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Storage News in Pictures

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This includes a small number of selected stories with interesting pictures taken from thousands in our main storage news archive..

Storage News in Pictures
Megabyte was always looking out for
new things in the storage market.
SAS disk duplicators for  server oems from ICS
Serial Attached SCSI - disk duplicators
from Intelligent Computer Solutions
Squeak! - the Solid State Disks Buyers Guide
article:- a Short History of Disk to Disk Backup
Squeak! - the Fastest Growing Storage Companies
Squeak! - Who's Eating Whom in the Storage Market?
Squeak! - SSD Myths and Legends - "write endurance"
article:- Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win?
article:-the Future of High Speed HDDs Doesn't Lie in 20K RPM
Storage People, Solid state disks, NAS, Backup software, USB storage
Flash memory, RAID systems, Hard drives, storage news, storage history
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Serial ATA
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Events
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RAM
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disk
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Tqpe drives
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USB - drives
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RAID systems
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serial SCSI
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Acquired, merged & gone away storage  companies
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Disk to disk backup
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InfiniBand
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record breaking
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SAN
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fibre channel switches
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Test Equipment
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SiliconSystems Launches Postage Stamp Size USB SSD

Aliso Viejo, Calif - October 30, 2007 - SiliconSystems, Inc. today announced its new SiliconDrive USB Blade solid-state storage product.

SiliconDrive USB Blade is a postage-stamp sized USB solid-state drive designed for embedded storage applications where board space, shock, vibration, temperature and multi-year product lifecycles are mandatory design considerations.
click to see SiliconSystems company  profile
Evaluation units and host developer tool kits will be available in December in capacities of 512 megabytes, 1 and 2 gigabytes. ...SiliconSystems profile

QNAP Introduces 3.5" USB / eSATA Backup Station

Taipei, Taiwan - October 16, 2007 - QNAP Systems, Inc. today introduced the QBack-35S to its external hard drive enclosure QBack series.
The titanium black QBack-35S supports a single 3.5" SATA hard drive, up to 1TB storage capacity, and USB and eSATA interfaces. QBack-35S is aimed at users who require fast and secure low cost data backup. With QBack-35S, users can experience handsfree automatic synchronization backup, AES 256-bit encryption, and e-mail (Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail) backup.

The award-winning backup software QBack is enclosed - which provides 4 backup modes. In addition to the auto-sync backup, one touch backup is supported.
QNAP news image on  STORAGEsearch.com
Users can back up data immediately by pressing the one touch button on the device. QBack also provides instant and schedule backup modes. ...QNAP Systems profile, Storage Boxes

Samsung moviMCP will Shrink Mobile Phones

Seoul, Korea - May 30, 2007 - Samsung today announced that it is sampling a 4 gigabyte multi-chip package for mobile phones that eliminates the need for an external memory card slot.
The new moviMCP stacks flash and RAM vertically to enable a small footprint device which satisfies the high-speed data transmission needs of mobile phones, while fully supporting the communication features within the handset.

According to iSuppli, the 3G mobile phone market - which is the main target for Samsung's new moviMCP - is expected to reach 392 million units in 2007 and will grow 40% annually till 2010. ...Samsung profile, storage chips
news image Samsung  - click for company profile

AMCC Shows Serial SCSI RAID Controllers at CeBIT

Hannover, Germany - March 15, 2007 - AMCC is demonstrating its RAID technology this week at CeBIT.

For the first time AMCC will showcase its new PCI Express to SAS RAID controller working with SAS expanders and Seagate Technology's Cheetah 15K.5 drives.
AMCC will also announce and demonstrate substantial enhancements to the 3ware Sidecar, a desktop RAID storage expansion solution formerly available only for Apple's Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro systems. The upgraded 9650SE-based 3ware Sidecar extends support to PC workstations with Windows and Linux operation systems. Battery backup support has also been added for additional data protection. news image AMCC's Sidecar RAID system
The new 24-port 3ware 9650SE-24M8 will also be showcased in a system that uses two of these controllers connected to 48 high capacity SATA drives.

"We are pleased to use the largest technology event in Europe as the venue to announce new RAID products and to demonstrate how AMCC continues to drive storage technology with innovations that deliver the performance, value and density that customers demand," said Scott Cleland, director of marketing for AMCC Storage.. "By announcing new products for Windows, Linux and Mac platforms, and demonstrating AMCC products working in a SAS environment, we are expanding the reach of our technology into new and exciting storage environments." ...AMCC profile, Storage Events

YES Box Aims at Home Media Server Market

Editor:- November 20, 2006 - Thecus Technology today launched a dual SATA disk bay consumer NAS called the YES Box.
Aimed at the home media server market it is preloaded with Mediabolic's Media Server software - which has been proven on over 1 million units.

