Archive SNW: Users see commodity storage as blessing, curse Users want storage software to connect dots between business and IT Posted November 6th CDP: Shifting the Focus from Backup to Recovery How IT is responding to evolving business continuity requirements Posted October 23rd A Case for Storage Virtualization Storage virtualization has been around for years, but until recently, has not gained widespread acceptance Posted October 16th Trends in Email Archiving The user-friendliness and omnipresence of the e-mail client means it is all-too-easy for users to utilize the e-mail system as their personal filing system Posted August 21st MIT Media Lab scales up with SoIP Human Speechome project rejects DAS, NAS, Fibre Channel and iSCSI Posted July 3rd Bare metal recovery strategies SMBs spending more on business continuity Posted June 12th How third-party service can be a first-class experience for resellers and users Freed of their service worries, storage vendors can produce more and better products Posted May 22nd Chart the "Evil Star" before you buy Know the risks, and know your data before investing in data protection Posted May 1st What storage OEMs owe customers In today's customer-centric marketplace, vendors are expected to go the extra mile Posted April 17th Intelligent SANs and storage virtualization Next-generation technologies enable scalable infrastructures Posted April 10th The new business conflict: IT consolidation vs. globalization Using WDS to have your networking cake and eat it too. Posted March 27th IT leader joins the ranks of iSCSI supporters Sanrad V-Switch 3000 wins over Kevin Mount Posted March 6th ILM: If it's not a product, what is it? The vision of ILM is to classify data in terms of its business value and then align that value with how the data is stored, managed and protected. Posted February 13th Realizing the benefits of scalable NAS The combination of scaleable NAS Gateways and open storage strategies can save users huge amounts of money. Posted February 6th Solid state storage meets high-performance user needs Eliminating I/O bottlenecks opens transaction floodgates Posted January 16th Q&A: In this year’s EUC survey, it’s not all about money anymore Vice chair of the EUC dissects this year’s results. Posted December 12th Managing multiple data centers — the value of data path management With automated performance monitoring, the network management team can identify and resolve issues before they impact application service. Posted November 28th Fall SNW hallmarks: Apprehension and optimism Shaky times give rise to security concerns. Posted October 31st SNW Fall Q&A: Interoperability and Solutions Demo concentrates on four areas, hands-on classes Focus is on storage management, data management, regulatory compliance/storage security and SAN infrastructures. Posted October 24th Dispelling five myths to achieving a high-availability Windows environment Wouldn't it be nice to have a software-based, fault-tolerant clustering and data mirroring solution that was easy to set up and use, and would work on any Windows server? Posted September 26th End-user case studies at SNW Fall 2005 describe first-hand experiences Lineup covers everything from Mac and Linux environments to IP SANs and Microsoft clusters. Posted September 26th Thin-client computing makes headway against PC hard drives Centralized data access seen as a big advantage. Posted August 29th Welcome to the Era of Tera Intel is prepping for the next great leap in computing power needs with multi-core processors that will recognize, mine and simulate models. Posted August 29th SNW columnists: Plenty of opinions, little consensus When it comes to the hot-button issues of the day, these guys are not afraid to opine. Posted August 15th Compliance opportunities abound for VARs Savvy resellers lead with customer solutions, follow with compliance. Posted August 8th The future looks bright for object-based storage systems Looking at the growth of object-based storage to date, it is easy to predict ongoing and expanding success, according to columnist Randy Kerns. Posted July 4th Disk + tape = smarter libraries Combined technologies offer best of both worlds. Posted June 6th With SANs, staffing up is hard to do Business translation skills are prized. Posted May 16th Technology-based "proof" is an absolute defense Sarbanes-Oxley, other compliance regulations demand irrefutable solutions. Posted April 18th Storage service provider revival? Once scorned, SSPs may be on their way back, according to SNW Online columnist Randy Kerns. Posted March 21st TPC strives for accurate benchmarks Server customers realize multiple benefits. Posted March 14th Potential SMI-S customers concerned with technical and practical concerns Allure of evolving standard varies across the user spectrum. Posted February 7th Security is key for MAN traffic Organizations must be able to achieve strong encryption capabilities and operational efficiency without sacrificing system performance. Posted January 17th SNW columnist Randy Kerns: Storage partitioning can offer competitive advantage Major vendors offer many variations on the partitioning theme. Posted December 13th Resurgent NAS: Simple and inexpensive Growing data center popularity poses threat to Fibre Channel Posted December 6th Microsoft making big gains in small-to-midsize NAS market By making Windows more storage-friendly, the software giant is finding its way into more storage environments. Posted November 29th Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003 Survey shows users building more robust backup infrastructures. Posted November 8th SNW conference lineup heavy with case studies Conference attendees can select from a large and varied choice of sessions. Posted October 11th You can’t know your customers if you can’t trust your data With customer data dispersed in multiple databases, it’s necessary to build a