There has been a lot of discussion lately about the NetApp deduplication technology, especially on twitter. We had a lot of misinformation and FUD flying around, so I thought that a blog entry that takes a close look at the technology was in order. But first a bit of disclosure, I currently … [Read more...]
EMC FAST and NetApp FlashCache a Comparison
September 21, 2011 by 4 Comments
This article is intended to provide the reader with an introduction to two technologies, EMC FAST and NetApp FlashCache. Both of these technologies are intended to improve the performance of storage arrays, while also helping to bend the cost curve of storage downward. With the amount of data that … [Read more...]
Flash Storage and Automated Storage Tiering
September 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
In recent years, a move toward automated storage tiering has begun in the data center. This move has been inspired by the desire to continue to drive down the cost of storage, as well as the introduction of faster, but more expensive storage in the form of Flash memory in the storage array … [Read more...]
Dell Buys 3PAR and Monolithic vs. Modular Storage
August 17, 2010 by 1 Comment
Well, it’s been a while since I blogged, but something happened today that warrants comment.Dell has offered to buy 3PAR for about $1.1 billion. So, a number of my customers have called and emailed me asking what this all means? They want to know how I view the addition of 3PAR to Dell’s storage … [Read more...]
Path Management Software Recommendations
April 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Lately I have been asked a lot about a topic in storage management that I thought most companies have a solid handle on already. But I’m being asked more and more what my recommendations are around path management. I suspect that this has something to do with the path management changes in VMware … [Read more...]
Virtual Computing Environment Coalition
November 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I was wondering how long it would take before these three decided to get together and try to push out the competition. For a customer that hasn’t really done anything with Virtualization due to the perceived risk with implementation this would be a tempting way to go since it would appear to … [Read more...]
The real cost of storage
April 5, 2009 by 3 Comments
What's the real cost of storage? I get asked this question all the time, and it's so difficult to answer because it really does depend on so many factors from storage team to storage team. What's really surprising to me is that I'm being asked the question at all. You would think that everyone who … [Read more...]
Storage Shangri-La
February 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Cloud ComputingI don't know about you, but I've spent a lot of time reading about "Cloud Computing" lately. A lot of space has been devoted to the topic in the blogosphere, that's for sure. Some people think it's the "next big thing", others say not on your life. But don't worry; I'm not going to … [Read more...]
Storage Efficiency
January 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment
So, I've been sitting here thinking that with the current economic distress everyone is looking to save money. In the storage business, this means an almost myopic focus on something called "storage efficiency". Everyone wants to get the most "bang for the buck" that they can right now, and they … [Read more...]
Wide striping is a two edged sword
January 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I have spent a lot of time lately talking with some of my coworkers, friends, etc. on the topic of wide striping. This topic keeps coming up since there are now a number of vendors selling storage arrays with SATA drives that claim to have "the same performance as fiber channel". Some of the Sales … [Read more...]