StorageNetworks Archives – Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

February 11, 2012

Talking Cloud Storage Gateways With Nasuni and Cirtas

January 6, 2011 By Stephen Leave a Comment

I’ve got a new video podcast up and running: Raising the Floor is a series of discussions about the future of enterprise IT. I kicked the series off talking about one of my favorite topics: Cloud storage. It was a pretty broad discussion, all packed into less than half an hour, but I wanted to share a few excerpts.

Filed Under: Computer History, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Personal, Virtual Storage Tagged With: Amazon S3, Andres Rodriguez, Cirtas, cloud storage, cloud storage gateway, Josh Goldstein, Nasuni, Nirvanix, podcast, Raising the Floor, StorageNetworks

From CAS to Cloud: Revolutionary Storage

October 26, 2010 By Stephen 3 Comments

We need to move beyond fake disks and deploy application-centric storage

Change is not a word normally associated with storage, and revolution is practically unheard of. Today’s modern enterprise storage systems and networks employ massive resources to do one simple thing: Emulate the basic hard disk drives used over three decades ago. But cracks are appearing in our mausoleum of fake disks: Application developers are discovering the value of object storage, and storage systems are appearing to support this need.

Filed Under: Computer History, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon S3, Asigra, Atmos, Caringo, CAS, Centera, Cirtas, cloud storage, EMC, MaxiScale, Mezeo, Nasuni, Nirvanix, Paul Carpentier, S3, Seven10, StorageNetworks, StorSimple, Twin Strata, XAM

What I’ve Learned From Vendor Blogging

January 21, 2010 By Stephen 3 Comments

Concluding my series on vendor bloggers, I present my own experiences wearing multiple hats and trying to remain credible.

Filed Under: Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage Tagged With: blogging, Contoural, credibility, FUD, Gestalt IT, GlassHouse, Nirvanix, social media, Sprint Paranet, StorageNetworks, Tech Field Day, TechTarget, vendors

Storage Utilization Remains at 2001 Levels: Low!

January 13, 2009 By Stephen 7 Comments

Each ratio along the storage waterfall can be diagnosed and improved

I’ve been talking about storage capacity utilization for my entire career, but the storage industry doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Every year or so, a new study is performed showing that half of storage capacity in the data center is unused. And every time there is a predictable (and poorly thought through) “networked storage is [...]

Filed Under: Computer History, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage Tagged With: capacity, iSCSI, Jonathan Lunt, metrics, NAS, network storage, SAN, server virtualization, shared storage, storage area network, storage utilization, storage virtualization, StorageNetworks, thin provisioning, whitepaper

Top Ten Coolest Enterprise Storage Flops

December 6, 2008 By Stephen 12 Comments

This is the second entry in my Top-Ten in Storage series. Not every innovative product can succeed in the market, and no matter how good some ideas seem, they can fail to make much of an impact. The truth is, people buy solutions, not technologies. This list includes products so cool, so ahead of their [...]

Filed Under: Computer History, Enterprise storage Tagged With: 3Com, 3PAR, 3Server, Allegro, Amazon, AutoRAID, CASA, CDP, Centriplex, CIFS, Compaq, Compellent, EMC, EqualLogic, EVA, Harmonix, HDS, HP, IBM, Ice Cube, ISE, MangoSoft, Microsoft, NetWare, Nirvanix, Orion, Pirus, Revivio, SANLink, Seagate, Storage Tank, StorageApps, StorageNetworks, Sun, Symmetrix, top ten, VersaStor, VSS, WinFS, Xiotech

EMC Quietly Acquires WysDM Software

April 8, 2008 By Stephen Leave a Comment

Wow! EMC has apparently purchased WysDM Software, maker of a most excellent range of data protection and storage management software. This is a great move for EMC, and if everyone at WysDM is as happy as my old StorageNetworks co-worker, Alan Atkinson, seems to be in this InternetNews article, their offices must be something to [...]

Filed Under: Enterprise storage Tagged With: EMC, StorageNetworks, WysDM

Latest Content

Preview: Two Thunderbolt Video Input and Output Devices from Blackmagic Design: Intensity Shuttle and Intensity Extreme

February 10, 2012

I was thrilled to see the announcement by Blackmagic Design of two Thunderbolt versions of their respected Intensity video input/output box. But which is the better choice, the Intensity Shuttle or Intensity Extreme?

Teaching Science with Wi-Fi (Thanks, Ruckus and MetaGeek!)

February 10, 2012

As a parent, especially a techie one, you never know when a teachable moment is going to appear. Last night, I mentioned that I was testing a new Ruckus access point and enthused about how fast it was. My 12-year-old asked, “why is it so fast?” This led to a wonderful discussion about radio waves, congestion and propagation, and spectrum licensing. Yeah, I’m that kind of dad.

Review: Das Keyboard Model S for Mac (and Why I’m Sending It Back)

February 8, 2012

Make no mistake, the Das Keyboard Model S for Mac is a whole class better than the plastic junk most people use, and the snappy Cherry MX blue key switches are more rewarding than any scissor or membrane keyboard out there, but this is no IBM Model M, so buckling spring fans should look elsewhere.

EMC VFCache (aka “Project Lightning”) Is One Small Step, But an Important One

February 6, 2012

EMC VFCache (née Project Lightning) is a fairly simple offering: A server-based PCIe flash card that acts as a read cache with no integration with storage arrays or hypervisors. But EMC’s entrance into the host-based flash storage market is a powerful demonstration of the wave of disruption caused by flash-based storage and high-performance computing.

Nimbus E-Class: The First Big, Redundant, All-Flash Enterprise Array

January 31, 2012

The new Nimbus Data E-Class comes just at the right moment, with 500 TB of capacity, a fully redundant “dual active” controller architecture, massive performance (even InfiniBand), and complete feature set (once VAAI is released).

How My Blog Became Infected With MW:JS:150 Malware (And How I Fixed It)

January 26, 2012

This week, two blog readers let me know what Google Chrome was warning them of malware on my blog. I dived in and discovered that, indeed, a nasty, obfuscated JavaScript attack had made its way into my site. Although I was disappointed by the lack of clarity about how to fix it, I believe I was able to remove it last night.

Cheap, No-Contract 4G Data: Clear’s Undocumented Daily- and Weekly-Pass Plans

January 23, 2012

Although Clear clearly wants buyers to sign up for monthly service, they also have “secret” on-demand 2-hour, daily, and weekly plans. Here’s how to get online cheap!

HP’s Mighty Stumble

January 19, 2012

HP stumbled mightily in 2011, and it had nothing to do with product or people. Even sales remained strong, though the PC business is changing. HP’s mighty stumble was a crisis of confidence due to a chain of shenanigans at the very top. This culminated with the short reign of Léo Apotheker, leaving HP to reassure the market of its strategy.

Why Should Anyone Take Dell Seriously in Enterprise Storage?

January 16, 2012

For a massive IT company, Dell sure doesn’t get the kind of respect given their competitors. Time and again, I’ll hear the sneers about Dell being little more than a “box shifter” who doesn’t “get” real enterprise IT needs. After a series of acquisitions in storage and networking, Dell is trying to stake a claim as a serious competitor to HP, IBM, Oracle, and the like. But why should anyone take Dell seriously, especially in enterprise storage?