This software makes music, photo, and video files available over a network for streamed playback on connected entertainment products.
storage news from Thecus
The software aggregates personal media so that it was can be accessed by a variety of players, such as network TVs, IP set-top boxes, and digital media adapters. Connection is via 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 3 USB 2.0 ports. ...Thecus profile

SimpleTech Ships 3.5" Fibre Channel SSD

SANTA ANA, Calif. - October 17, 2006 - SimpleTech, Inc. today announced the availability of its Zeus Solid State Drive with Fibre Channel Interface.
Now shipping, it offers sustained throughput in excess of 70MB/s in 3.5" form factor, with 400MB/s duplex burst read and write speed, all of which is done with an extremely low 5W power draw.

In a recent contract award, the U.S. Army committed to outfit Apache attack helicopters with new sensor electronics from Lockheed Martin. These high performance systems are designed to accommodate SimpleTech's 80GB Fibre Channel SSDs to provide mass storage for recording real-time sensor data. SimpleTech's new SSD is available with a full range of data sanitization options.
news image SimpleTech's Zeus FC SSD
According to Alan Niebel of Web-Feet Research, the industrial flash market is projected to grow from $550 million in 2006 to $4.3 billion by 2010. This strong growth reflects the speed with which customers and OEMs are embracing NAND flash-based solid state drives as the preferred medium for high performance and high reliability storage. ...SimpleTech profile

SAMSUNG Introduces New Nonvolatile Memory - PRAM

Seoul , Korea - September 11, 2006 - Samsung Electronics announced that it has completed the first working prototype of what is expected to be the main memory device to replace high density NOR flash within the next decade – a Phase-change Random Access Memory.
The company unveiled the 512M-Megabit PRAM device in Seoul today. More scalable than any other memory architecture being researched, PRAM features the fast processing speed of RAM for its operating functions combined with the non-volatile features of flash memory for storage, giving it the nickname "Perfect RAM."

PRAM can rewrite data without having to first erase data previously accumulated, so it is effectively 30 x faster than conventional flash memory. Incredibly durable, PRAM is also expected to have at least 10 x the life span of flash memory.
news image PRAM
PRAM will be a highly competitive choice over NOR flash, available beginning sometime in 2008. Samsung designed the cell size of its PRAM to be only half the size of NOR flash. Moreover, it requires 20% fewer process steps to produce than those used in the manufacturing of NOR flash memory. ...Samsung profile, Storage Glossary, article:- Charting the Rise of the Solid State Disk Market

SanDisk Opens Up New Market for Flash Video

Berlin - September. 2, 2006 - SanDisk Corp today introduced the V-Mate Video Memory Card Recorder at the IFA Show.
The V-Mate is a video memory card recorder, allowing users to record video from video inputs such as over-the-air television as well as cable, satellite, DVD players and VCRs onto their flash memory cards. news image SanDisk revolutionary video flash player
Consumers can then take their memory card from the V-Mate and insert it into their mobile phone, video music player or notebook computer to play back their videos on the go.

The SanDisk V-Mate lets users record up to 3.5 hours of high quality video per gigabyte, using industry-standard video formats. The V-Mate, expected to be available in October 2006, will sell for $129.99 MSRP. ...SanDisk profile, Storage Events

STMicroelectronics Has Secure Fast Flash for Automotive Market

Geneva - August 30,2006 - STMicroelectronics today announced a new and enhanced version of its 32-Mbit Flash memory chip that is intended specifically for the automotive market.
The new device uses a state-of-the-art architecture to reduce access times to as low as 45nsec over the full automotive temperature range (-40 degrees C to +125 degrees C for the packaged device, -40 degrees C to +150 degrees C in bare die form).

