Business News Holding

Category: storage

  • EMC Releases New Version of Retrospect


    EMC has launched a new version of its Mac backup software Retrospect.

    As well as adding back support for PowerPC-based Macs, Retrospect 8.1 also improves performance on Intel-based Macs.

    Eric Ullman, director of product management for Retrospect, said the product, which underwent a significant user interface rework in version 8, debuted initially without any support for PowerPC-based Macs.

    But he said such systems still make up approximately 50 per cent of Retrospect users, so it was important for EMC to make sure to release a version of the software that ran on them.

    "Apple doesn’t make PowerPC-based Macs anymore, but plenty of people still use them," he said. "Whether they’re hand-me-downs from other users who have upgraded to Intel-based Macs, or people who are just trying to extend the lives of otherwise useful systems."

    Ullman said Retrospect is particularly well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses that may have outgrown Time Machine – Apple’s backup system integrated with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard".

    He added that the software is also useful for businesses that want to centralise backups.

    With version 8.1, a PowerPC system that might have otherwise been relegated to a closet can now be used to manage a Retrospect backup server.

    Other changes have also been made in version 8.1 to improve performance on Intel-based Macs. Backup, data verification and restore activities are all faster, and EMC says that local backup performance has been increased from 10 to 15 per cent over 8.0, 30 to 35 per cent over 6.1. PowerPC-based systems will also see a boost over 6.1 – faster, multiple G5 systems run 10 to 15 percent faster under 8.1.

    Some more user interface tweaks have been made to Retrospect 8.1, as well – icons have been updated, workflow has been improved, and the software provides better responses to user actions, according to Ullman.

    Retrospect 8.1 is available as a free upgrade for 8.0 users; Retrospect 6.1 users who bought their software after January 14, 2008 are entitled to a free upgrade. Upgrade prices are also available for other users.

    The new release is available throughout EMC’s distribution network both as a boxed software product and through download services.

  • WD Ships First 1 TB Mobile Hard Drive


    WD has announced a one terabyte mobile hard drive for mobile storage applications and notebooks – the industry’s highest-capacity available 2.5-inch drive

    The 333 GB-per-platter technology in the new WD Scorpio Blue SATA 2.5-inch hard is available in 1 TB capacity as well as a 750 GB.

    The launch came as WD announced Q4 Revenue of USD $1.9 Billion and Net Income of USD $196 Million.

    Both hard drives have a 12.5 mm form factor, which Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of client systems at WD, said is ideally suited for use in portable storage solutions.

    Other applications include select notebooks and small form factor desktop PCs, where quiet and cool operation are important. Both WD Scorpio Blue drives deliver high-performance with 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) transfer rate.

    "The convergence of the growing mobile computing and digital media trends produces demand for desktop-like capacities in portable devices," he said.

    "Our new WD Scorpio Blue drives enable people to take even more of their digital collections with them wherever they go and, realising the value of their data, back up their notebooks on their My Passport drives."

    Morris said the WD Scorpio Blue hard drives offer high-performance, low power consumption and cool operation in portable applications.

    They are designed with WD features to be reliable and shock resistant while also delivering industry-leading capacity and performance.

  • Verbatim Releases 500 GB "Gold" 2.5-inch Portable Hard Drive For 40th anniversary


    Verbatim is to mark its 40th anniversary by releasing a limited edition ´gold` portable external hard drive.

    The gold-coloured UV coating of the special Anniversary Edition, houses a 500 GB 2.5" hard drive that includes easy-to-use backup and synchronization software.

    The Dmailer backup software makes backing up very quick and easy for professionals and novices alike.

    The Verbatim Sync software – also pre-loaded – supports users with reliable synchronisation of files and folders, from Microsoft Outlook or Windows mail contacts and calendar entries to documents, photos and videos.

    Users can take their PC’s content wherever they go and work on other devices while safe in the knowledge that Verbatim’s Sync software will synchronise new content to their own PC on returning to base.

    Complete with a USB 2.0 port that supplies the power and ensures data transfer at up to 480 Mbit/sec, the Anniversary Edition HDD is lightweight – only 161 grammes – optimizing it for mobility.

    Gary Milner, president of Verbatim EUMEA, said that forty years on, Verbatim has entered its anniversary year as the third-largest brand overall in the European digital storage market and the world leader in optical storage media.

    "From our early years in tape and floppy disks to our current broad product range of Optical, Flash Memory, External Hard Drives and Accessory Products, the Verbatim brand has always been associated with quality and reliability," he said.

