Derek Schauland

Building Virtual Infrastructure – Chicago and Milwaukee

April 22, 2012 by Stephen Leave a Comment

I’m back out on the road May 1 and 2 in Chicago and Milwaukee for two more in my Building Virtual Infrastructure seminar series. Produced in conjunction with Truth in IT, this series focuses on challenging conventional wisdom in data center infrastructure for server virtualization. It’s also a bit of a refresher course on the unique features of hypervisors, and the challenges of building infrastructure to support them.

Storage Field Day 1 – Silicon Valley

April 13, 2012 by Stephen 2 Comments

Storage Field Day has an amazing lineup of presenters, with a special focus on disruptive market entrants. We will start off on Thursday with Kaminario, Nimbus Data, Drobo, Coraid and Quest Software. Friday we visit Dell, Brocade, Tintri, and Pure Storage!

Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, January 28, 2011

January 28, 2011 by Stephen Leave a Comment

This regular series features highlights from the week. I was pretty busy at the Exec Event this week, but did sneak out a few posts about VMware hardware compatibility (SATA/PATA and FCoE CNAs) as well as a review of the Samsung pico-projector I bought for Tech Field Day 4.

Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, January 14, 2011

January 17, 2011 by Stephen 1 Comment

This regular series features highlights from the week. It was another big one for me, with my Network Computing writing gig starting up, the announcement of my Storage for Server Virtualization seminar series, and the finalization of Tech Field Day for February.

Live This Week: Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Seattle

July 13, 2010 by Stephen Leave a Comment

I’ll be reporting live and direct all week from the vicinity of Seattle, WA at Gestalt IT’s Tech Field Day Seattle. I’m organizing this “co-op analyst day for bloggers” event series, and I’m so pleased with how it’s come out. Read on to learn more about the event, the folks, and how you can be a part of it!

GPS Time Rollover Failures Keep Happening (But They’re Almost Done)

This is week “1111111111” in the GPS system. Tomorrow morning it will roll over to week “0000000000”. How well will various systems handle this change? Not well, judging by what we’ve seen so far!

Ranting and Raving About the 2018 iPad Pro

I remain enthusiastic about the iPad Pro, despite getting a scratched screen and my concerns about durability. It’s a worthy successor to the original and offers enough improvements that I’d recommend the upgrade for just about anyone who uses their iPad for serious work. It’s still not yet a laptop replacement, but this is due more to a lack of desktop-class software for iOS than anything in Apple’s control.

10 Mysteries The Lost Finale Definitively Settled

May 25, 2010

The series finale of Lost didn’t settle every question, but it did settle many of the long-running questions raised by fans. Although my live viewing was frustratingly complicated by failed transmission equipment at ABC affiliate, WEWS, I was able to watch the entire episode thanks to iTunes. So let’s settle the things that can be settled regarding Lost.

SMB 3 is Going to be Huge, in both Scope and Impact

May 6, 2012

Microsoft is about to release the third major revision to their ubiquitous network storage protocol, SMB. Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V 3 will really highlight this technology, and I predict it will transform the way people think about networked storage for Windows systems. But SMB 3 is big in another way, too: there are tons of new features, and not all will be implemented by everyone.

How Smart Is the Mondaine Helvetica Smart Watch?

December 30, 2015

I love watches and technology, so I was thrilled to hear about the creation of a “horological smart watch” base by the Swiss watchmaking industry. One of the first examples of this new breed is the just-released Mondaine Helvetica Smart. I purchased one of these watches, the limited-edition “1 of 1957” variety, and have had a chance to evaluate it both as a watch and a gadget.

Thoughts on the Modern Miracle of 3D Printing

July 28, 2015

Although I enjoy my AIO Robotics Zeus 3D printer, I’m under no illusions that it’s an economical or practical device. It’s a toy that takes me into the future, and I love being there!

The Four Horsemen of Storage System Performance: The Rule of Spindles

August 25, 2010

Why do some data storage solutions perform better than others? Mechanical performance, RAM caching, I/O capacity, and the intelligence of the system all have a part to play. Today we examine the rule of spindles: Adding more disk spindles is generally more effective than using faster spindles.

It’s Time To Speak Out Against Sexism In IT Recruiting

May 6, 2013

I have waged a long-standing battle against the sexist and offensive use of scantily-clad, non-technical “models” at technical trade shows. Sometimes known as “booth babes”, the use of women in this way harms our entire industry and makes companies look stupid, to boot. But when a recruiting firm uses such offensive tactics, it does even more harm, verging on illegal!

Storage Changes in VMware vSphere 5

July 16, 2011

Once again, VMware added a ton of new storage enhancements to vSphere. With storage rapidly becoming the limiting factor in scalability and performance of virtual machine environments, this is no surprise. Also not surprising is the fact that major features like Policy-Driven Storage and Storage DRS (along with SIOC) are exclusive to “Enterprise Plus” licenses.

What More Could Alan Turing Have Accomplished?

October 7, 2012

Many of you have probably heard the name of Alan Turing, but most of those probably don’t appreciate the extent of his contributions. To say that he invented the modern world is an overstatement, but he did dream up the computers we see around us today, and helped win World War II in the process. But the story of Alan Turing is as much about exclusion and defeat as it is of genius.