Packet Pushers

Software-Defined Data Center Symposium, April 22 in Santa Clara, CA

March 21, 2014 by Stephen 1 Comment

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 announce that it will be held in Santa Clara, CA on April 22, 2014.

Cisco Live US, San Diego CA

June 2, 2012 by Stephen Leave a Comment

Next week I’m off to San Diego for Cisco Live US 2012. My previous experience with Cisco Live was definitely positive: It’s a whole world of networking fanatics and lots of ecosystem companies. Plus, last year included an amazing party hosted by yours truly (in disguise!)

Networking Field Day 3 – Silicon Valley

March 23, 2012 by Stephen Leave a Comment

Next week is the third networking-focused Tech Field Day event, and the 14th overall event I’ve produced. It’s amazing to see the growth and interest in Tech Field Day generally, and our networking events specifically.

Networking Field Day and OpenFlow Symposium

October 25, 2011 by Stephen 1 Comment

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.

Fibre Channel over Token Ring: In-Depth Analysis

July 16, 2010 by Stephen 2 Comments

Industry veterans fondly remember the LAN wars of the early 1990’s, when a diverse set of excellent data link protocols competed for dominance. Although the victory seemed to have gone to Ethernet, industry insiders are looking for a resurgence of better alternatives. One technology, Token Ring, is undeniably superior for transporting modern protocols, especially Fibre Channel for storage. Let’s take a look!

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.

Deduplication Coming to Primary Storage

September 16, 2008

Although deduplication of storage is nothing new, with Data Domain and other making hay with the technique for years, it has never been ready for prime time – reduction of active primary storage applications like email and databases. Instead, deduplication has been relegated to second- or third-tier status, deduplicating archives and backup data. But change is in the air, and deduplication vendors are starting to bustle towards the bright lights of primary storage.

Fasting to Mitigate Jet Lag: Surprise! It Works!

February 11, 2013

I’m a frequent traveler, and thus a frequently suffer from moderate jet lag. It’s just so hard to adjust to a new time zone! But I recently stumbled on a simple method many claim helps your internal clock re-calibrate to travel. After trying it out on my trip to Australia last week, I’m convinced it can help!

Why Big Disk Drives Require Data Integrity Checking

December 19, 2014

Hard disk drives keep getting bigger, meaning capacity just keeps getting cheaper. But storage capacity is like money: The more you have, the more you use. And this growth in capacity means that data is at risk from a very old nemesis: Unrecoverable Read Errors (URE).

My Visit to Bletchley Park

August 3, 2012

Bletchley Park is much more than a museum. For those interested in the history of computing, like me, or World War II buffs, it’s a must-see. The reconstructed Bombe and Colossus computer are truly breathtaking, and I find myself drawn to the stories of codebreaking that took place here. I highly recommend a visit!

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.

On the Death of Innovation, or “These Kids These Days!”

May 21, 2012

An obnoxious meme has returned to the fore lately, claiming that innovation is dead. The hippies did it, or maybe it was the Internet, or even a decline of America. But nothing could be further from the truth, and statements like this make me question the perspective of the speaker.

Hands-On Review: Unicomp Spacesaver M Keyboard for Mac

July 3, 2012

I would not hesitate to recommend the Unicomp Spacesaver M to Macintosh users used to an original IBM Model M, and I am admittedly a tough customer. I wish that Unicomp would update their website, packaging, logo, and keyboard graphics, but none of this really matters as your fingers press the keys. If any keyboard is worth $100, it is the Unicomp Spacesaver M!

The 2018 iPad Pro is a Beast!

November 9, 2018

The third-generation iPad Pro is a great machine but also a bellwether of change at Apple. It will be very hard for the rest of the mobile and client computing industry to keep up with this kind of progress!