Business News Holding

Category: storage

  • IBM Buys Transitive To Cut Customer Costs


    IBM is to to buy Transitive in an acquisition intended to help its customers cut costs.

    Once the deal is completed, IBM is expected to move the virtualization software company’s California personnel to one of IBM’s local sites.

    Research and development staff located in Manchester, UK, will remain at their current facilities.

    IBM has been using Transitive’s technology in its IBM PowerVMTM software, which consolidates customers’ Linux workloads onto IBM systems, since January .

    Transitive has sold more than 10 million copies of its cross-platform virtualization technology and has 48 patents.

    Its product, QuickTransit, allows software applications that have been compiled for one operating system run on systems with different processors or operating systems without modifications.

    Transitive’s technology is based on research developed at Manchester University in 1992. The company was founded five years later by Alasdair Rawsthorne, a computer-science lecturer, and a team of his graduate students to bring QuickTransit to market.

    In 2005 the company signed Apple as its first major customer.

    Apple and Silicon Graphics, along with IBM, are Transitive’s OEM customers. The company has been providing QuickTransit technology to run Apple’s Rosetta translation software and the product is shipped on all of Apple’s Intel-based computers.

    No price has been released for the purchase.

  • Lenovo Promises Desktop PC Breakthrough


    Lenovo has launched a desktop computing solution that can dramatically help businesses reduce IT costs and security risks by turning off hard drives and storing all data in a non-server remote location.

    Called Secure Managed Client (SMC), the company claims it is the first solution to do all this while still offering users the flexibility and performance of a traditional desktop PC.

    It consists of a client, a hard drive-less ThinkCentre desktop PC Intel vPro technology, a Lenovo co-developed software stack and a centralized Lenovo Storage Array, powered by Intel.

    Peter Schrady, vice president, general manager, software and peripherals Relevant Products/Services, Lenovo, said SMC was the rarest of gems – a breakthrough technology in desktop computing.

    "We’ve all seen the rapid-fire advances in mobile Relevant Products/Services computing such as batteries, connectivity, and the like, but this is the desktop PC’s turn to shine," he said.

    "SMC is an exceptionally engineered innovation designed for better manageability, better security, better performance and a better balance sheet."

    Shrady said SMC offers several significant benefits over current server-based computing options such as blade PCs, thin clients or desktop virtualization Relevant Products/Services.

    Most notably, these include:

    • Preserves PC fidelity — SMC gives the end user a full Windows experience
    • Avoids IT complexity — SMC works with and enhances current IT process and tools
    • Safe and flexible investment — An SMC ThinkCentre can easily be converted back to a traditional desktop PC by re-enabling the hard drives
    • Energy efficient — An SMC ThinkCentre uses less energy Relevant Products/Services than a traditional desktop PC
    • Security — Information from all desktops in an SMC fleet is stored in a safe, single location, significantly reducing the threat of on-site theft of data

    Lenovo said some of its large enterprise customers have already recorded significant results from SMC pilot deployments.

    The company estimates that using the SMC solution can potentially reduce the expense of fully managing a PC from USD $120 per month to as low as $70 per PC.

    This is based on expense estimates for large enterprise customers in North America that take into account such things as deskside IT visits, call center support Relevant Products/Services, and management costs.

    The SMC solution is currently being offered on the ThinkCentre M57p(1) desktop PC, and can also be offered on the ThinkCentre M58p(2 )in early 2009.

  • G-Technology Launches Mac-friendly External Hard Drives


    Storage firm G-Technology is to offer a range of Mac-friendly external hard drives cast from aircraft grade aluminium.

    The four HDD models in the fanless G-Drive range come pre-formatted with HFS Plus – the Mac’s native file format – and support Mac OS X’s Time Machine automatic back-up system.

    The 2.5in Mini Combo G-Drive is available in 160GB, 250GB and 320GB capacity options, with USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 support.

    A second 2.5in option is the Mini Triple, which comes as either a 250GB or 320GB drive with USB and FireWire 400/800 connection capability.

    G-Tech’s two 3.5in HDD options, the Combo and the Q, are both available as 500GB or 1TB capacity drives.

    The Combo supports USB and FireWire 400, while the Q supports FireWire 800 and eSATA connections.

    Prices are from USD $170 (€125).

  • Pentadyne Promotes Kalev to CTO


    Flywheel energy storage systems manufacturer Pentadyne Power Corporation has promoted Claude Kalev to the position of Chief Technical Officer.

    Kalev was a co-founder of Pentadyne when the company was incorporated in 1998.

    But he only officially joined the company in 2002, as Vice President, Electrical Engineering.

