Dave Simpson's Storage Blog Archives for September 2009

September 28, 2009 – Dedupe 2.0 is a term used primarily by Permabit, and it involves extending the benefits of data deduplication across the entire storage environment – not just the traditional application of deduplication on secondary (backup/archive) devices but on primary storage devices as well.

And, yes, it has applicability to cloud storage, whether it’s internal/private or external/hosted. (Then again, what doesn’t have applicability to cloud storage these days?)

If reducing your overall storage costs by 10x or 20x via across-the-board deduplication and capacity optimization sounds appealing, you might want to view our recent Webcast, “Dedupe 2.0: The Benefits of Optimizing Primary and Secondary Storage.” It originally aired last week, but is accessible here.

Jeff Boles, a senior analyst with the Taneja Group research and consulting firm, addresses the IT challenges and issues and Mike Ivanov, vice president of marketing at Permabit, explores solutions.

September 21, 2009 – Server virtualization brings up an old question: Within IT, should the network and storage groups combine? The question is valid because virtualization has created an unprecedented inter-dependency within IT teams – and not only between storage and networking, but also the server and applications teams.

The question isn’t new. It first arose when NAS hit the scene, and came up again when iSCSI gained momentum. But for the most part, NAS and iSCSI are still the domain of the storage professionals.

The question is moot at most SMBs, because the same person or small team is responsible for virtually all IT disciplines. But at larger enterprises, merging IT groups is a stickier issue.

I don’t think virtualization alone will lead to a merger of network and storage groups, and a recent survey of Fortune 1000 firms conducted by TheInfoPro (TIP) seems to, partially, support that opinion.

According to the TIP survey, although more than half (54%) of the respondents said that server virtualization has had a ‘significant’ or ‘major’ impact on addressing storage needs, 78% of the respondents said they do not expect storage and networking teams to combine.

In addition, most (77%) of the respondents said they do not have a separate virtualization group, and 60% said their organization sees major operational benefit in having a separate data management (storage) group.

Still, that seems to leave a lot of IT pros on the fence regarding the merger of network and storage groups.

But if NAS, iSCSI and virtualization don’t drive the various IT groups together, one emerging technology could be the tipping point: Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and so-called 'converged networks.'

FCoE, together with the other storage/networking technologies, could cause interesting internal IT battles. And if it doesn’t lead to an actual merger of IT teams, it will most certainly lead to the need for an unprecedented level of cooperation between them.

For another take on TheInfoPro’s study, see Kevin Komiega’s blog post, “Come together? Not now . . .in IT”

September 16, 2009 – I logged plenty of TV hours watching U.S. Open tennis (not to mention NFL season openers) over the last few weeks, all in attempt to gain some respite from the IT world. However, I was subjected to IBM’s cloud computing ad for what seemed like dozens of times during the Open. (Big Blue seems to be sparing football fans from the same torture.)

A guy comes on the screen and asks, “What is cloud computing?,” piquing my interest, albeit to a very minor degree.

So, with a huge international TV audience at its disposal, IBM’s response is: “A cloud is a workload-optimized service management platform enabling new consumption and delivery models.”

Just as I’m about to say “What?” a young girl comes on the screen and says, “It’s what?”

The remainder of the ad doesn’t de-obfuscate cloud computing any further. (In fact, it makes it cloudier.)

To the degree that tennis fans were in the mood for a good definition of cloud computing, they’re just as confused about it now as they were with the Serena Williams foot-fault call and ensuing diatribe.

I have no idea what the TV networks get for 30-second spots during the U.S. Open, but that didn’t seem to be money well spent.

But it could have been worse: I could have been subjected to TV spots about cloud storage. (Yeh, right, like cloud storage providers have that kind of cash sitting around.)

In any case, if you are interested in cloud storage, check out the recently-posted “Cloud storage opportunities and challenges” by Margalla Communications analyst Saqib Jang. Saqib delves into end-user and cloud-provider requirements in the areas of scalability, privacy, data protection, manageability and security.

You can also find some fresh videos, blogs and articles on cloud computing and cloud storage at Glasshouse Technologies’ Web site.

September 10, 2009 – InfoStor recently expanded the content in our weekly e-newsletters by about 75%. In addition to the top five news stories, we added blog posts from yours truly and senior editor Kevin Komiega, in-depth feature articles from our staff and independent consultants and analysts, links to Topic Centers focused on specific technologies, and links to recommended white papers and Webcasts.

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White Papers and Webcasts
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Dedupe 2.0: The Benefits of Optimizing Primary and Secondary Storage

September 1, 2009 – There’s a rumor swirling at this week’s VMworld show regarding the imminent announcement of a deep, formal partnership between VMware, Cisco and EMC (aka VCE).

The troika already has a loose relationship, but scuttlebutt suggests a much more formidable triumvirate. The announcement might come at VMworld this week, although next week may be more likely.

Paul Mansky, a principal in equity research, data center infrastructure, at CANACCORD Adams, issued a note this week that hints at what the three-way relationship might entail.

Citing industry sources, Mansky says the deal will revolve around Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) platform and, of course, EMC storage systems (with an emphasis on Atmos?) and VMware in bundled configurations that address cloud computing (internal or external) environments. The venture is also expected to include joint testing and marketing, as well as a road show in September or October.

Interestingly, sources also say that EMC plans to compensate both EMC and Cisco field reps for 100% of the value of the combined solution sale.

If anybody doubted whether Cisco’s UCS would gain traction, this deal would put those notions to rest.