Data centre hardware
Data centre strategy is an increasingly important focus for IT managers, as enterprises look to cut costs and improve energy efficiency. We examine key data centre hardware trends such as virtualisation, consolidation and systems management to help identify the products that are right for your needs.
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Feature
12 Dec 2024
Google Cloud Platform: Key storage options in the Google Cloud
We survey the key cloud storage offers available from GCP, which include Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk and Filestore, with a range of service levels and app-specific options Continue Reading
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News
11 Dec 2024
IaaS firm uses Pure Storage as a service for ‘virtual datacentres’
Espresso Gridpoint moved from largely NetApp to Pure Storage FlashBlade file and object for its ‘virtual datacentres’ business model that offers VMware, Hyper-V and ProxMox VMs Continue Reading
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E-Zine
21 Nov 2019
CW Nordics: Automation pays off for Sweden’s social workers
Software robots are freeing up time for social workers in Sweden to help benefits claimants find employment and to receive the money they are entitled to. Also in this issue, read how Sweden’s SEB bank is using a Google-inspired, cloud-native core banking platform, and why India is leading the pack when it comes to IT outsourcing from the Nordic countries. Continue Reading
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News
20 Nov 2019
Datrium boosts VMware protection but won’t add more hypervisors
NVMe flash pioneer turned DR-as-a-service-focused data platform provider Datrium says VMware and Kubernetes have “won the market” and it won’t extend support beyond those two Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2019
DataCore adds file and S3 object storage with vFilO
Software-defined storage specialist DataCore has added file storage and S3 object storage access with vFilO, which lets customers create virtual pools from on-site and remote datastores Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Nov 2019
NVMe-over-TCP brings super-fast flash over standard IP networks
TCP is the latest transport protocol that can be used to connect NVMe flash storage. We explain how NVMe-over-TCP works and the key advantages for datacentre customers Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Nov 2019
What is QLC flash and what workloads it is good for?
QLC flash offers low per-gigabyte costs and lots of capacity, but can be limited by endurance and I/O performance. It can be a good disk replacement for several workloads, however Continue Reading
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E-Zine
07 Nov 2019
CW Benelux: Dutch banks fight money laundering
Dutch banks are sharing expertise and resources to help reduce money laundering through their accounts. Also read in this issue how companies could lose loyal IT staff because salary rises do not match those at rival employers, and why a Dutch province is pioneering a no-code software development platform. Continue Reading
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News
06 Nov 2019
Scality APIs connect Azure Stack to Ring object storage on-site
Object storage specialist continues its cloud integration journey by adding Microsoft Azure Blob API connectors to allow use of Ring as bulk storage for Azure edge data Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Nov 2019
Is NVMe flash the right choice for you?
NVMe flash storage boosts performance for I/O-hungry operations, but how does it work, where can organisations best deploy it, and what are the key uses cases where it can make a difference? Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2019
Qumulo gets HPE upgrade as customers ‘come back from object’
Distributed file system maker Qumulo benefits from HPE Apollo hardware upgrade in a market where Qumulo exec says customers are coming back from object storage for unstructured data Continue Reading
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News
29 Oct 2019
NordVPN enlists ethical hackers, launches bug bounty programme
Breached consumer VPN supplier details steps it is taking to shore up its cyber security posture after an unknown actor gained access to one of its servers Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Oct 2019
Key storage choices: Cloud vs tape for archive storage?
