Entries categorized as ‘Storage Systems’
December 15, 2008 · 1 Comment
Servers would give them the third leg of the data center “stool”
Chris Mellor interpreted Cisco’s recent body language around servers. Will they jump into the server business?
It’s not that much of a stretch. It’s only fair, as HP and others don’t shy away from dabbling in Cisco’s networking space.
And Cisco has already crossed into the storage realm.
Used to be that IT was all about processing. Today servers, storage and networking are the three legs of the data center stool. They’re the Mind, Stomach and Voice of the digital body of business.
The smartest of the big players in all three spaces will look for ways to corner them all.
Categories: Datacenter · Industry trends · Servers · Storage Systems
Tagged: Chris Mellor, Cisco, Dell, HP, networking, Servers, storage, The Register
Cisco’s medianet will transport the content, but who will store it?
Cisco’s medianet initiative is a network response to the video-rich world that is evolving at break-neck speed.
I’ve posted on this trend frequently because the effect on storage surpasses the network transformation Cisco sees coming.
Cisco will be temporarily touching the bytes of content as they move around, but where will they come to rest? The storage industry will need to step up to the plate to ensure this wave of new content has a place to land.
Categories: Datacenter · Industry trends · Storage Systems
Tagged: Cisco, medianet, networking, storage, video
More evidence that storage is special.
I’m not saying the storage industry is not going to be impacted by these hard times. Pillar and others already have been. We all will be.
But these hard times are forcing people to make hard choices. And they are often choosing in favor of their data, which often means more storage.
Storage solutions that help people get by will remain a hot commodity.
Categories: Industry trends · Storage Systems
Tagged: Byte and Switch, Pillar, recession, storage
Solid state drives shine in the company of disk drives
SSDs are crazy fast but very expensive. Compared to SSDs, disk drives seem slow – but are very affordable. Which should you use?
Digitar’s experience shows the magic of blending the two technologies in an enterprise system. System speed resembles the SSD, while system cost looks more like the disk drive. Processing cost dropped from $6 per IOPS for disk only to $1 per IOPS in their blended system.
A little flash thoughtfully placed goes a long way.
Categories: SSD · Storage Systems
Tagged: Digitar, Flash, SSD, storage, Sun, SunFire
November 20, 2008 · 1 Comment
An up-and-comer for the data-rich crowd?
Chris Meiller over at The Register highlights IQstor’s new storage array, the IQ5200. 52 1 TB drives in 4U. That compares favorably with the Equallogic PS5500’s 48 drives in the same space.
First to qualify 1.5 terabyte drives in these boxes wins the next capacity density crown.
IQStore has been a quiet small OEM supplier up to now. If the IQ5200 pans out in terms of reliability and performance, that may be changing.
Categories: Products · Storage Systems
Tagged: 1 TB, 1.5 TB, Dell, density, Equallogic, IQ5200, IQstor, storage
Counter-cyclical trends boost “value” storage companies now and later
My buddy in Sales is seeing an interesting trend. Some second-Tier storage vendors are doing relatively well right now, as long as some amount of credit remains available for them. Sales are holding steady, even increasing.
Why is that? Their customers don’t have money to spend of course, but their data continues to grow. They have to do something, so they’re foregoing expensive and service-contract-laden storage from the top Acronym vendors for cheaper storage systems that get them over the hump.
It makes sense if you think about it. McDonald’s is reaping a minor windfall right now from diners foregoing sit-down restaurants. People have to eat somewhere.
This could become more than a cyclical setback for the Big Guys if customers develop a taste for storage fast food.
Categories: Industry trends · Storage Systems
Tagged: business, counter-cyclical, McDonald's, recession, storage
Seagate’s CEO Bill Watkins and Marketing SVP Pat King on the Wild West of storage
Chris Meilor listened in as Seagate CEO Bill Watkins and Marketing SVP Pat King talked about Seagate’s plans for home NAS, SSD, hybrid storage and more at a recent press event. It’s a good read – check it out here.
Chris refers to the consumer storage market as the Wild West, but that moniker could easily be used to describe the storage market in general. Dramatic change is underway across the spectrum, from the largest corporations overwhelmed with petabyte growth and data on the loose to the Dawning of the Digital Consumer.
The storage industry is exciting (and always has been) for those who work in it. It’s becoming more relevant and entertaining to those outside of the industry as content and its storage matter like never before.
Categories: Datacenter · Digital Home · Industry trends · Laptop PC · Storage Systems
Tagged: Bill Watkins, CEO, Chris Melior, home NAS, home storage, Hybrid, Pat King, Seagate, SSD, storage, The Register
November 4, 2008 · 1 Comment
Savvio is the world’s fastest drive - and uses up to 75% less power than 3.5″ drives
Seagate has rolled out a new generation of Savvio 2.5″ enterprise drives. They have better capacity, performance and power efficiency, of course. But the really big news? These drives signal the performance/capacity/power crossover point between 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives.
So for a 24-drive 2.5″ 10K rpm storage system vs. a 12-drive 3.5″ 15K rpm storage system:
- Capacity is now the same (up to 300GB for 2.5″, up to 600GB for 3.5″)
- Performance is 60% higher
- Power consumption is 20% lower
Until now, 2.5″ drives had won over the server market but not the storage system market. Lower power 2.5″ drives didn’t make up for the cumulative power impact of packing twice as many drives into a single system. And 2.5″ capacities peaked at 147GB.
No longer! Expect to see accelerated adoption of 2.5″ into high performance storage systems.
Categories: Datacenter · Products · Storage Systems
Tagged: 10K rpm, 15K, 2.5", 3.5", performance, power consumption, Savvio
October 31, 2008 · 1 Comment
A company that lives on content grapples with storing it all
TechCrunch is watching Facebook struggle with success. Their astounding growth in unique visits and page views – up to 35 billion now – is creating a corresponding storage surge that’s sapping their cash. It’s not just new hardware either. Their electric bill is estimated at $1 million a month.
The big question is whether they can find an equation where the storage cost per new user is less than the revenue from that user.
Being the biggest isn’t always the best. Google makes it work. Facebook has to find their own formula to make their size and growth profitable. And quickly.
Other takeaways:
Categories: Cloud computing · Company Profiles · Storage Systems
Tagged: content, electricity costs, Facebook, FriendFeed, growth, Jeremaiah Owyang, storage, translation