master copy of customer reference data that is accurate and follows a four-stage lifecycle. Posted September 27th Unstructured data: Roadblock to effective ILM Data complexity, compliance requirements create perfect IT storm. Posted September 6th Evaluating Opportunities: Storage domains vs. storage classes Mixing and matching these concepts is an administrative challenge, says SNW Online columnist Randy Kerns. Posted August 16th Sizing up data replication When all the planning is finished, the technology really has to work. Posted June 28th Compliance wreaks havoc on IT infrastructures Complying with the ever-increasing number of government regulations is changing the nature of IT infrastructures. Posted May 31st Taking the confusion out of storage management software integration What is storage management software integration, and why are people talking about it? Posted April 26th With SMI-S, everyone wins Vendors get faster time to market, reduced costs and more available resources, while users avoid vendor lock-in and enjoy reduced implementation times and cost savings. Posted March 29th What to look for when choosing a VAR VARs should regard your success as their success. Posted March 15th Achieving inexpensive long-haul SAN connections Careful planning leads to optimal technology performance. Posted February 23rd SNIA End User Council driving industry initiatives New group advocates for storage networking users on multiple levels. Posted February 9th Are storage virtualization solutions right for you? Check out the checklist! Posted January 12th Interview with Sheila Childs: Presiding over progress The SNIA chair is understandably proud of the work the organization has done on SMI-S and the End User Council during her tenure at the top. Posted December 15th Evaluating Opportunities: Moving data between storage tiers In his debut column, Evaluator Group partner Randy Kerns discusses the best ways to use secondary storage, including intelligence-based policies and the reduction of administrative burdens. Posted December 8th The cost of being unprepared No matter how many high-profile disasters take place, many users still don't develop and test disaster recovery plans. Posted November 10th Interview: Wayne Adams weighs in on the Interoperability and Solutions Demo at the SNW Fall conference The SNIA board member and EMC manager describes the sophisticated configuration, which will host 26 demonstrations inside eight theme areas. Posted October 27th Storing smarter in legacy IT environments with active archiving Active archiving can help manage long-term database growth and leverage the value of legacy data, while reducing operational, data retention and storage costs. Posted October 27th Interview: To Curtis Preston, it all comes back to interoperability Storage Group CEO talks about vendor finger-pointing, worst-case DR and effective wheeling-dealing. Posted September 29th Don't overlook solid state disks to boost application performance Solid state disks, while still little-known, offer key critical advantages to storage networking users. Posted September 8th Interview: Educate your staff and make vendors compete for your business, says Randy Kerns New SNW Online columnist offers advice on getting the best deal, protecting your data and managing capacity. Posted August 18th Reaping value from storage networks Both offensive and defensive strategies are key to storage networking success. Posted July 28th Interview: Compliance reshaping storage industry SNW Online recently spoke to Pete Gerr, research analyst at the Enterprise Storage Group, about the new wave of compliance regulations and how it is forcing vendors and users in many industries to re-examine the way they do business. Posted June 30th European users crave storage networking manageability, heterogeneity SNW Online recently spoke with Hamish Macarthur, managing director of London-based market researcher Macarthur Stroud about the differences between storage networking in Europe and the U.S. Posted June 2nd SAN filers provide file services on open storage Building on a NAS foundation, SAN filers achieve a scalable, highly reliable storage environment that is simple to manage, back up and restore. Posted May 5th The future of hardware storage: Where does it go from here? With existing configurations of up to 280 servers in a single 42U rack, the demand for massively parallel storage has begun. Posted March 24th SAS and SATA: Unparalleled serial interface compatibility SAS and SATA allow system builders, IT professionals and end users to economically fine-tune their systems for application performance and reliability. Posted March 3rd Taking a no-compromise approach to high-end storage Maintaining stringent service levels is a daunting task that calls for intelligent infrastructures. Posted February 3rd Vendors respond to user SAN complaints (Part 2 of 2) In response to a litany of complaints regarding incomplete products, scalability and management issues, SAN vendors say they are improving on all fronts. Posted December 16th SAN vendors respond to user complaints (Part 1 of 2) Users say SAN incompatibility is a "nightmare," but SAN vendors say things are rapidly improving. Which is it? In part one of this two-part series, SAN vendors stress their ongoing efforts to make life easier for users. Posted December 9th Interview: Capabilities, confusion mark storage networking industry, says EDS director Shockley Alan Shockley is director of Storage Capability Engineering at EDS. He recently spoke with SNW Online executive editor Bruce Hoard about the issues that currently matter most to users. Posted November 11th SNW conference sessions target user concerns The conference sessions at the upcoming SNW show will describe how a wide range of storage networking technologies can be, and have been, exploited by users. Posted October 21st Bluefin competing with APIs, CLIs, proprietary