Storage

As well as outlining the upside that exists for Oracle in storage, and commenting about its recent analyst event, this blog entry includes video interviews with two Oracle storage execs - Phil Bullinger (ZFS storage) and Jim Cates (tape automation).

Many organizations that use solid-state storage attribute their initial adoption of the technology to performance challenges. In fact, previously conducted ESG research revealed that the majority of early solid-state storage users cited the alleviation of I/O bottlenecks caused by server virtualization as an initial adoption driver. However, as solid-state storage continues to mature, its relationship with server virtualization can further be used to gauge the technology’s increasing horizontal applicability.

Software-defined everything.  SFE.  The latest craze in marketing mayhem.

There, of course, is some legitimacy to the phrase - but doesn't software already "define" everything in our IT world?  Doesn't software provide the execution sets that tell our "stuff" what we want it to do?  Therefore, isn't everything really already software-defined in many ways?

This year EMCWorld was a little earlier in the month of May than usual. This was better logistically for me and I’m sure many others. It doesn’t muddle up Memorial Day like it has in the past, plus the weather was spectacular – at least at night when we had time to go outside and enjoy the town a little. That said, EMCWorld was as exhausting as ever with too many people to see, keynotes to listen to, demos, videos, dinners, etc.

Intralinks recently announced its new collaboration platform Intralinks VIA.  Traditionally focused in secure deal rooms for M&A in regulated industries, Intralinks is the most recent vendor making the shift to include OFS in its briefcase of offerings– and why not?  In Intralinks' case it makes perfect sense. 

Get a quick insight on what my ESG colleagues and I took away as our first impressions from EMC World last week, in easy-to-consume video format.

The OFS Market is moving at a lightening fast pace with seemingly new entrants and new features added every week. Dropbox’s latest announcements around its business updates are an example of the ongoing feature enhancements that are released so quickly that I can barely keep up!

The latest storage industry consolidation (Fusion-io/NexGen) is probably not what was expected, but nonetheless makes a logical couple...

I have been speaking about ICPs during a series of events across the country and received a fantastic question: “What do I do if it breaks?”

There are two elements in this blog entry: 1) Some thoughts from panels that I was lucky enough to moderate at Storage Networking World (SNW) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show and 2) Perspectives on industry events like this.

ESG’s survey of over 400 IT professionals showed that, while the total cost of data storage is very important to IT professionals, certain types of organizations care more about reducing storage-related hardware and software costs, while others are more interested in reducing IT staff-related costs of storage. This brief examines the storage purchasing processes of decision makers at midmarket and enterprise organizations, from the reasons behind their decision to acquire or upgrade storage, to the criteria they apply and the features they demand of their storage systems. It reveals just how much features such as 10GbE, solid-state disks, and thin provisioning really matter, and considers whether or not storage vendors should invest in projects such as pre-qualifying solutions or building reference architectures.

This video captures the state of server virtualization and the impact it is having in adjacent IT initiatives. I also step through desktop virtualization, network virtualization, and storage virtualization and the potential economic impact these strategies have on the business.

ESG’s research has shown that online file sharing (OFS) adoption is rising rapidly. However, many organizations are reluctant to trust their files to an OFS provider’s platform because of security concerns. One possible solution to these security concerns is a hybrid cloud model of OFS. In the hybrid cloud model, some of the organization’s files are stored in the OFS provider’s environment, while others remain within the organization’s own premises.