    Kalev was also a co-founder and Vice President of Engineering at Quadradyne, a company established to provide testing services for high speed rotating machinery, state of the art magnetic bearing development, high vacuum system and molecular drag sleeve design.

    Prior to joining Pentadyne, Kalev was the Vice President of Engineering at Infrared Industries, Inc. where he led the development of a compact, portable 5-gas automotive analyzer.

    He also developed and patented a hand-held, high-speed, 5-gas analyzer for use as an on-board diagnostic and combustion tuning instrument. He also developed a state-of-the-art, automated calibration system for the analyzers.

    Other previous posts include roles at Capstone Turbine Corporation and Rosen Motors.

    Kalev is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Tau Beta Pi, and Golden Key Honor Society. He earned his undergraduate degree in Electronic Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

  • Kingston USB Stick Reaches 64GB – And Climbing


    It wasn’t THAT long ago that anything over 1GB of Flash storage was considered impressive.

    Now Kingston Technology has launched its new DataTraveler 150, a 64GB USB Flash drive.

    This supercedes last month’s offering – a mere 32GB – as the largest in the outfit’s entire DataTraveler line.

    Jaja Lin, Kingston’s Flash business development manager, said the DataTraveler 150 takes transportable storage to the next level.

    "As file sizes increase with digital media content such as music and photos, the need for USB Flash drives with high capacities will continue to rise," said Lin.

    "The DT150 certainly addresses those needs today."

    The rising storage capacity of USB sticks comes at a time when the number of computers infected with viruses from USB flash memory drives is spreading.

    This has prompted calls for PC users to take precautions when sharing data with others via USB memory sticks.

    Measuring 77.9mm x 22mm x 12.05mm, the DataTraveler 150 comes with a 5-year warranty and works with any system with a spare USB slot, including Windows, OS X, Palm OS and Linux.

    The memory sticks come with a five-year warranty and are priced at USD $132 and $177.

  • Data Loss Stats Testament To Poor Security


    Less than a fifth of consumers regularly back up data on PCs, according to security solutions firm Webroot.

    Its latest research report, “State of Internet Security: Protecting Your Digital Life”, also shows that nearly one in five users had never backed up their personal files.

    The primary reasons cited for not backing up were forgetting that it doesn’t happen automatically and that it takes too long.

    Webroot’s report says that PC users are storing vast amounts of personal, professional and financial data on their home computers – and 46 million users lost some, if not all, of their valuable data last year because it was left vulnerable to hardware failure, software corruption and human error.

    It concludes that while 98 per cent of PC users surveyed have antivirus protection on their computers and 95 per cent use firewall protection, few have safeguards in place for their data.

    Paul Lipman, Webroot’s senior vice president and general manager of the Desktop Business Unit, said the focus of PC security had traditionally been on protecting the computer, and not the data stored on it.

    "But it’s the precious personal files – digital photos, music and financial records – that cannot be replaced if they are lost,” he said.

    “Based on our research, nearly 90 people per minute experienced some loss of personal data last year.”

    According to the Webroot report, the average home PC user has nearly 2,000 digital photos and nearly 2,500 digital music files on their computer.

    Loss of family photos was the number one concern reported, followed by loss of financial information, text documents and work projects.

    Webroot has published suggestions for protecting valuable files, including usinge automatic online backup, not relying on free sites to archive digital photos and backing up laptops and mobile devices.

  • Storage To Buck General Drop in IT Hardware Spending


    Spending on storage is the only area of IT hardware that will avoid a drop-off in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.

    A newly revised forecast from IDC suggests worldwide investment in information technology will slow significantly next year.

    It will grow 2.6 per cent year over year in 2009, down from IDC’s pre-crisis forecast of 5.9 per cent growth.

    In the United States, IT spending growth is expected to be 0.9 per cent in 2009, much lower than the 4.2 per cent growth forecast in August.

    On a sector basis, software and services will enjoy solid growth while hardware spending, with the exception of storage, is expected to decline in 2009.

    On a regional basis, spending growth in Japan, Western Europe, and the United States will hover around 1 per cent in 2009.

    In contrast, the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America will continue to experience healthy growth, but at levels notably lower than the double-digit gains previously forecast.

    John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC, said although all the economic forecasts went from up slightly to down drastically in a matter of days, the good news was that IT was in a better position to resist the downward pull of a slowing economy.

    "Technology is already deeply embedded in many mission-critical operations and remains critical to achieving further efficiency and productivity gains," he said. "As a result, IDC expects worldwide IT spending will continue to grow in 2009, albeit at a slower pace."

    Looking beyond 2009, IDC expects IT spending to make a full recovery by the end of the forecast period with growth rates approaching 6.0 per cent in 2012.

