HP outlines virtualization strategy January 29, 2003
-- At the ENSA@Work conference in Amsterdam last week, Hewlett-Packard made a lot of noise about virtualization and network-attached storage (NAS), announcing expanded relationships with Brocade and Microsoft, respectively, as well as details surrounding the company's planned fourth-quarter virtualization rollout.
EqualLogic targets iSCSI SANs January 22, 2003
-- Attendees at this week's Server I/O conference in Monterey, CA, got a glimpse of a new iSCSI disk architecture from EqualLogic that may mark the beginning of a new wave of iSCSI activity.
Sun acquisitions bolster N1 strategy January 15, 2003
-- Sun Microsystems is launching pilot programs for selected customers with products from Pirus Networks and Terraspring, companies it recently acquired to build out its N1 strategy. N1 will eventually enable users to create more-efficient, easier-to-manage data centers, according to Sun officials.
IBM first to resell Cisco storage switches January 8, 2003
-- Earlier this week, Cisco announced that it has signed up IBM as the first major OEM of its MDS family of Fibre Channel and multi-protocol switches and directors. The move was not surprising, given the two companies' long-standing relationship in the networking market.
On your mark, get set, go iSCSI! January 1, 2003
-- If you are married to the belief that an industry standard isn't "real" until all products comply with it, then iSCSI is not for you—not now anyway. As of press time, the final draft of the iSCSI specification had not yet been ratified.
TCP/IP offload engines alleviate bottlenecks January 1, 2003
-- Despite Ethernet's increase in speed to 1Gbps—and soon, to 10Gbps—high-performance servers cannot support gigabit connections and maintain fast response times for applications.
Storage virtualization: Waiting for nirvana January 1, 2003
-- Just a few years ago, a number of storage vendors made great fanfare about their virtualization strategies, promising of virtual pools of inexpensive storage attached to inexpensive networks.
Start-up acquires EMC technology for tape virtualization January 1, 2003
-- Framingham, MA-based start-up Diligent Technologies has acquired EMC's Israel-based R&D facility that specializes in developing software—including tape virtualization products that are currently on the market as an EMC brand—and other technologies Diligent plans to commercialize over the next nine months.
SAN ROI is a sticky wicket January 1, 2003
-- With IT budgets tighter than a noose, return on investment (ROI) is the only chair that some managers have to stand on.
SAN adoption much higher at 1TB+ shops January 1, 2003
-- According to an end-user survey by market research firm PriMetrica, companies with relatively large capacities (more than 1TB of data) are—not surprisingly— more likely to have deployed storage area networks (SANs).
QLogic enters iSCSI race January 1, 2003
-- Yet another sign that iSCSI may be ready for prime time later this year, QLogic—one of the two largest vendors of Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs)—recently released chips and HBAs that offload iSCSI, TCP/IP, and IP Security (IPSec) protocol processing from host CPUs.
New Year's resolution: Do more with less January 1, 2003
-- Many IT budgets are set in the fourth quarter, but now is the time that most managers sit down and evaluate needs versus spending and put together executable plans that will help meet corporate goals.
HDS and Network Appliance team for NAS January 1, 2003
-- Within the next two months, Hitachi Data Systems is expected to ship a network-attached storage (NAS) gateway supplied by Network Appliance as the result of an OEM agreement announced in December.
Getting SAN ROI right means getting what you need January 1, 2003
-- When BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) needed to rein in costs associated with its exploding storage needs, the answer was not obvious.
Blade servers gain momentum January 1, 2003
-- No longer just a niche market, blade servers are becoming increasingly popular, and shipments are expected to rapidly accelerate through 2006, according to IMEX Research, in San Jose (see figure).