Business News Holding

Category: storage

  • Three Quarters Of Organisations To Increase Cloud Computing Security


    A survey by Infosecurity Europe of 470 organisations has found that 75 per cent intend to reallocate or increase budgets to secure cloud computing and software as a service within the next 12 months.

    However, interviews conducted with a panel of 20 chief information Security Officers (CISOs) of large enterprises also found concerns about availability and security aspects of software services in the cloud.

    They were especially concerned about the lack of standards for working in the cloud, SAAS and secure internet access, all of them said that they would welcome the development of guidelines in this area.

    Tamar Beck, group event director of Infosecurity Europe, said cloud computing and SAAS have a pivotal role to play in today’s evolving environment.

    CIOs are being challenged to add value to the business and CISOs required to ensure that new services are reliable and secure.

  • Survey Highlights Key Role Datacentres Play To Ensure Competitiveness


    More than four out of five companies surveyed are planning datacentre expansions within the next two years, according to Digital Realty Trust.

    The wholesale datacentre provider also found that more than a quarter of surveyed companies are actively planning immediate datacentre expansion projects that are commencing in 2009.

    Almost 70 per cent are planning projects that will commence in 12-24 months.

    The findings are part of an independent survey commissioned by Digital Realty Trust.

    The study is based on a detailed survey of senior decision makers who are either directly responsible for datacentres or influence significant decisions related to datacentre operations at large European organisations.

    Bernard Geoghegan, senior vice president at Digital Realty Trust, said that despite the dramatic changes in the economic climate, the results indicate that an even larger proportion of European companies are planning datacentre projects.

    He said these projects are bigger by every measure.

    "These trends corroborate what we are continuing to hear from so many of our customers – that datacentres have become critical corporate assets that ensure competitiveness in difficult times and that will drive growth when economic conditions improve," he said.

    Other key findings of the new study include:

    • Compared to last year’s survey results, there has been a 117 per cent increase in the number of firms that will seek more than 2,500 square metres for their datacentres, indicating that the scope of datacentre projects has grown significantly.
    • Compared to last year’s survey results, there has been a 22 per cent increase in projected average datacentre space requirements from 1,300 square metres to 1,600 square metres – a significant increase that will impact the balance of supply and demand for datacentre space in European markets.
    • A 21 per cent increase compared to last year’s survey in average power capacity per rack (4.7kW v. 5.7kW) that companies are projecting, which is a significant metric for datacentre power requirements.
    • More than 60 per cent of companies plan to use a partner to expand rather than taking a do-it-yourself approach to these large datacentre projects.
    • Companies identified London as the top location for the datacentre projects being planned. Paris was identified as the second most popular location for upcoming datacentre projects.

  • Matze Appointed To New Role Within Hifn


    Hifn has named storage pioneer John Matze as its Vice President and Chief Technical Officer.

    Matze first joined the storage and networking company in 2007 as its Vice President of Business Development after the acquisition of Siafu Software, where he served as CEO.

    At Siafu, Matze developed iSCSI storage solutions that offered security and enterprise-level functionality for small- to medium-sized businesses.

    The technology was incorporated into Hifn’s product line to deliver storage solutions to its customers.

    Matze previously served as Vice President and CTO at Overland Storage, Director of Software at Veritas Software and the principal architect at STAC Inc.

    John Matze, VP and CTO Hifn

    Matze the author of several storage patents is also credited as one of the original authors of the iSCSI protocol.

    Over the past 15 years he has created a series of successful products including the award winning Overland Storage REO VTL appliances and the award winning STAC Replica Disaster Recovery for NetWare.

    In 2003 he was named one of the "Top 25 Innovators" by Computer Reseller News, and is a frequent author and speaker at storage industry events.

    Albert E. Sisto, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hifn, said Matze offered the ability to provide hands-on leadership in an ever-evolving industry.

    "He also has a keen ability to take technologies and simplify them for broader deployment and acceptance," he said.

  • WD Readies New My Book World Storage Device


    Western Digital has redesigned its My Book World Edition to target consumers with multiple computers on a home network.

    The company says the new device simplifies the tedious task of backing up an entire household’s files.

    The network storage device comes in 1TB and 2TB capacities and has both DLNA 1.5 and UPnP certification to allow for streaming with a variety of devices.