    Despite these gains, IDC estimates that more than USD $300 billion in industry revenues will have been lost due to slower spending over the next four years.

  • USB Virus Infections Spreading


    The number of computers infected with viruses from USB flash memory drives is spreading in Japan, according to a survey from Trend Micro.

    Results from the company’s monthly surveys show USB-mediated infections with Autorun, a typical computer virus, totaled 143 in August.

    The number rose to 347 in September and 471 in October.

    Based on the finding, the Tokyo-based virus-scanning software company has called on PC users to take precautions when sharing data with others via USB memory sticks.

    Conventional viruses are programmed to attack a computer when a file attached to an e-mail message opens or on-line software is downloaded.

    But the September survey found that 53.7 per cent of newly detected computer viruses are programmed to spread via USB devices.

    "It is recommended that users refrain from recklessly sharing USB devices. They should frequently run a virus scan," a Trend Micro official said.

    USB devices are a "blind spot" for computer users as many of them are only cautious against virus infections via e-mail messages and the Internet.

  • Internal Cloud Computing Option Avoids Outsourcing Concerns


    Data center software provider, Cassatt Corporation, has announced new service and technology offerings to help companies safely realize "internal cloud computing".

    Bill Coleman, chairman and CEO of Cassatt Corp, said this was an IT approach that delivers the benefits of cloud computing using the resources that organizations already have inside their data centers.

    He said cloud computing offers great promise by having third parties deliver the computing resources needed to run applications as an on-demand service, with a lot of the IT infrastructure invisible to the user.

    "However, at this point most IT professionals are not comfortable outsourcing Relevant Products/Services the mission-critical parts of their sensitive internal applications to an external cloud provider," he said.

    "They are concerned about availability, vendor lock-in, not having the control they need, and having to rebuild these applications from scratch with proprietary tools running on provider-specific platforms."

    To directly address these problems, the updated Cassatt offerings help customers implement cloud-style computing environments using their existing systems, inside the firewalls of their data centers without having to modify their current hardware or software.

    Coleman said the resulting "internal cloud" can provide the same operational efficiency, fault tolerance, and energy Relevant Products/Services savings promised by external clouds, but without the worries over security Relevant Products/Services, compliance, lack of control, or the need or delay required to change or replace their current applications.

  • Storage-as-a-service Market Rife With Opportunity


    Storage-as-a-service is more than just a viable alternative, according to two new IDC multi-client studies.

    An IDC survey of 812 firms reveals that demand for online storage services is very strong in small, mid-size, and large firms that are facing budgetary and IT staffing pressures.

    These companies are evaluating online services for backup/disaster recovery, long-term record retention, business continuity, and availability.

    On the consumer front, the storage-as-a-service opportunity is exploding as individuals need to store fast growing volumes of digital data.

    They are increasingly considering online services, as an alternative to a product purchase, for backing up, sharing, and preserving data long term.

    In both the commercial and consumer segments, the availability of storage-as-a-service is disrupting traditional storage software markets as it changes how individuals and firms access storage capacity and procure software functions.

    But, more importantly, storage-as-a-service is a precursor to the longer term cloud storage and cloud computing opportunity, IDC reveals.

    Brad Nisbet, program manager for Storage and Data Management Services at IDC, said that as consumers and business organizations continue to generate vast amounts of data and seek optimum methods to store and protect them, the growth of storage capacities delivered through storage-as-a-service offerings will outpace traditional storage architectures.

    "With storage-as-a-service capacity growing over 65 per cent from 174 petabytes in 2007 to over 2.1 exabytes in 2012, the market is rife with opportunity," he said.

    Laura DuBois, program director for Storage Software at IDC, said that today, in the commercial context, online backup and archiving services are the immediate manifestation of the longer term opportunity for a series of cloud-based services which will impact the storage industry.

    "Storage-as-a-service will take place in two phases: first as a way to enable protection, recovery, long-term retention, and business continuity, and second as a by-product of larger cloud computing initiatives," she said.

    Among the key survey results on the commercial side are:

    • Suppliers that offer a breadth of services to satisfy a range of use cases for storage-as-a-service will be a step ahead.
    • Storage-as-a-service is of interest as a lower cost alternative to on-premise solutions and secondarily in support of limited IT staff.
    • Firms show a preference for suppliers whose focus is on online services and for those that have a strong technical background.

    Among the key survey findings on the consumer side are:

    • Suppliers that understand the differences between the large population of consumers merely aware of online backup and those considering it will be at an advantage.
    • Motivators for early adoption of online backup have been for recovery, but individuals currently evaluating are motivated by anywhere files accessibility.
    • Consumers indicated a clear preference to get an online backup service from a dedicated online backup company, rather than from an IT supplier, phone company, or the like.