ZFS should have been great, but I kind of hate it: ZFS seems to be trapped in the past, before it was sidelined it as the cool storage project of choice; it's inflexible; it lacks modern flash integration; and it's not directly supported by most operating systems. But I put all my valuable data on ZFS because it simply offers the best level of data protection in a small … [Read more...] about ZFS Is the Best Filesystem (For Now…)
Nexenta
Cisco’s Trojan Horse
Industry watchers like me have long wondered when Cisco will transform itself into a full-line IT infrastructure vendor. This strategy was tipped in 2009 as Cisco barged into the server market with UCS. But one leg of the stool is still missing: Storage remains the province of Cisco partners like EMC and NetApp. The Rack Endgame I recently wrote about “The Rack Endgame”, a … [Read more...] about Cisco’s Trojan Horse
Software-Defined Data Center Symposium, April 22 in Santa Clara, CA
I've written and spoken quite a bit on the "software-defined" future, what it means and how it will come about. Although it seems like a marketing buzzword to some, I feel it is a fairly accurate description of the future of the enterprise and service provider data center. That's why I'm working to organize the next Software-Defined Data Center Symposium, and am happy to … [Read more...] about Software-Defined Data Center Symposium, April 22 in Santa Clara, CA
Where Are They Now? A Tech Field Day Delegate Retrospective
Yesterday, I posted about the numerous companies that have been acquired after presenting at Tech Field Day. An obvious follow on question relates to the number of delegates to have "graduated" to go work for a vendor in their field. So I put together this follow-up, saluting these Field Day alumni. Contrary to popular belief, vendors aren't out there scouring Tech Field Day … [Read more...] about Where Are They Now? A Tech Field Day Delegate Retrospective
Which Small Enterprise Storage Arrays Are Worth Considering?
It's never been a better time to be in the market for enterprise storage products, with many excellent options available at affordable prices. But the market can be confusing for the uninitiated, with a variety of network options and capabilities. Even those of us "in the know" about enterprise storage are sometimes surprised by the offerings and companies in this space! So … [Read more...] about Which Small Enterprise Storage Arrays Are Worth Considering?