Entries categorized under “Data Center Management”

A blog that I wrote back in January 2010 argued that enterprise data centers need to select a private storage cloud solution that can compete against the likes of Google and Amazon. But it was only last week that an individual posted a comment in response to that blog that asked, "Why would the enterprise data center 'compete' with Amazon or Google?" It was a good question and, to answer that, enterprise data centers need to quantify what exactly it is within Amazon and Google's offerings that they really compete against. (read more)

Cloud is this year's virtualization, or ILM, or even ASP for those of us who go back a while. Cloud is the latest term of interest in the data management market, but one that is fraught with the same level of confusion and misunderstanding as those previous terms. However, cloud brings with it a certain level of interest and for good reason: virtualization technologies are one of the only methods available that offer to solve a problem plaguing IT budgets and environments. (read more)

The benefits of virtualization - server or storage - start to loose some of their shine as organizations come to grips with the reality of actually managing a virtualized environment. As the move from implementation to management, the hidden issues of managing virtualized environments become clearly exposed. It is for these reasons that storage providers like 3PAR are more tightly integrating their InServ Storage Servers with VMware's vCenter Server management console to provide better management of virtual data centers. (read more)

Small enterprises want to make technology changes but can't afford it. Large enterprises can afford to make technology changes but won't. That leaves it to midsized enterprises that are seeing the benefits, have the resources and are making the changes that are resulting in them emerging as the new IT leaders in 2010. This in a nutshell summarizes the 83-page 2010 State of the Data Center report just released by Symantec. (read more)

Last week's blog took a look at the 10 most read blogs in 2009 that were written in 2009. This week I wanted to step even further back and reflect upon the top 10 most read blogs in 2009 regardless of when they were written as I find this insightful in two ways. It lets me know what information continues to hold the attention of readers on as well as what topics from the past might become new trends in 2010. So while there is definitely some overlap between the two, there are also some entries that appear on this list that knock some of the top 10 blogs from last week off the list. (read more)

This is one of my favorite blogs of the year to write. Even though this is only the second time since DCIG launched its blogging site two years ago that I have had the opportunity to write a blog in this format, I have been looking forward to looking back all year. In case you have not yet figured it out, today I take a look back at the top 10 most read blogs in 2009 on the DCIG site. However this year I am doing a two part series with today's blog examining the 10 most read blogs in 2009 that were written in 2009. (read more)

As most know, Intel has been in a race to offer better processing performance with the goal of enabling better server consolidation. Their XEON 5500 series offers "the best generation to generation performance gain ever seen" by Intel, according to Bryce Olson who works in Intel's data center product group. The server compression that results is 9 or 10 to 1, with the XEON 5600 promising 12:1 ratios. This type of compression along with the XEON's energy efficiency features enable cost recapture within 12 months, according to Olson. (read more)

Server virtualization, for which VMware is the dominant vendor, has gained ground among OEM appliance manufacturers as a more flexible, higher-value delivery platform. This blog entry begins a series of three in which we will explore the factors contributing to and inhibiting OEM success with server virtualization, HP and Bell Micro roles in that success, and the future of where virtualization can take the OEM community. (read more)

"Efficient" is now a term that is used to by storage providers to describe their disk storage systems. But a recent internal survey conducted by Nexsan Technologies among its end users revealed that the way they view "efficient" storage is not necessarily how either providers or industry pundits define it. (read more)

The costs for IT departments of power and cooling as well as server management can no longer be overlooked, assumed static or just written off as a necessary evil of doing business. Recently published statistics reveal that the three (3) year operational expense (OPEX) for a single server in many cases now exceeds its acquisition costs . These growing OPEX expenditures are costs that everyone from the end-user through the distribution channel to manufacturers of the server hardware, like HP, are working to decrease. (read more)

OEMs face tough competition and slim margins so they are continually looking for ways to reduce costs while still providing exceptional products and service to their customers. One of the more favored tactics for OEMs to accomplish this is to get as many of the required components to build or support their solutions from a single source. (read more)

This week I am taking my weekly recap blog on industry news and trends in a little different direction based on a conversation I had this past week with an IT Manager. Everyone knows the economy is bad, IT staffers are being laid off or taking pay cuts and management is scrutinizing every purchase but an experience I had this last week bordered on the edge of ridiculous. (read more)

One specific item that caught my attention was an article posted earlier this week on SearchStorage.com's site regarding Texas Memory System's acquisition of Incipient's storage virtualization intellectual property. Being fairly familiar with Incipient's technology and having talked to a few of its early customers off-the-record, I thought its technology was sound. However like every storage vendor regardless of its size, a pure network-based storage virtualization play has remained a tough sell, especially in enterprise environments where Incipient played. (read more)