Tape still has benefits, such as an ‘air gap’ that can insulate archives from threats to data integrity. But what are the opportunities for cloud in tape’s traditional use cases? Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2019
Total saves £95,000 a year with Nutanix hyper-converged
Gas and electricity supplier struggled with ageing traditional infrastructure, but moved to hyper-converged for projects that include containers and DevOps deployments Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2019
NordVPN blames datacentre provider for server breach
VPN provider insists no user data was compromised in a March 2018 server breach, and says its datacentre provider failed to inform it of the issue Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2019
APAC spending on AI systems to hit $6.2bn in 2019
Led by China and organisations in the banking industry, APAC spending on artificial intelligence is set to grow by almost 64% this year, according to IDC Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2019
Virtual Instruments is now Virtana and aims at cloud, containers
Searches for “Virtual Instruments” returned too many synthesizers, so storage monitoring pioneer went through a blue sky ordeal. It has new plans for cloud and container capability, too Continue Reading
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News
16 Oct 2019
Commvault adds Metallic SaaS backup and Hedvig features
Backup software maker adds software-as-a-service Metallic, which can protect on-premise, cloud and hybrid platforms. Meanwhile, Hedvig gets datacentre features and erasure coding Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Oct 2019
Key differences between cloud storage offerings
Cloud storage offerings are often largely similar. We run through the key areas where they can differ, such as location, range of services and data protection Continue Reading
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News
15 Oct 2019
AI Singapore to set up on-premise HPC infrastructure
Singapore’s national AI programme is getting its own high-performance computing infrastructure to support more compute intensive workloads Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Oct 2019
DevOps and storage: APIs and flexibility key
The details of back-end storage are irrelevant to DevOps engineers, but they need enough of it, when they want it, and the ability to manage it programmatically is key Continue Reading
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News
07 Oct 2019
PLC flash: A solid state candidate for analytics and archives?
We thought flash would end at QLC, but storage media makers are working on penta-level cell, which could push capacity to double figures, but at a further performance cost Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Oct 2019
Data storage: The top five storage deployment pitfalls
Key pitfalls in data storage include silos, under-utilisation, backup and disaster recovery, plus neglect of skills and application requirements. We ask analysts how to avoid them Continue Reading
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News
01 Oct 2019
Intel previews Optane persistent memory, QLC SSD and even PLC
Intel sets out roadmap for second-generation Optane persistent memory – between SSD and DRAM – as well as QLC SSD, with talk of PLC (penta-level cell) after that Continue Reading
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News
30 Sep 2019
HPE refurbishes legacy IT assets to make money for users
HPE Financial Services is giving old IT assets a new lease of life at its tech renewal site in Erskine, near Glasgow, as part of a promotion of the circular economy Continue Reading
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News
27 Sep 2019
How Graphcore is putting AI on steroids
UK chipmaker Graphcore’s intelligence processing unit may just hold the key to unlocking the full potential of artificial intelligence Continue Reading
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News
25 Sep 2019
National Library of Scotland says aye to Scality object storage
National digitised archives move off Hitachi SANs and Qualstar tape, object storage is embraced and a “no backup” strategy put in place with petabyte-scale Scality S3/file deployment Continue Reading
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News
24 Sep 2019
Pure adds Optane and QLC flash to boost performance and capacity
Flash storage player adds Intel Optane modules performance, a capacity flash range based on QLC drives, plus rebranding and GA of its on-premise/cloud leasing service Continue Reading
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News
24 Sep 2019
Cloud provider sweeps away legacy storage for 1PB of Infinidat
Core DataCloud decommissions storage from several vendors to consolidate to 1PB on Infinidat Infinibox, with DRAM and flash to accelerate hot data in front of disk back end Continue Reading
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News
23 Sep 2019
The perfect storm for silicon photonics
By packaging optics with silicon chips, silicon photonics will enable datacentres to keep up with the exponential growth in demand for bandwidth Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Sep 2019
Storage and DevOps: What is required for agile development?