    "This has been the foundation of our success and will always to be at our core as we celebrate our 40th anniversary and continue to innovate and market popular consumer and professional products into the future."

    The drive is compatible for PCs and Macs and is available for a limited period only at GBP £79.99 (RRP).

  • Sohu Selects 3Com's H3C For Next-Generation Data Center


    3Com is to build a next-generation data center for Sohu, one of China’s premiere online community destinations.

    Sohu made its decision after a two-month field test of 3Com’s recently launched H3C data center solutions — including the S12500 Series core switch line and the S5800 Series 10-gigabit switch series.

    Sun Dehe, vice president of the H3C network product line, said Sohu was impressed with the performance levels and reliability the data center network products’ unified architecture delivered.

    He said the first third-generation interactive Chinese search engine launched by Sohu requires:

    • a data center platform that can support storage of 10 billion Web pages
    • a Web page update and rating system
    • high-performance, concurrent access to and from numerous server clusters
    • flexible expansion in years ahead

    Dehe said that since a traditional data center architecture could not meet these requirements, Sohu decided to utilize the H3C next-generation data center architecture for its new Internet data center (IDC) equipment room.

    "H3C had a long-term plan in mind when it began developing its next-generation data center solutions for enterprise customers," he said.

    "For example, our unified switching architecture enables users to more easily design future-oriented applications – a characteristic required of Sohu’s data center.

    "We believe more customers will adopt H3C next-generation data center solutions to take advantage of this and other technological breakthroughs to maximize the efficiency and performance of their data centers."

  • Telehouse Offers Service to Reduce Data Loss Risk


    TELEHOUSE America has announced it is offering Integralis’ data loss prevention (DLP) consulting services as part of its Manage-E solution.

    Manage-E customers of TELEHOUSE can now leverage global information risk management provider Integralis’ expertise in all aspects of DLP and data risk management, as well as its comprehensive methodology to determine an organization’s unique data risk factors and the appropriate data protection policies, processes and solutions.

    Akio Sugeno, TELEHOUSE’s senior director of business development, internet engineering and operations, said: "With data breach incidents, compliance pressures and the use of Web 2.0 tools rising, companies are seeking a more thorough understanding about the nature and scope of their DLP risk and how to solve it.

    "Together with Integralis, we’re bringing that knowledge and service to our customers."

    Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, wikis and social media, are presenting new data security Relevant Products/Services challenges for companies, according to Eric Greenberg, senior vice president of security and risk solutions at Integralis.

    "Companies are exposing all kinds of information on the Web, from sensitive HR information to IP such as future product plans," he said.

    Integralis services provided through TELEHOUSE’s DLP Manage-E solution include:

    • data identification, location and classification
    • auditing and assessing at-risk data
    • policies, reporting and metrics to better manage data risk and control sprawl over the entire information lifecycle
    • recommendations and ongoing management of IT products and services to help organizations limit their DLP risk
    • Limiting proprietary and sensitive data loss is of particular concern to C-level executives when it comes to compliance

    "Compliance is about controls on risk and accidental risk is uncontrolled risk," said Greenberg."There’s no doubt that organizations without Web 2.0 policies, processes and technologies in place, and ways to enforce them, are creating vulnerabilities that can lead to compliance violations."

  • Seagate Loses $81m in Q2, Ships 40.6 million HDDs


    Seagate reported a loss of USD $81 million on revenue of $2.35 billion for the second quarter of this year.

    Despite the poor results, the company said it is seeing signs that the storage market is improving and it is making progress toward returning to sustained GAAP profitability as soon as possible.

    Seagate said it shipped 40.6 million hard drives during the quarter and a total of 163.8 million units for the fiscal year ended on July 3, 2009.

    Revenue for the year was revenue of USD $9.8 billion, the net loss was $3.1 billion.

    Steve Luczo, Seagate’s CEO, said the overall organizational, operational, technical and product progress made during the last six months is reflected in the company’s financial results for the June quarter.

    "We are also seeing signs that the storage markets are improving and are providing better visibility into the demand environment," he said.

    Steve Luczo, Seagate’s CEO

    "Our approach to the September quarter with respect to our production volumes and product mix is to continue to manage our factories with an intense focus on maximizing our return on invested capital while satisfying our customers’ requirements."

    The company remains cautious on its business outlook and mentioned that it is difficult to predict product demand and other related matters.

