybrid HDD / flash SSD arrays.
Sun says its
Solaris ZFS can use SSDs intelligently as a cache for both application and file
system metadata, placing latency-critical data structures appropriately on flash
media and using algorithms to optimize data placement. In addition, Solaris ZFS
provides acceleration of both read and write operations, and lets administrators
configure the system to match workload demands.
Among the products
launched today the
Sun
Storage 7210 is a 4U 4 port GbE iSCSI compatible storage system which can
be configured with 44TB of 7,200 RPM hard drives working alongside 36GB
internal flash SSD and 64GB RAM. MRSP for this configuration is $117,995.
...Sun Microsystems profile,
Hybrid Storage
Drives, rackmount
SSDs | |
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flash SSD
Jargon Explained
...................................... |
| Editor:- understanding the
list of ingredients inside flash SSDs - is as important as knowing what
you can do with them - and
a new article published
on
StorageSearch.com tries to hit this fast moving target. |
"Just as some
foods are healthier than others - so too some SSDs are better suited for
particular applications" says editor Zsolt Kerekes.
"Better
user education about SSDs is a critical factor for the industry to sustain its
growth. Design tradeoffs in products go far deeper than the choice of memory
and interface. Being aware that there are other parameters which SSD vendors
have implemented well, badly (or not at all) can be the difference between a
satisfactory or disillusionary experience." ...read the article | |
| . |
Survey Reveals Low Impact of the Term - "Unified
Storage"
CAMPBELL, Calif. - November 3, 2008 - "Unified
Storage" has yet to make an impact on IT decision makers, with few even
able to define what it stands for and even less aware of the business benefits
of implementation, according to a survey conducted at recent storage events by
ONStor .
The survey
was conducted among the 1,600 IT and business decision makers representing four
continents and over 37 countries who attended the Shows, at which only 58% of
those questioned were familiar with the term Unified Storage.
Unified storage has been defined as a single integrated storage infrastructure
that functions as a unification engine to simultaneously support Fibre Channel,
IP SAN and NAS data formats.
Despite this, of the 50% who said they could define it, 43% thought it
referred to virtualised storage and 56% believed it was a combination of back up
and storage.
Narayan Venkat, VP, Corporate Marketing at ONStor,
stated: "What is absolutely clear from these top line survey findings is
that the market needs more education on the benefits of unified storage, and
that is where the vendor community needs to join forces with
analysts to drive this
message home. For our part we are ensuring we are including this subject each
and every time we meet the analyst community as well as the critical end user
market. When we meet with customers and prospects we take the time to educate
them on the benefits of a unified storage solution, and this goes from initial
meetings with prospects to our existing client training programmes."
See also:- more words you don't need to know in -
Megabyte's Storage
Dictionary
Editor's comments:- I can confirm that "unified
storage" (which is cited on 23 pages here on the mouse site) is not a
hot term with storage searchers - accounting for zero searches in
October.
If you Google "Unified Storage" you'll discover
that it occurs 45x less frequently than
iSCSI.
Is such
a term -(which has made so little impact in the 7 years since it was
first mentioned
on these news pages by LeftHand
Networks) worth the precious bytes it occupies in your brain? | |
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| Are MLC SSDs Safe
in Enterprise Apps? |
This is a follow up
article to the popular
SSD Myths and
Legends which, a year earlier demolished the myth that flash memory
wear-out (a comfort blanket beloved by many
RAM SSD makers)
precluded the use of flash in heavy duty datacenters.
This new
article looks at the risks posed by MLC Nand Flash SSDs which have recently
hatched from their breeeding ground as chip modules in cellphones and morphed
into
hard disk form
factors. |
 |
It starts down a familiar
lane but an unexpected technology twist (which arrived in my email while
writing this article) takes you to a startling new world of possibilities.
...read the
article | | |
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 |
10
Ten Tips for a Successful RAID Implementation - article by Infortrend
Editor:- In the 20 years since I first worked on
RAID I've read and
published countless articles about this subject.
So what can a new
RAID article tell you?
Plenty of practical stuff - from a modern
perspective. ...read
the article
, ...Infortrend
profile | |
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the
Impact of Compliance on Archival Storage Strategies - article by Plasmon
It's
difficult enough protecting and archiving your data so that it's available to
the right people at the right time (and cost). But now that's only part of the
problem. With so many new rules and regulations which prescribe how you should
destroy data records at the appropriate time - how do you guarantee that they
stay deleted?
Archiving data on the wrong kind of media could mean you
run the risk of breaking the law. Advances in the
data recovery
industry, and the future cohabitation of storage search-engines both mean that
Compliance Officers have to pay much more attention to the ways in which data is
dispersed and disposed of in different types of media.
This article
summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of currently available market
technologies. ...
read the article,
...Plasmon profile,
Optical Libraries | | |