DevOps brings continuous and agile application. Storage has to fit in and make itself just as responsive to development that does away with the inertia of stifling hierarchies Continue Reading
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News
18 Sep 2019
IBM opens new centre to house 53-qubit quantum computer
IBM hopes its cloud-connected quantum computer in New York will encourage the development of quantum-optimised software Continue Reading
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News
17 Sep 2019
Northwestern cuts storage costs in half with Komprise
Komprise’s Deep Analytics helps university classify and migrate research data to cheaper disk and cloud as it cuts storage costs from $1.1m to $680,000 per annum Continue Reading
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Podcast
17 Sep 2019
Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 30
The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast team returns from its brief summer hiatus to discuss HPE’s hardware refresh processes, the financial services industry’s changing relationship with cloud and a charity that is helping people with chronic illnesses find work in tech Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Sep 2019
Top five cloud storage pitfalls
Cloud storage offers apparent simplicity, but unexpected costs, complexity, data movement and integration challenges can arise. We look at how to avoid common cloud storage pitfalls Continue Reading
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E-Zine
12 Sep 2019
CW Europe: Dutch authorities call temporary halt to datacentre construction
Two Dutch municipalities are putting all datacentre construction on hold while they put together a strategy to help them control developments. A local alderman said datacentres take up a lot of space and place a large burden on the electricity grid. Also read how France is racing ahead of Germany in making the most of service companies in India, and about Google’s plans for a new datacentre and technology training hub in Finland. Continue Reading
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News
12 Sep 2019
IBM introduces z15 mainframe with security data passport
In the new z15 enterprise server, IBM has focused on making data secure and auditable wherever it resides. Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2019
Spectra tilts at HSM with StorCycle storage management software
Spectra Logic unveils newly-developed storage management platform and two-tier file access and object storage with all data visible to all users for restore Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2019
Ctera launches hybrid cloud HC2400M at media use cases
Edge filer specialist hits up the media and entertainment market with its NAS-like hardware that caches data locally, syncs with other nodes and stages data to the cloud Continue Reading
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News
09 Sep 2019
Commvault buys Hedvig in push for global storage player status
Backup player Commvault aims to bring together datacentre and multi-cloud operations with software-defined storage that can unify access to almost any storage medium, anywhere Continue Reading
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News
04 Sep 2019
Virtual Instruments brings automated VM right-sizing in v6.2
Storage and app performance specialist can now change virtual machine compute and network resources according to workload, with increased shift to analytics and proactive monitoring Continue Reading
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News
03 Sep 2019
How the University of Liverpool balances HPC and the cloud
The University of Liverpool has been running a hybrid HPC environment since 2017, which uses PowerEdge nodes and AWS public cloud services Continue Reading
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News
03 Sep 2019
Assessing China’s machine learning platforms
In a new market research report, technology analyst firm IDC offers insights on key suppliers of machine learning platforms in China Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Aug 2019
On-premise object storage: Key products and use cases
We run the rule over on-premise object storage, key use cases and suppliers, take a closer look at an organisation that has deployed object storage, and assess cloud compatibility Continue Reading
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News
28 Aug 2019
European colocation market set for another record-breaking year, but London market growth slows
CBRE's quarterly colocation tracker shows the Frankfurt market is leading the way in take-up rates, as London’s 2019 growth rates suffer a hangover Continue Reading
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E-Zine
22 Aug 2019
CW Nordics: Copenhagen woos tech startups
Copenhagen offers all the advantages startups need to get off the ground and many are setting up with the intention of staying there for the long haul. Also read how shipping giant Maersk is employing a cloud-first strategy to disrupt competition and build innovation, and why three Finnish banks are sharing a core IT platform. Continue Reading
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Feature
21 Aug 2019
French national research centre insources with Rubrik backup
France’s national research organisation wanted to insource IT back from Atos and built its private cloud on VMware across two locations with Rubrik appliances for backup Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Aug 2019