    For the September quarter, the company is planning for the overall industry demand for disk drives to be between 135 and 140 million units.

  • Iron Mountain Unveils First UK Cloud-Based File Archiving Customer


    Iron Mountain Digital has announced that it has signed its first European customer for its recently launched Virtual File Store service.

    The provider of STorage-as-a-Service (STaaS) for backup and archiving’s Virtual File Store solution is an enterprise-class cloud-based data archiving service designed to help companies reduce the costs of storing and managing inactive data.

    Iain Douglas, IT director at multinational IT security company Integralis, said they chose Virtual File Store due to its proven ability to achieve efficiencies for businesses.

    "Integralis has experienced exponential growth in internal data generation and is currently storing 3.5 terabytes of data on its system," he said.

    "We have worked with Iron Mountain Digital over the past two years to help us manage this growth, and solutions such as Iron Mountain’s automated, online LiveVault server backup solution have helped us to ensure that more control and flexibility of access to data has been achieved for our IT department."

    Douglas said that by piloting, and now taking on the Virtual File Store service, they had not only been able to maintain the high levels of flexibility and accessibility to theirs data but also to make cost efficiencies as inactive data can now be stored in the cloud.

    "This service complements our mixture of server and tape based backup perfectly and has allowed us to gain a lot more control over our information," he said.

    Integralis currently uses the Virtual File Store solution to store inactive data and Iron Mountain’s LiveVault server backup and recovery solution to protect its active operational data.

    With the Virtual File Store service in place, Integralis anticipate a 30 per cent reduction in storage spend in the future.

    In particular, the company has found that specifically by combining LiveVault and Virtual File Storage services, significant cost efficiencies can be made to the business.

    "We use three other services from Iron Mountain Digital and now with the addition of Virtual File Store, it’s the missing link in their portfolio," said Douglas.

    Integralis currently combines Iron Mountain Digital’s Connected Backup for PC, Connected Backup for Server and LiveVault server backup and recovery solution for protecting and managing its information.

    Richard Ellis, manager of the UK & Ireland’s direct and channel business at Iron Mountain Digital said: "We are delighted to announce Integralis as our first European customer to use the Virtual File Store service.

    "After an audit, Integralis had 20 percent of its records marked as ‘inactive’ which was a huge area where cost savings could be made.

    "The Virtual File Store solution allows Integralis to store vital, yet inactive records safely and still have on-demand access to them whilst reducing costs."

  • HSBC Fined $5.2 Million in UK for Data Loss


    Three units of HSBC Group have been fined GBP 3.185 million (USD $5.2 million) by Britain’s financial regulator for failing to protect consumer data from loss or theft.

    The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said all three firms had been warned by HSBC Group Insurance’s compliance team about the need for robust data security controls in July 2007.

    But in February 2008 an unencrypted CD containing the details of 180,000 policy holders was lost in the post.

    The FSA said HSBC Life UK Ltd was fined GBP 1.61 million, HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Ltd was fined GBP 875,000 and HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd was fined GBP 700,000.

    HSBC said that no clients had reported losses as a result of these failures.

    It said it found that large amounts of unencrypted customer data had been sent by post or courier to third parties.

    Confidential information about customers was left on open shelves or in unlocked cabinets, and staff were not given sufficient training on identifying and managing risks like identity theft, the regulator said.

    Margaret Cole, the agency’s director of enforcement, said all three firms failed their customers by being careless with personal details which could have ended up in the hands of criminals.

    "It is also worrying that increasing awareness around the importance of keeping personal information safe and the dangers of fraud did not prompt the firms to do more to protect their customers’ details," she said.

    The largest previous fine for data protection failures was the GBP 1.26 million pounds assessed against Norwich Union.

    HSBC said it had contacted customers who were potentially affected, and said 33,500 employees had received data protection training.

    "We hold ourselves to the highest standards, but it is clear that in these instances we have fallen short, which we sincerely regret," said Clive Bannister, group managing director of HSBC Insurance.

  • EMC Q2 Results Better Than Expected, Completes Data Domain Acquisition


    EMC has reported a slight increase in revenue last quarter and provided an optimistic forecast for the second half of the year.

    The announcement came as it completed the USD $2.1 billion acquisition of data deduplication specialist Data Domain.

    The company said that IT budgets have stabilized and customers are more confident about their visibility.

    It reported net income of USD $205.2 million on revenue of USD $3.26 billion, down 11 per cent from a year ago.