The M58BW32F features a wide 32-bit data bus and operates on a nominal 3.3V memory core supply.
news image STMicro automotive flash
For security, each die embeds a unique device ID to allow the use of cryptographic algorithms to protect against illegal software modifications. Pricing for the M58BW32F is $5.50 per device. ...STMicroelectronics profile, Flash Storage

LaCie Launches 6 New Products

January 4, 2006 - LaCie today launched 6 new storage products which will be shown for the first time next week at Macworld Expo.
Among the products, the 4 shown on the right are from top to bottom:-
  • Little Big Disk is a 320GB portable storage device with throughput of up to 80MB/s. It includes both FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0 interfaces and costs $799. Little Big Disk also comes in a LaCie signature design by Neil Poulton, creator of the original d2 Hard Drive Series.
  • LaCie Rugged - designed to protect data against everyday bumps, bruises and hard knocks of the real world. LaCie Rugged's unique aluminum shell and rubber bumper protects it from table-height drops. 120GB model costs $359.
  • LaCie Two Big is a 115MB/s performance SATA II RAID solution with two hot-swappable drives which costs $949 for 1T.
  • LaCie Slim DVD±RW Drive is a fully portable FireWire bus-powered DVD burner with powerful Toast 7 Titanium CD/DVD burning software which costs LaCie Slim DVD±RW Design by FA Porsche $219.
news image LaCie new storage products
...LaCie profile, Macworld, Firewire Storage, DVD drives, Storage News in Pictures

Swissbit Launches DDR2R

Editor:- December 15, 2005 - Swissbit today announced immediate availability of its DDR2R memory modules.

This is aimed at users who like to have different colored components inside their systems.
Instead of the usual green PCB they now come in bright red. So I added the extra "R" suffix because I think that DDR2R (DDR2 "Red") is easier to read than with the prefix - RDDR2 ("Red" DDR2). news image Swissbit DDR2R
That brings to mind prequels and sequels, and if we're not careful we're going to end up getting confused with that charming little robot in Star Wars.

The new color applies to all Swissbit's DDR2 modules with capacities ranging from 256MB to 2GB and speeds ranging from 400MHz to 667MHz. Actually I'm red/green color blind - so I just have to take it on trust that I used the right picture. ...Swissbit profile, Storage News in Pictures

QNAP Launches Desktop NAS for SMBs

Taipei, Taiwan - November 29, 2005 - QNAP Systems, Inc. has launched the TS-401T - a 4 disk, hot swappable, desktop NAS aimed at SMBs.
Most small businesses may not have their own MIS professionals. QNAP's TS-401T can be configured in 5 minutes with 7 simple installation steps.

Disk configurations include:- RAID 0, 1, 5 & JBOD. The TS-401T includes built in software for remote replication and optional anti-virus protection.

It also includes USB ports for directly attached data backup. ...QNAP Systems profile, NAS
news image - QNAP NAS

Accordance Delivers RAID Protection Under $400

DES MOINES, Iowa - November 16, 2005 - Accordance Systems today announced that small and medium size businesses can now afford the same class of data protection as large enterprises.
Connected to either local PCs or a small central server, the ARAID IDE and SATA controllers RAID 1 capability has now been expanded to protect registry files, open data base files and application files.

Accordance Systems' ARAID is the first low cost RAID system of its class (under $400) disk mirroring all computer files for disaster recovery and data backup.
news image Accordance
"Even if you are a computer newbie, you can easily install the 'no software needed' ARAID on any Windows, Mac, Linux or UNIX computer" said Steve Johnson, President of Accordance Systems.

The Accordance ARAID controller supports dual hard drives and mirrors data onto both drives. As data gets written to one disk it is automatically copied to the second disk. If one disk fails, the data is protected on the other disk. To replace a failed hard drive, the user simply pulls out the removable ARAID hard drive tray, pulls out the bad disk and replaces it with a new one. The ARAID automatically copies the data from the remaining good drive onto the newly inserted hard disk.

The ARAID is commonly used for backup by using 3 hard drives – one that stays in the ARAID controller, and 2 that are rotated in and out. The removed hard disk is taken off-site to provide reliable and secure storage of valuable data against disaster scenarios. Disk-based backups using the ARAID are less expensive, less labor intensive and more reliable than tape based backups. ...Accordance profile
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Targa Series 4 - 2.5 inch SCSI flash disk
Solid State Removable Military NAS
from Targa Systems
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a Short History of Disk to Disk Backup
STORAGEsearch.com has been reporting on the enterprise D2d market since the concept first began.
This article plots the main events in the market transition from the heady days when tape backup was at its height - through to the situation now where most corporate data is backed up using disk to disk backup. click to read the article - a Short History of  Disk to Disk Backup
In May 2007 - D2d was the #1 subject viewed by Storage Searchers. ...read the article, Hard disk drives, Backup Software
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click to read article by Xtore
NAS, DAS or SAN? - Choosing the Right Storage Technology for Your Organization - article by Xtore

It's more than 5 years since we published the Storage Architecture Guide a classic reference written by the world's first network storage company Auspex. The new overview article from Xtore places the main storage connection strategies in a current context. Here's an extract.