How to deploy NVMe flash storage for artificial intelligence
We run the rule over NVMe flash as a storage choice for AI applications and the key decision points in form factor and hardware specification Continue Reading
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News
15 Aug 2019
Cloud demand fuels 18% rise in colocation M&A activity in first half of 2019
Merger and acquisition activity in colocation market leaps as demand for cloud continues to reshape the enterprise and hyperscale datacentre landscape Continue Reading
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News
13 Aug 2019
Cray to support US Department of Energy El Capitan exascale programme
Shasta platform will be used to expand traditional supercomputing to support complex workflows Continue Reading
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Opinion
13 Aug 2019
Storage: How ‘tail latency’ impacts customer-facing applications
Henry He of Virtual Instruments looks at tail latency, the small percentage of storage I/O that could be causing big and costly problems for business applications Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Aug 2019
Hop jumps to Pure Storage to avoid big storage complexity
Air France short-haul and regional brand Hop jumps to Pure Storage after coming up against Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE, which all tried to sell it solutions ill-suited to its needs Continue Reading
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News
30 Jul 2019
Australia to upgrade supercomputer in HPC boost
The Gadi supercomputer at the Australian National University will run 10 times faster than its predecessor, giving researchers access to high performance computing resources to solve the toughest research problems Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Jul 2019
The pitfalls of hyper-converged infrastructure and how to avoid them
Hyper-converged infrastructure can be an easy win when it comes to datacentre infrastructure upgrades, but there are pitfalls. We discuss how best you can sidestep them Continue Reading
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Podcast
22 Jul 2019
Analytics and GDPR compliance: How to achieve it
Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust, looks at technologies such as pseudonymisation that can help organisations stay GDPR-compliant while gaining value from analytics on customer data Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2019
Smartodds bets on Rubrik backup appliance with cloud archive
Betting intelligence analytics firm Smartodds replaced its old tape backup infrastructure with Rubrik appliances to cut management time and database restores from hours to minutes Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2019
University of Bristol upgrades to Nimble as it takes IT off-site
Higher education institution gets trouble-free hybrid flash performance from Nimble and stores 600TB of data at two colocation sites to which it is transitioning from on-campus Continue Reading
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News
10 Jul 2019
Gartner forecasts big shift in spending away from devices and datacentres
The IT market is basically flat, but there is demand for software and cloud-based services as CIOs shift away from datacentre infrastructure Continue Reading
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News
09 Jul 2019
StorOne brings leasing for high-performance multiprotocol flash storage
To make a name for itself in the SME storage market, startup StorOne intends to innovate in technology and its economic approach, with a subscription model for storage Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Jul 2019
Public cloud: A key component in a disaster recovery plan
The key things to consider when creating a disaster recovery plan that uses public cloud: DIY vs DRaaS, native cloud tools vs third party, and how low can you go with RPO and RTO? Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Jul 2019
French baby store modernises backup as Veeam handles 150TB a night
France-based maternity, baby and children’s store Orchestra needed to share IT resources between 700 points of sale across multiple time zones, and backup for 100 applications Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Jun 2019
Cloud snapshots and backups: How to protect data in the cloud
You often need more data protection than native cloud services will give. But should you choose backup or snapshots? And what about third-party backup in the cloud? Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Jun 2019
Unstructured data compliance: Obstacles and solutions
Stored unstructured data could be a black hole full of unknown risk. We look at the key dangers to compliance in unstructured data and some ways of mitigating the risks Continue Reading
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News
24 Jun 2019
Steel firm adds steel to resilience with Scale hyper-converged
Carrs Tool Steels had to move on from legacy servers and found hyper-converged infrastructure from Scale Computing the ideal fit for a small business that couldn’t afford downtime Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2019
NetApp ports services to NetApp HCI for multi-cloud storage
NetApp will debut multi-cloud services on its NetApp HCI hyper-converged platform, with the first being its Kubernetes orchestrator service and Cloud Volumes Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2019
University graduates to Rubrik backup appliance with Azure cloud