    On the revenue front, EMC now projects 2009 sales of USD $13.8 billion compared with previous estimates of $13.5 billion.

    Data Domain, whose acquisition closed today, will contribute USD $200 million in revenue for 2009 and will be neutral to non-GAAP earnings.

    Meanwhile, third quarter revenue is expected to rise 2 to 3 per cent sequentially excluding Data Domain results. Data Domain’s inclusion results in sequential growth of four to five per cent.

    EMC CEO, Joe Tucci, said that EMC expects the company to generate double-digit revenue growth rates.

    "when IT markets resume to a more normal spending rate," he added.

    Meanwhile, the fate of EMC’s current data deduplication partner, Quantum Corp., remains unclear after EMC executives avoided mentioning the firm during the earnings call.

    To most industry watchers, the writing seems to be on the wall for Quantum.

  • Successful IFA Business Model Drives Markets in 2009


    ADVERTORIAL: Product debuts and important industry topics such as ecology, lifestyle, HDTV & wireless communications the main features at IFA 2009

    For the second time, and with an even more comprehensive show, the leading brands of the consumer electronics and electrical home appliances industries will be jointly represented on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds at IFA 2009.

    Traditionally a large number of new technologies and products make their debut at IFA.

    IFA Director Jens Heithecker: "In 2008 the industry took the IFA to pole position with a previously unmatched number of product debuts. IFA 2009 will be building on this."

    Dr. Rainer Hecker added: "High-quality, wide-ranging brand presentations will once again feature significantly at IFA 2009 in Berlin.

    "The consumer electronics range of products covers the entire market.

    "It includes innovative, flat-screen TVs, home cinema systems, high-resolution media and intelligent networking solutions, as well as all types of mobile devices.

    "As regards electrical home appliances, the focus is on ease of use and health and wellness where fridges, washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers, kitchen appliances, hairdriers and personal hygiene appliances are concerned.

    "In both product sections an eco-friendly approach and using water and electricity in a responsible manner are at a premium."

    IFA is the meeting place of leading international companies from both industries.

    As the leading venue for doing business it moves markets, as it comprehensively serves and targets the structures of the wider trade. With its unique flair IFA provides the perfect setting for the ultimate experience of consumer electronics and home appliances brands.

    Thus IFA combines fascinating innovations and exciting entertainment with a show. What is more, Berlin is where media political decisions are made.

    "IFA brings the markets together in a unique way. It provides an ideal platform for international retailers, buyers, consumers, the industry and the media," Dr. Rainer Hecker continued.

    "This autumn at IFA 2009 we will be sending out clear and positive signals to the economy."

    TecWatch – the name says everything

    The TWF has taken off in a new direction. In future, as the IFA TecWatch, it will be offering European research projects, developers from industry, international trade associations, as well as German research institutions and universities an exclusive platform for presenting product firsts.

    In 2009 the main topics will be devoted to assisted living, the personal home, innovative audio and smart interfaces. Thus TecWatch will without a doubt be the international attraction for technologically interested exhibitors, visitors, experts and the media.

    Trade visitors and the media can register as of now

    Starting in June, trade visitors can purchase their ticket to the IFA in comfort from the online ticket shop, at a reduced advance sales price.

    Alternatively, they can redeem a ticket voucher. The IFA ticket shop is open at www.ifa-berlin.com.

    Be it special travel packages, the Fast Lane, an exclusive reception area or leading specialist forums, starting now the IFA Website has information on special services for trade visitors coming to IFA.

    As of now members of the media who can submit proof of their identity as journalists can register online under "Press" on the IFA website.

    Advance registrations will be accepted until 20 August 2009.

    Information available under "Press" on the IFA website includes press releases, press appointments with exhibitors at IFA and the organisers of IFA, innovations at IFA and press photos of IFA.

    Amy MacDonald to open IFA 2009 live in the Summer Garden.

    With her album having gone double platinum and reaching top spot in the UK charts the mega star will take to the stage with an exclusive performance presented by IFA in the Summer Garden on Thursday, 3 September 2009.

    Tickets for the IFA Summer Garden concert with Amy Macdonald are available as of now from all the usual outlets as well as under: +49/ 1805-570 060.

    Online tickets are available at: www.eventim.de or www.ticketmaster.de.

    Costing 35 euros (plus advance booking fee), these tickets let holders not only enjoy the concert but also grant admission to IFA on any of the subsequent days. More details on the programme of events at IFA 2009 can be found at www.ifa-berlin.com/ Events.