"Another important consideration for a medium sized business or large enterprise is heterogeneous data sharing. With DAS, each server is running its own operating platform, so there is no common storage in an environment that may include a mix of Windows, Mac and Linux workstations. NAS systems can integrate into any environment and serve files across all operating platforms. On the network, a NAS system appears like a native file server to each of its different clients. That means that files are saved on the NAS system, as well as retrieved from the NAS system, in their native file formats. NAS is also based on industry standard network protocols such as TCP/IP, FC and CIFS. " ... read the article, ...Xtore profile
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click to read article click to read article

Serial Attached SCSI - Delivering Flexibility to the Data Center - article by LSI Logic and Maxtor

If you think you already know SAS because you know SATA and traditional SCSI then think again. Sometimes disruptive technologies wear an unassuming disguise. In fiction, Clark Kent, Frodo Baggins and Buffy Summers at first seem harmless, but we see them change into Superman, the Ring Bearer and the Slayer.

SAS too comes cloaked in plain garb - with a physical layer which looks a lot like SATA. But like the Incredible Hulk there are muscles rippling under that shirt - and you would be wrong to dismiss SAS so lightly. There's a lot more inside this interface than it says on the box as this informative article reveals. ...read the article, ...LSI Logic profile, ...Maxtor profile, Serial Attached SCSI

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article by
War of the Disks: Hard Disk Drives vs. Flash Solid State Disks - Despatches from the Magneto / Flash Wars - article by BiTMICRO

BiTMICRO is the #1 best recognised brand of SSDs (source STORAGEsearch.com SSD Survey) and they have published a lot of articles to help customers understand the benefits of their products. When I first saw the submission for this article I was pleased to see that it quoted extracts from and linked to several other articles that I myself had written or edited - so that gave me a warm glow.

After years of analyzing this market SSD vendors and analysts are starting to see some clear patterns emerging. Although opinions still differ on some subjects, and vendors are prone to pitch their own solutions as best, this article is a useful synthesis of current industry thinking by one of the leading flash SSD module manufacturers. ...read the article, ...BiTMICRO Networks profile, Solid State Disks, Hard disk drives
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3rd Party RAM,, article by Keystone Memory
3rd Party RAM, Your Rights on Server Warranties - article by Keystone Memory

Users know that memory and hard disk drives aren't made by most of the companies from whom they buy their servers, notebooks and desktops. But they are often intimidated from competitively buying 3rd party upgrades by sales tactics aimed at locking them in to a single source. Such tactics often hint that maintenance contracts and warranties will be void or negatively impacted by the presence of 3rd party upgrade products. That kind of anti competitive pressure is illegal in many countries. This article provides an overview of the legal protection that users may have under a US law called Magnuson and Moss. ...read the article, ...Keystone Memory profile, US Storage VARs
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article - the Dangers of Removable Storage Media by Pointsec
the Dangers of Removable Storage Media - article by Pointsec

In the early James Bond films of the 1960s, viewers were introduced to an array of implausible (at the time) portable high tech spy gadgets. Nowadays we know from our own everyday experience that something the size of a cigarette lighter can actually be a video camera with its own wireless internet access.

The proliferation of miniature high capacity storage devices creates a serious problem for commercial and national security. This article provides an up to date picture of the intrinsic dangers posed by current removable storage technologies. ...read the article, ...Pointsec profile, Security, Removable Storage
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article:-  Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - by Semico Research
Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - article by Semico Research

There's a confusing picture in many consumer products like phones, cameras and music players in which one day it seems that the storage function is done by flash and next day another company announces they're doing the same thing with miniature hard disks.

Is there any sense to this seemingly random choice?

This article uses pricing trends, technology trends and unique market analysis insights to show that users and oems may be able to reliably predict which storage devices will be most cost effective depending where you are on the future history curve. ...read the article, ...Semico Research profile, Hard disk drives, Flash Memory, Market research, Solid state disks
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What is Data Recovery? - article by  Disklabs
What is Data Recovery? - article by Disklabs

The first time you try any new technology service it can be a bit daunting. Who do you choose? What if it goes wrong? The pressure really turns up when you are in the situation of having lost your data due to a backup failure, hardware fault, operator error or physical disaster. That's usually the first time you look at the data recovery market. and it's when you're in a high state of anxiety and can't take the risk of anything else going wrong. This article is a simple guide to how the data recovery industry works and how it can help you in this frightening situation. ...read the article,...Disklabs profile, Data Recovery, backup software, Hard disk drives
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read article by Plasmon the Impact of Compliance  on Archival Storage Strategies
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

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