University of Reading could only back up 20% of its data on an ageing tape library, so it modernised with a Rubrik appliance and Azure cloud storage in a cost-neutral project Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2019
WekaIO adds enterprise features to scale-out NAS file system
WekaIO has Dell EMC’s Isilon, NetApp, GPFS and Lustre in its sights with its massively scalable hybrid-cloud NAS file system that also runs in the Amazon cloud Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Jun 2019
AI storage: Machine learning, deep learning and storage needs
Artificial intelligence workloads impact storage, with NVMe flash needed for GPU processing at the highest levels of performance – and there are other choices right through the AI data lifecycle Continue Reading
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News
11 Jun 2019
Scale targets edge workloads with HE500 hyper-converged nodes
Scale Computing adds hyper-converged infrastructure nodes to provide edge compute and storage that is fully compatible with its datacentre-scale HCI appliances Continue Reading
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News
10 Jun 2019
Western Digital aims to help rethink unstructured data storage
Zonedstorage.io is Western Digital-backed idea to re-architect unstructured data storage with sequential writes to high-capacity media such as SMR HDDs and ZNS NVMe flash Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Jun 2019
Enterprise HPC: Why HPE is buying Cray
HPE’s decision to acquire supercomputing pioneer Cray for $1.3bn serves to highlight the growing importance of high-performance computing (HPC) deployments in the enterprise market Continue Reading
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News
05 Jun 2019
Komprise to add Deep Analytics to unstructured data management
New functionality will allow customers to create and interrogate virtual data set from potentially petabytes of unstructured data across multiple shares and physical storage Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Jun 2019
Cloud storage and its main cost components
We run through the main items charged for by the big cloud storage providers, such as capacity, storage type, transactions, data egress, networks and data protection Continue Reading
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Feature
30 May 2019
SAN vs NAS vs hyper-converged for virtual machine storage
The pros and cons of file and block access storage arrays vs the new breed of all-in-one server/storage architecture for storage of virtual machine systems and data Continue Reading
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News
28 May 2019
Excelero and BeeGFS offer next-gen HPC based on NVMe flash
Super-fast solid-state storage in commodity servers ties up with recently-developed parallel file system BeeGFS to target high-performance computing use cases Continue Reading
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News
22 May 2019
V.Pharma swaps Data Domain for Quantum and cuts backup costs
Belgian pharmacy’s Data Domains had reached end-of-life and it wanted to remain in-budget. Quantum DXi worked out a lot cheaper and easy to manage, with good support Continue Reading
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Feature
21 May 2019
Software-defined storage vs NAS/SAN: What are the options?
We look at the pros and cons of software-defined storage and weigh up when it’s a better option than buying NAS and SAN pre-built hardware shared storage arrays Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2019
Reduxio’s Magellan charts course to storage in containers
Reduxio makes its storage product functionality available via microservices in containers aimed at container-native deployments, in an initial closed customer beta Continue Reading
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Feature
17 May 2019
Cloud’s low-hanging fruit: Backup, tiering and data sharing
Native cloud operations can have a steep on-ramp in terms of enterprise IT readiness, but some things are relatively easy to port to a tier of storage in the cloud Continue Reading
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News
16 May 2019
Datrium rebrands hybrid cloud data platform as Automatrix
NVMe pioneer Datrium announces ControlShift disaster recovery automation as a service, while bundling its data platform offerings as Automatrix, and lauds the benefits compared to siloed IT Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
Gorilla bets on Object Matrix for £1m-plus-per-episode TV shows
Customers such as Netflix, Amazon and the BBC need to be sure their content is stored safely. Gorilla Post Production chose object storage from Wales-based Object Matrix Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
Email firm runs millions of mailboxes with Scality object storage
Open Xchange switches from OpenStack Swift to Scality to run 13PB of storage for millions of mailboxes across two continents for telco, mobile and TV providers Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2019
Nutanix takes aim at making multi-cloud simple
Provider of hyper-converged technology, Nutanix, is breaking out of the datacentre and hybrid IT to enable workloads to move anywhere Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
Nasuni aims at analytics and fast migration to the cloud
Cloud NAS and object storage specialist says customers want “Lego blocks” that allow them to build for cloud workloads, and plans cloud migration tools for massive datasets Continue Reading