In yesterday's blog, I answered the question as to why I think the use of virtual appliances is going to become the new standard for backing up and recovering virtual machines. However today I want to answer the question as to what was the big news that came out of VMworld 2009. In my view, it was clearly that the emphasis has moved from why organizations need to virtualize their environments to what new possibilities that a fully virtualized (aka cloud) environment creates. (read more)

VMworld 2009 is now well under way and considering that it is sponsored by a company (VMWare) that sells virtualization software, I have to compliment it for keeping its focus on the new business problems that its technology can solve. However my concern is that anytime a provider starts doing that, customers end up buying promises as opposed to software that can solve their day-to-day tactical problems. (read more)

Talking to a fellow end-user a few weeks ago reminded me of a frustration that I frequently experienced when I worked as a storage engineer. What was driving him crazy (and what often drove me crazy) was the lack of communication that was occurring between his organization's internal storage, server and database teams. Specifically, he wanted to better manage and optimize his organization's backup and storage infrastructure but no one was willing to share any information as to how much storage capacity they were utilizing, how they were using it or how much they might need going forward. (read more)

Delivering software specific solutions in the form of appliances have turned niche software applications such as deduplication into some of today's hottest mainstream technologies. But independent software vendors (ISVs) can still be fearful that offering their software in the form of an appliance can rob from existing revenue streams and create new support costs. In this final segment of a 3-part series, independent consultant to Bell Micro, Tom Baylark, discusses how offering software on an appliance can broaden software's appeal without increasing and even possibly lower ISV costs. (read more)

Right now everyone is looking to build the virtual data center and for good reason - ideally it is easier to manage, costs less, and can be more easily adapted to changing application and IT requirements. But as organizations look to build out their virtual data centers, they also need to make sure that the complexities and costs associated with managing them do not overrun their benefits. (read more)

Resellers and their customers increasingly expect that the software they use for specific applications such as video surveillance and CAT Scans is delivered to them in the form of appliances for faster, turnkey deployments. But just because the software is bundled with hardware in the form of an appliance does not mean all solutions are the same, even those delivering branded appliance solutions. (read more)

Let's face it - the concepts behind cloud computing and cloud storage are just plain cool. The whole idea that an organization can move any application to any hardware platform and pro-actively meet the constantly changing needs of an application is more akin to something you might see in an episode of Star Trek than something you might find in today's data centers. Yet cloud computing and cloud storage are becoming a part of today's reality for tech-savvy data centers because these feature are not just cool, they ease the complexity of common data center management tasks, drive down costs and increase profitability. (read more)

One time occurrences that are accompanied by spikes in capacity and performance requirements are the bane of data centers. While many organizations can excuse IT for their inability to respond to unexpected one-time or occasional demands, perceptions and attitudes change when organizations know a heavy load is coming and IT cannot adeptly respond. It is this type of challenge that Carrenza Hosting, a managed hosting company based in London, England, intended to solve when it began to start down the path of adopting cloud-based computing and storage services. (read more)

Independent software vendors (ISVs) that sell software based on x86 hardware platforms face a new type of challenge in today's economic environment. While their software can run on any vendor's hardware platform, the time it takes for them to install, configure and support their software on each platform gives resellers pause and is prompting resellers and customers alike to look for the ISV's software in the form of appliance-based solutions. (read more)

In the face of its public tussle with EMC over Data Domain, NetApp forged ahead with its annual Analyst Days at its Sunnyvale, CA, headquarters. Well attended by many NetApp executives and 80+ analysts from the US and around the world, it was both informative and well run. However it was the kickoff keynote by NetApp's CEO Dave Warmenhoven that I first wanted to summarize and comment on as he did a pretty good job of encapsulating the major themes of the presentations and one-on-one meetings that were to follow. (read more)

Build your own (white box) or purchase an industry-branded solution for implementation of appliances - that is the question. Even today, this question continues to plague many customers as well as divide OEM businesses. Depending on the equipment (components or solutions) OEMs are quick to argue their case as to why white boxes are better than a branded solution or vice versa. However each solution has its place in the market. And, for the smart OEM, maybe the choice doesn't have to be one or the other. (read more)

It is only after organizations start to deploy storage systems with SATA HDDs that they really start to focus on the reliability of SATA HDDs. While it is unlikely they will lose any data regardless of whose system they deploy, the amount of time that their IT staff spends and resulting operational expense in managing the replacement of failed SATA HDDs can and will vary widely according to which storage system they select. It is only by selecting SATA storage systems that specifically account for the idiosyncrasies of SATA HDDs that organizations can both protect their data and not have to deal with headaches of constantly replacing failed SATA HDDs. (read more)