Technical Optimist

While at EMC World 2013, I sat down to do a short video for TechTarget on what I was finding interesting at the show: 

• EMC’s Data Protection Suite, as a new way to acquire and consume the range of EMC backup software. 
• The differences between Backup and Archiving, and what EMC’s solutions are doing about it

And while I was there, I had the chance to plug ESG’s upcoming Market Landscape Report on disk-based target systems, which covers EMC Data Domain, among others.

This month, I took a look at the differences between ‘Regulatory Compliance’ and ‘Operational Readiness’ (HA/BC/DR) through a series of videos.  This week (4 of 4), we’re taking a closer look at the regulations that apply to government agencies and contractors (CO-OP).  Each week, we looked at some regulatory mandates and try to glean some pragmatic IT ideas for data protection from them.  I hope that you enjoyed the videos.

This month, I am taking a look at the differences between ‘Regulatory Compliance’ and ‘Operational Readiness’ (HA/BC/DR) through a series of videos.  This week (3 of 4), we’re taking a closer look at the regulations that apply to healthcare organizations (HIPAA).  Each week, I’ll take a look at some regulatory mandates and try to glean some pragmatic IT ideas for data protection from them.  I hope that you enjoy the videos.

This month, I am taking a look at the differences between ‘Regulatory Compliance’ and ‘Operational Readiness’ (HA/BC/DR) through a series of videos.  This week (2 of 4), we’re taking a closer look at the regulations that apply to publicly-held companies (SOX) and financial institutions (SEC).  Each week, I’ll take a look at some regulatory mandates and try to glean some pragmatic IT ideas for data protection from them.  I hope that you enjoy the videos.

This month, I am taking a look at the differences between ‘Regulatory Compliance’ and ‘Operational Readiness’ (HA/BC/DR) through a series of videos.  For the next four Tuesdays, I’ll take a look at some regulatory mandates and try to glean some pragmatic IT ideas for data protection from them.  I hope that you enjoy the videos.

Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Hughes and Todd Watson from IBM. We talked about three IT trends that are disrupting traditional data protection strategies and legacy approaches:

Highly Virtualized / Private Cloud Infrastructures

Cloud-based Solutions for backup & storage

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for endpoint protection

Easily one of the most discussed topics with me in 2012 is how virtualization is changing data protection strategies.

Virtualization solves so many problems for IT that it continues to become more mainstream every day. But the more that you virtualize, the more that your legacy backup methods will likely dissappoint you. So, here is a video that summarizes the challenges and the trends in virtualization protectoin, as well as what IT Pros should be looking for when considering new virtualization protection solutions.

You can’t have an IT “modernization” discussion without bringing up the cloud. And in the realm of data protection, that comes in a few obvious flavors:

Backup as a Service (BaaS) ... Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) ... or Cloud-based storage for your On-Premises Backup Solution

But instead of talking about data protection AS a service … what about data protection OF a service?

Many of us put our data into SaaS (software as a service) solutions today – e.g. SalesForce. We assume that SalesForce (or any other SaaS solution) have multiple points of presence on the Internet, and that they have resiliency between sites. The assumption is that if a site were to have a crisis, the other site(s) would still be available. For some large SaaS solutions, that may be enough – though it can still be hard to document (or test) when doing a BC/DR audit.

But what about if the SaaS provider goes dark?

One of the most complicated areas of data protection in IT today has to be around securing the data on endpoint devices (laptops and tablets). Frankly, most IT organizations weren’t able to do an effective job of protecting that data when the devices were corporate-owned, but with the myriad devices that are now in use, it is even harder. But the reality is that, regardless of who purchased the device, it has corporate data on it !!

So, IT has to find new ways to protect its corporate assets without intruding on end-users and their own devices. This includes not just “backup” but also “file sharing” and “device protection.”

I had the opportunity to sit down with Steve Duplessie and talk about where we see the challenges; and what IT can do about it.  Enjoy the video.

First and foremost, I am so thankful for the job that I have and the ESG family members that I share it with. It has been an amazing year that I cannot say “thank you” enough times for.

I am also very thankful to the ESG family of data protection companies that have welcomed me into their strategy meetings, their roadmap discussions, and the stages of their launch events and webcasts. Please know that your trust is sincerely treasured, and I am humbled by the privilege to collaborate with you.

Those are the big ones, the other (backup) stuff that I am grateful for are ...

It wasn’t that many years ago that “snapshotting vs. backup” had the same kind of fervor in IT debates that some American political discussions have today, or religion, or any other media-infused divisive issue. Sidenote: my favorite of these incite-ful battlegrounds is still to enter a filled room and shout “Tape is Dead” (which it isn’t, but the ensuing conversations are worth the fisticuffs). 

Let's take a closer look at where we are today.

Coming off of VMworld 2012 US, I decided to try out VDP 5.1.  Coincidently, EMC invited me to talk about ESG's latest research and guidance around protecting virtualized environments.  Its going to be a fun October.

Symantec dropped a server rack off of a tall building to demonstrate their high availability solution (really) -- and ESG was there!

As much as I like virtualization, and systems management, and private cloud … most folks know that I am a backup guy.  So, here are my takeaways from VMworld as a guy who likes to back up virtualized stuff.

While at VMworld 2012, I had the chance to do an interview on ‘The Cube’ … on VDP, VMware backup, trends in data protection and other stuff from VMworld.

One of the more interesting announcements (to me) at VMworld this week was the introduction of vSphere Data Protection (VDP) within vSphere 5.1.  Even though it is not branded within the UI, it is essentially EMC Avamar (lite) – and that is not a bad thing (for most people).

For the next four days, I’ll be living and breathing virtualization, data protection, VADP, and VCI topics … and fill in the gaps with ‘cloud’ and hanging out with friends that are at VMworld this week (and I hope to share my perspectives via blog over the week). Lots going on this week, and I hope to share much of it with you.

Most folks know that if I wasn’t a backup-guy, I would be a virtualization-dude. So, when those two topics collide, I’m a happy IT guy who probably has an opinion or suggestion (or two). Check out this 4-minute video on what IT Pros should be looking for in their virtualization data protection solution(s).