January 29, 2012

Why Should Anyone Take Dell Seriously in Enterprise Storage?

Dell Ice Logo

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?

Eight Unresolved Questions About FCoE

It's not going to be this easy to bridge Fibre Channel and Ethernet!

What elements remain unresolved to make FCoE truly world-class? What should the vendors be prioritizing?

Wireless Field Day 2 – Silicon Valley

A year ago, Gestalt IT hosted our very first Wireless Field Day, and the event was a smashing success. This year, we are pleased to have a number of new delegates and sponsors and have added an additional event, the Wi-Fi Mobility Symposium.

Wi-Fi Mobility Symposium – San Jose, CA

I’m really looking forward to the second “symposium” organized by Gestalt IT in association with Tech Field Day. On January 25, the day before Wireless Tech Field Day 2, a number of top thinkers in the field of Wi-Fi will be part of the day-long Wi-Fi Mobility Symposium.

Networking Field Day and OpenFlow Symposium

I'll be returning to San Jose for another Tech Field Day event this week

This week I’m traveling to the San Jose, CA area for two events I’ve organized: The OpenFlow Symposium and the second Networking-focused Tech Field Day. I’ll be surrounded by some of the smartest and most interesting folks in networking all week, which is both daunting and exciting for a storage guy like me.

Tech Field Day 8 Presenter Lineup

Last week, I let the cat out of the bag regarding the next Tech Field Day event, which kicks off in just three days! Today, let’s take a look at the great lineup of companies that will be presenting at this event. Many are new startups, including Nutanix, Pure Storage, and SolidFire, while others are more established, like Nasuni, Symantec, DataDirect Networks, Arista and Arkeia.

Tech Field Day 8, Silicon Valley

Tech Field Day is all about lively technical discussion. We're going to try to capture and share some of that at TFD8!

We are finalizing our eighth Tech Field Day Event (and tenth event overall) which is coming up in the middle of September. Once again, we have a great batch of new and returning delegates. And once again, many of the presenters share intriguing characteristics. This time, it looks like we will have something of a storage focus!

Hands-On Review: Clear WiMAX Service (and PXU1900 USB Modem)

The Clear PXU1900 WiMAX modem is cheap, and daily service is a steal

I know lots of folks who are happy with Clear or Sprint WiMAX service, and I applaud them for their no-contract Day Pass option. In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest that others go the same route I did: Buy a Clear modem on eBay and pay $10 per day whenever you need connectivity. But I strongly discourage readers from signing up for a long-term contract with Clear. Sprint subscribers will likely be upgraded to LTE eventually, but the future of Clear is very, very cloudy.

VMworld 2011, Las Vegas

VMworld 2011 Banner

Next Sunday, I’m headed back to Las Vegas (for my fifth time this year!) for another enterprise IT event. But this is a special event: VMworld always includes an amazing group of attendees and companies! And for the first time, I’m participating in the event, presenting to vExperts on Sunday. I hope I see you there!

The Transformation from Data Robotics to Drobo

Drobo CEO Geoff Barrall gives Gestalt IT Tech Field Day delegates a sneak peak at the new Drobo S and DroboElite

Data Robotics spent the last year transforming itself from a maker of expensive consumer storage devices to a player in the nascent small enterprise storage array market. That process took another step this week, as Data Robotics officially renamed itself Drobo. It is ironic that the company would shed a longer, corporate sounding name for the familiar consumer product designation, but there is no denying the power of the Drobo brand.