schemes Bluefin backers may have technology on their side, but how can their emerging standard succeed when it still lacks name recognition among IT execs? Posted September 23rd INCITS launches work on BIOS interface to access mass storage devices BIOS EDD-3 standard will address key new storage technologies. Posted September 2nd Why are office managers in charge of swapping tapes? Companies that back up data in decentralized environments need to put IT personnel on the job by using asynchronous, partial-file, server-based software. Posted August 5th Enterprise SANs enable business continuance In an effort to improve business continuance and eliminate single points of failure, SANs are being incorporated into enterprise systems that feature a combination of redundant components, connections, software and configurations. Posted July 15th One-stop shopping: Still the Holy Grail (Part 2 of 2) Vendor strategies in the SAN infrastructure market are in flux. But if the leading players follow through as promised, customers will get just about everything they need from a single provider. Posted July 1st The HP-Compaq merger: Trying to satisfy all customer types (Part 1 of 2) The new HP has laid out a product roadmap for its storage networking strategy, and users who follow it are supposed to get the best in breed. Posted June 24th Linux growing up As Linux becomes increasingly popular in the storage networking world, it is also transitioning from its public domain routes to a more commercial environment. Posted May 27th Like an old friend, tape is always there Tape represents the last line of defense, the final fail-safe and the ultimate tangible assurance that data is available and intact. Posted May 6th Microsoft and the SNIA headline the Storage Networking World show, with a storage plan and CIM-WBEM details Microsoft Enterprise Storage Group promulgates a long-term enterprise storage blueprint, while the SNIA unveils a working configuration of its CIM-WBEM interoperability interface. Posted April 8th Path verification is key to centralized SAN backup Path verification can improve the operation of libraries in storage networks by proactively ensuring that the entire system is able to move data. Posted March 18th There's more than one choice when putting Fibre Channel into your SAN With FCIP, iSCSI or just plain old Fibre Channel, users have lots of options when implementing their SANs, depending on their resources and needs. Posted March 11th The role of policy-based automated storage provisioning Automated storage provisioning depends on a number of criteria specified by storage administrators using SAM software. Posted January 21st Despite improvements, multivendor SAN management is still elusive New SAN management software promises better heterogeneous management, and network devices display improved reporting capabilities, but it's still buyer beware. Posted November 26th SNIA Interoperability Demo focuses on user solutions The SNIA Interoperability Demo, on display at Storage Networking World in Orlando this week, was created to help users solve real-world problems. Posted October 22nd How do you know when you need a SAN? A storage resource management system can help maximize your SAN potential — and save you from spending too much on new hardware or networking gear. Posted October 15th Tape: slow, obsolete—and invaluable Despite its outdated, low-tech reputation, tape remains a vital cog in storage networks because of its ability to backup and archive data. Posted September 24th Disaster recovery in the data center With so many disaster threats to worry about, data center managers need to understand their options and then choose the disaster recovery strategy that will protect them best when that protection is needed the most. Posted August 31st HBA incompatibility can cause annoying problems Even though incompatible host bus adapter (HBA) cards don't always cause problems, in some cases they can render storage devices incommunicado. Posted August 6th When is your storage networking system obsolete? Some companies save money by hanging onto - and reusing - old technology. Others swap out systems components every three years. One way or the other, the right approach to obsolescence planning has far-reaching implications for IT budgets. Posted August 6th Sun's Jiro storage management technique pines for popularity Jiro is an open technology framework intended for use in heterogeneous storage management. Built on Java and Sun's Jini networking technology, Jiro provides management APIs and storage device wrappers, called facades, and some basic services. Posted June 11th Standards stew on high heat as vendors stir pot Fibre Channel and its derivatives may be riding a rocky road to widespread acceptance, but they are still leading the pack. Posted June 11th SSPs counting on their ability to manage storage more efficiently, less expensively Even though they are fighting an uphill battle against the unwillingness of companies to outsource their critical corporate data, storage service providers (SSPs) are hoping they will be able to win over new business by putting together efficient, cost-effective services that will be too good to turn down. Posted May 7th Brocade CEO Reyes says SANs transcend bad economic times Brocade CEO Greg Reyes has good reason to be satisfied with the state of the storage networking industry. His company, which bills itself as the leading provider of storage area network (SAN) infrastructure, owns more than 90% of the market for Fibre Channel switches, according to Framingham, Mass.-based market research company International Data Corp. In addition, Brocade has an extensive roster of systems, applications and storage vendor partners with which his firm does business. Posted April 9th Feedback: feedback@snwonline.com Questions: questions@snwonline.com Technical difficulties: webmaster@snwonline.com