    It also has a single USB port to let you turn any other USB drive into a network drive.

    Jim Welsh, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products and consumer electronics groups, said the My Book World Edition drive simply had to be plugged into a network router, a few buttons had to be clicked and it backed up the files from all the PCs and Macs on the network.

    Any changes to the files are automatically and continuously backed up to the drive.

    The new hard drives are available now in the 1 TB capacity and expected later this month in the 2 TB capacity (USD $230 and $450 or GBP 168.99 and GBP 369.99 respectively).

  • StarWind Software Announces Appoints New CEO and Opens US Headquarters


    StarWind Software has appointed Zorian Rotenberg as chief executive officer and announced the opening of its US headquarters.

    The storage software provider’s move to its new HQ near Boston, Massachusetts, comes shortly after the announcement of its spin-off from Rocket Division Inc and the investment, led by ABRT Venture Fund, meant to accelerate sales and assist in marketing efforts.

    StarWind provides small and midsize company storage solutions and is expanding its operations, marketing and product offerings.

    Its flagship product, StarWind Server is an iSCSI Target software that installs on any industry-standard Windows Server and converts it into a reliable, powerful and affordable IP SAN.

    Rotenberg will focus on continuing to build StarWind’s storage software market and will be responsible for global operations including sales, marketing, strategic alliances, and customer programs.

    He has a strong background in high-tech as well as financial markets, and most recently served as the vice president of corporate and business development at Acronis Inc.

    He worked directly for the CEO of Acronis during a period when the company grew rapidly over a period of a few years from about USD $20 million to over USD $100 million worldwide.

    Previously, Rotenberg worked at Merrill Lynch & Co. in the Investment Banking Division focusing on mergers & acquisitions and financing transactions, at NeoCarta Ventures focusing on investing in technology companies and at IBM in the Software Sales Division.

    A graduate of Lehigh University, he has a degree in finance and with minors in applied mathematics and computer science. He took an MBA at Harvard Business School.

    Rotenberg said he was looking forward to building and growing Starwind’s business globally.

    "This is a great company with excellent technology and a very talented, accomplished team," he said.

    "We have an extraordinary opportunity to develop new solutions for our customers and be a leader in the rapidly growing storage software market."

  • Virtualisation Provides Effective Disaster Recovery Solution


    SecurStore has warned that companies need to ensure a reliable IT disaster recovery plan is in place when times are tough.

    The online, automated and managed data backup and recovery specialists said that the current economic difficulties meant that customer service is going to be the all important differentiator throughout 2009.

    It said the list of what can go wrong in the working environment is extensive, so it was essential to ensure that services ccould still be provided to clients in the event of power failures, natural disasters or sabotage is paramount.

    Alexander Eiriksson, COO of SecurStore, said many companies were living dangerously, operating without a reliable backup and recovery plan, which he described as a major risk.

    He said companies that are using 30-year old tape backup technologies are just as insecure since tapes notoriously suffer from reliability issues.

    Virtualisation technology is increasingly being seen as a cost-effective and immediate disaster recovery plan.

    Using Virtualisation, companies need fewer servers leading to a reduction in hardware maintenance and reduced IT employee working time.

    It also simplifies IT management, minimises space and saves power, all leading to reduced costs.

    "Gartner recently published a report that ranked Virtualisation as third in a list of 10 technologies that CIOs will focus on to realise value from existing assets," said Eiriksson.

    He said specialists such as SecurStore offered simple, cost effective agent-less, online backup and recovery solution that enabled organisations to maximise their virtualisation strategy while achieving superior data protection and recovery management without performance degradation.

  • Intel To Invest $ 7 Billion in US Manufacturing


    Intel is bucking current trends and investing USD $7 billion in upgrading three of its US factories over the next two years.

    The computer chipmaker said the investment is its largest on new manufacturing and represents 7,000 high-wage jobs.

    Based in Santa Clara, California, Intel said its upgrade plans were for existing facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon to manufacture its 32-nanometer products.

    Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, said the investment decision was to ensure Intel and the US remained at the forefront of innovation.

    He said the manufacturing facilities would produce the most advanced computing technology in the world.

    Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini

    "The capabilities of our 32nm factories are truly extraordinary, and the chips they produce will become the basic building blocks of the digital world, generating economic returns far beyond our industry," he said.

    While more than a third of Intel’s sales are from outside the US, the company does 75 per cent of its semiconductor manufacturing and research-and-development spending in the US.

    Chips makers such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices have experienced a decline in demand as global computers sales wither in the face of the economic crisis.

    Last month, Intel announced the closure of manufacturing sites in California and Oregon, and test facilities in Malaysia and the Philippines, resulting in 5,000 to 6,000 job losses.

  • SanDisk Develops Tech That Allows 64GB Flash


    SanDisk has announced plans to ship an ultra-dense form of NAND flash memory that could herald a breakthrough in storage.

    Called X4, the technology uses a special memory controller that maintains data traffic speed while still fitting four bits of data per cell.

    The method allows SanDisk – and Toshiba – to place 8GB of memory on a single chip, twice as much as before.

    It does this while still maintaining a transfer speed of 7.8MB per second.

    Since it is common to find four of these chips stacked together in a single package, the technology potentially doubles the amount of storage available on a high-end flash memory die to 64GB.

    But it should remains small thanks to SanDisk’s more recent 43 nanometer manufacturing process.

    Toshiba began making 32GB packages at the end of last year.

    SanDisk expects the first X4-based products to be available in the first half of 2009, with memory cards being the most immediately recognizable offerings.

    It’s not clear if the technology will be adopted in third-party products containing the larger-capacity flash.

    Toshiba has supplied Apple with memory for the iPhone and iPod touch as well as other competing device makers.

  • NEC Develops 3D Chip-stacked Memory for SoCs Hardware


    NEC Corporation has announced the development of chip-stacked flexible memory, which can be used to achieve a new system-on-chip (SoC) architecture.

    The new SoC’s architecture consists of separate logic (excluding embedded memory cores) and memory chips (chip-stacked flexible memory) that are closely stacked by using a three-dimensional packaging technology.

    NEC developed both a reconfigurable-memory technology that enables the memory chip to change its configuration flexibly, in addition to a memory-data transmission technology that reduces chip-area and latency caused by memory reconfiguration mechanisms.

    The memories of conventional SoCs are categorized into two types; embedded memory, such as embedded SRAM or embedded DRAM, which is integrated with logic circuits in an SoC chip; and the second type, general-purpose memory, such as DRAM or Flash memory, which is placed outside of an SoC chip.

    The chip-stacked flexible memory developed by NEC is a third kind of memory that features both fast access in the embedded memory and large memory size in the general-purpose memory.

    It also enables dynamic memory allocation during LSI operation that is effective in SoC’s multiple functional IP-cores (functional blocks), which reduces SoCs’ design and fabrication costs.

    NEC is targeting large-scale SoC or high-performance tiled core designs, such as those found in Terascale and even GPU-like designs.

  • Scott Cleland to Lead Worldwide Marketing Efforts for Adaptec-branded Products


    Adaptec has appointed Scott Cleland as its director of marketing.

    With nearly 25 years of storage experience and nearly 10 years of senior-level marketing experience, Cleland will lead Adaptec’s global marketing activities for the company’s Adaptec-branded products.

    Prior to joining Adaptec, Cleland served as the director of worldwide marketing for AMCC’s storage division, 3ware.

    At 3ware, he was responsible for coordinating and leading comprehensive global inbound/outbound product marketing and channel marketing efforts.

    He served as the primary product and technology evangelist to customers, industry press and analysts.

    Cleland was a key contributor in 3ware achieving the number one serial storage channel vendor status for two consecutive years.

    Before joining AMCC, Cleland was director of product marketing and technical marketing for IBM’s Mylex storage division, and previously held marketing positions at Archive, Exabyte, BusLogic, and Conner Peripherals.

    Vipul Mehta, vice president of marketing for Adaptec, said extensive storage industry experience and a strong track record of conceiving and executing successful marketing programs made Cleland an ideal candidate to lead global marketing efforts for Adaptec.

    "As Adaptec continues to provide high-performance, innovative solutions to leading channel partners, OEMs, system builders and IT integrators, his industry knowledge and proven leadership will be instrumental in Adaptec’s ongoing success," he said.