Software Defining Your Storage

There is a lot of talk in the technology industry of “software defining”, the idea that elements of our technology stack, traditionally based on a hardware appliance can be abstracted from it and made available as a software-only appliance that can be installed on any hardware.  But why? Wouldn’t you rather your key assets were… Read more »

Podcast #3 – Chris & Matt review the SFD18 presenters

Here’s a little extra podcast Matt Leib and I recorded this afternoon in preparation for Storage Field Day 18.  You can tell this wasn’t recorded in a studio, but actually Matt’s hotel room!  Matt preps coffee in his mini-Nespresso device while we discuss each of the presenting vendors. The discussion is ad-hoc, off the cuff… Read more »

Performance Benchmarks: Reading Between the Lines

As we move into 2019, storage performance becomes more important than ever.  At the media level, vendors are pushing the boundaries with fast solid-state technologies like NAND flash and 3D-Xpoint.  These products provide performance capabilities we’ve never seen before.  Storage system vendors then take components and build storage solutions, either as bespoke hardware or part… Read more »

Building a modern data platform – what have we learned?

This is a guest post by Paul Stringfellow from Gardner Systems and was originally posted at Building a modern data platform – what have we learned? where you can also find Paul’s “Tech Interviews” podcast. As I reach the end of this series, it raises the question “what have we learned?”. If you’ve read through it all,… Read more »

NooBaa is acquired by Red Hat

I was interested to see that Red Hat recently decided to acquire NooBaa, a start-up developing an object storage platform.  What makes this story interesting is not the NooBaa technology itself, but rather that Red Hat is acquiring yet another storage platform to complement those it already owns.  Why add another to the list? NooBaa… Read more »

Thoughts from Hitachi NEXT 2018

Earlier this year I was invited to Hitachi NEXT in lovely San Diego.  As part of my trip, I took the time to learn a little more about some of the technology Hitachi has been working on and bringing to market either directly through Hitachi Ltd or Hitachi Vantara.  You may remember that Hitachi Vantara… Read more »

Elastifile Cloud File Service Now Available on Google Cloud

Elastifile has announced the availability of a fully managed scale-out file service for Google Cloud.  This is more than just another marketplace offering.  The company’s Cloud File Service is now fully integrated into the Google Cloud ecosystem.  Storage is configured through GCP APIs and GUIs and billed by Google based on consumption.  This is a… Read more »

Technology First? Requirements First!

As more an observer of the technology industry these days, something struck a chord with me as I listened to a recent podcast recording.  Paul Stringfellow hosts a weekly podcast called Tech Interviews.  In Episode 77, he spoke to Matt Watts from NetApp on “cloud first” as a strategy.  The TL;DR of the discussion is… Read more »

Database Replication is Hard

I can only feel sympathy for the team at GitHub, after they suffered an outage recently, due to issues with database replication.  The problem was caused by a mere 43-second break in network connectivity.  We’ve all been there – keeping replicated data in sync is a thankless task and one that can be a nightmare… Read more »

Evolving Enterprise Storage Buying Models

One of the most tedious of tasks I’ve had to undertake over the years has been the planning and deployment of new storage technology.  In that respect, I’m not referring to the physical installation, but rather the process of capacity planning, sourcing and agreeing terms on new storage capacity.  Increasingly, internal businesses consume storage on-demand… Read more »

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Latest

  • Comtrade Software Becomes HYCU and releases HYCU 3.0

    Data protection has featured heavily on the blog over the past few months.  Solutions are moving on from the traditional self-build of the last 15 years to more targeted software and appliances.  Another company doing something different with data protection is HYCU, formerly Comtrade Software.  The company recently rebranded and released version 3.0 of their… Read more »

  • What is a Forklift Upgrade?

    Technology terms get dropped into conversations in the storage industry, with perhaps little explanation of where they come from. Forklift Upgrade is one example.  What does it mean and what’s the context behind it? Legacy Storage If you look back 10-15 years ago, the process of replacing storage was pretty arduous.  Although Fibre Channel as… Read more »

  • AWS Introduces Cheaper, Less Reliable S3 Option

    Amazon Web Services recently introduced a new class of S3 Object storage called S3 One-Zone Infrequent Access.  This extends the options for S3 to four levels of availability and associated cost.  What is the point of introducing another option and what could it be used for? S3 Options Until now there were three S3 classes. … Read more »

  • INFINIDAT InfiniSync – Infinite Sync Replication

    Data replication is a core enterprise feature for implementing data protection.  Synchronous replication provides the ability to maintain an identical copy of data at another location.  While not a panacea for every problem, sync replication simplifies the protection process for servers and applications that are contained on one or more LUNs/volumes. INFINIDAT recently announced InfiniSync,… Read more »

  • Cloud Field Day 3 Preview: Riverbed

    This post is one of a series of previews of companies presenting at Cloud Field Day 3, an invitation-only event in Silicon Valley, taking place 4-6 April 2018.  For more information, see the dedicated CFD3 events page https://blog.architecting.it/events/cloud-field-day-3/. If someone asked me what business Riverbed was in, I’d have said WAN acceleration.  In past lives, I’ve… Read more »

  • Cloud Field Day 3 Preview: Delphix

    This post is one of a series of previews of companies presenting at Cloud Field Day 3, an invitation-only event in Silicon Valley, taking place 4-6 April 2018.  For more information, see the dedicated CFD3 events page https://blog.architecting.it/events/cloud-field-day-3/. There’s a very interesting theme to the presenters at CFD3 and that highlights one of the challenges of… Read more »

  • Cloud Field Day 3 Preview: Veritas

    This post is one of a series of previews of companies presenting at Cloud Field Day 3, an invitation-only event in Silicon Valley, taking place 4-6 April 2018.  For more information, see the dedicated CFD3 events page https://blog.architecting.it/events/cloud-field-day-3/. The name Veritas is synonymous with storage, both in the area of file systems and data protection.  Anyone… Read more »

  • Cloudian Acquires Infinity Storage

    Cloudian Inc, a vendor of object storage solutions has recently announced the acquisition of Infinity Storage, a Milan-based developer of file systems and file storage technology.  In December 2017, Cloudian announced the availability of HyperFile, a NAS controller addition to HyperStore, which we now know was based on Infinity Storage IP.  Clearly, Cloudian saw a… Read more »

  • Cloud Field Day 3 Preview: Morpheus Data

    This post is one of a series of previews of companies presenting at Cloud Field Day 3, an invitation-only event in Silicon Valley, taking place 4-6 April 2018.  For more information, see the dedicated CFD3 events page https://blog.architecting.it/events/cloud-field-day-3/. When processes get too complex and time-consuming, there’s a temptation to stick in another layer of abstraction and… Read more »