So, here’s my rash statement from Twitter last night: “If FAST isn’t free, I don’t want it! All it’s doing is automating process I could script/do manually”. It’s a bold statement, I know, so is FAST really offering something better than what could be achieved today using EMC’s Symmetrix Optimizer?

Yesterday Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) used SNW USA to release information on their proposed cloud strategy, referred to as “Agile Cloud”. Everyone believes they need a cloud story and clearly Hitachi are no different.

A while back, I discussed speculation from EMC around Emulex’s proposed cloud-block storage appliance, E3s (Enterprise Elastic Storage). With my current focus on Cloud Storage, I thought it would be good to delve a bit deeper into some of the aspects of why block-based cloud computing could prove tricky and why without an appliance it may be impossible.

It’s no secret that I’m keen on the idea of Cloud Computing (and cloud storage in particular), so the concept of evolving standardisation is extremely exciting. I would also contend that for certain pieces of the cloud storage infrastructure we do need standards: Security, authentication, and the ability to dynamically switch workloads.

Earlier this month, Texas Memory Systems announced they had acquired the intellectual assets of Incipient, a company that producedSAN virtualisation hardware andsoftware. With Incipient gone, EMC hardly bothering to mention Invista, what is the future of SAN LUN virtualisation?
I talked about Incipient last year, here and here when discussing the costs of performing migrations. As […]

In this post, I’ll be discussing some of the analytics features of the 7000 arrays and how the rich data it offers provides customers with added insight into getting the best performance for their money.

Every now and then my main computer (i.e. the one with all the screens that runs MS Vista) eventually starts to slow down. My usual response is a full re-install, which although sounds drastic isn’t that bad as most of my data is server-based, so the main effort is in getting the applications back installed […]

This is the final post in a series on Enterprise Data Migration Strategies. Previous posts:
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies – PartI
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies – PartII
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies Part III
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies – PartIV
Previously we’ve discussed how to plan, structure and organise migrations. In this post, I’ll touch on some […]

This is a continuing series on Enterprise Data Migration Strategies. Previous posts:
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies – PartI
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies – PartII
Enterprise Computing: Data Migration Strategies Part III
So far in this series of posts I’ve discussed the pre-work required in order to get to a position to execute on actual data moves. In […]

I’ve read with interest this week the posts on wide striping and the consequent expansion to thin provisioning. Here are some of the highlights:
First there’s Martin Glasborow’s post, which discusses whether wide striping and thin provisioning should be chargeable items. I’d go a step further than Martin and suggest that thin provisioning (TP) should also […]