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News
30 Apr 2019
HPE to launch Cloud Volumes in UK and Ireland
HPE Cloud Volumes will offer enterprise-class block storage for use with AWS and Azure compute plus a replication store for backup and disaster recovery from the end of May Continue Reading
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News
29 Apr 2019
LightBits Super SSD brings NVMe on vanilla Ethernet
Israeli startup LightBits offers super-fast NVMe flash storage over plain Ethernet networks in a move that some think will bring “iSCSI for the NVMe generation” Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Apr 2019
Don’t let datacentres be a waste of space
Storage costs can be saved by improving the utilisation of existing storage infrastructures Continue Reading
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News
26 Apr 2019
NVMe is ‘ready’, say Dell EMC, Virtual Instruments and Cisco
Storage and networks big guns say super-fast NVMe flash is ready for enterprise users, with performance 10x over existing Fibre Channel and ecosystem in place Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Apr 2019
Scale-out NAS: File storage with cloud and flash from big five
We run the rule over scale-out NAS from the big five storage array makers to find all-flash and hybrid-flash commonplace and use of the cloud as a tier almost ubiquitous Continue Reading
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News
24 Apr 2019
Pure Storage buys Compuverde to put object storage on steroids
Fast flash storage specialist Pure Storage adds object storage to FlashArray and aims to compete with NetApp on NAS while bringing flash performance to web applications Continue Reading
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News
17 Apr 2019
Understanding Anthos: Google’s multicloud bid to define the next 20 years of enterprise IT
The unveiling of Google Cloud’s Anthos multicloud management tool dominated many discussions at the firm’s annual developer conference in San Francisco, amid claims that it could change the face of enterprise IT for decades Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Apr 2019
Hyper-converged infrastructure vs NAS and SAN shared storage
Can compute, storage and networks in one box be a better option than shared storage? And which organisations can most benefit from it, and for what scale of deployment? Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Apr 2019
Cloud storage 101: Specifying for cloud storage
We run through key questions to ask when specifying cloud storage, such as disk type, performance, availability and the possible hidden cost of getting data out of the cloud Continue Reading
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News
17 Apr 2019
Qumulo upgrades hybrid-flash hybrid cloud C-series with C-72T
Hybrid cloud-focused clustered NAS provider Qumulo’s C-72T takes advantage of cheaper and better components to start at 72TB and scale to petabytes from a 1U node Continue Reading
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News
16 Apr 2019
Nutanix powers Manchester City Council’s IT
Manchester City Council has made considerable savings since migrating off a traditional architecture in favour of a hyper-converged infrastructure from Nutanix Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2019
JetStream DR cloud replication aims to make backup redundant
JetStream’s IO Filter allows for continuous replication to the cloud of VMware virtual machines and virtual disks instead of scheduled snapshots or backups, and with a near-zero RPO Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2019
IBM sees NVMe gains in V5100F, but more to come with better apps
As IBM launches first midrange NVMe box, execs say applications need to have the SCSI designed out of them to gain the full potential of NVMe flash-equipped arrays Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2019
HPE and Nutanix go after hybrid cloud service opportunity
Enterprises are taking a hybrid approach to cloud computing. A new deal with Nutanix is HPE's latest attempt at simplifying hardware as a service Continue Reading
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News
03 Apr 2019
Datrium makes European push as it targets storage ‘big guys’
NVMe pioneer turned hybrid cloud and “data platform” provider makes a push for the enterprise and wants to take scalps from those selling “1990s SAN technology” Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Apr 2019
Cloud storage 101: Cloud gateways for hybrid cloud connectivity
Two of the big three public cloud providers – Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure – offer gateway on-ramps that can speed the deployment of hybrid cloud operations for SME and remote office locations Continue Reading
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News
02 Apr 2019
Cranfield gets Rubrik backup plus Nutanix in drive to the cloud
Research-led university goes hyper-converged across the board with Rubrik backup appliances and Nutanix in a move to rationalise on-site physical needs and drive to the cloud Continue Reading
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News
01 Apr 2019
Azure Stack HCI: Hyper-converged, but not as Azure as you’d think
Microsoft has re-branded Windows Server Software Defined to put hyper-converged to the fore, but Azure Stack HCI isn’t totally in sync with the Azure Stack on-premise cloud platform Continue Reading