April 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Confused about iSCSI?
If you are, this post from NetApp Dave Hitz will probably add to the confusion.
Warning: When you are done reading you might cave in to the notion that iSCSI is ... like a NAS. Because this is the argument that Mr. Hitz is diabolically presenting in that article:
Many customers wonder whether iSCSI is a type of SAN or a type of NAS. I used to know, but not any more.
Is the man loosing it? You'll have to read his post and reach your own conclusions.
Fear not: If after your are done reading the faith in your technical convictions is somewhat shaken I have an antidote.
Reach out for this Dell's view on iSCSI and you will find a technically (and politically) correct explanation of what iSCSI is all about, no tongue in cheek there.
Posted by Mario Apicella on April 20, 2007 07:57 AM
March 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Who says that vendors are always biased?
This post by Dave Hitz on the latest addition to NetApp family jewels proves that company pride and bias can be set aside, at least for a few paragraphs.
It's also good reading on how to interpret benchmark results. Check it out. http://blogs.netapp.com/dave/TechTalk/2007/03/08/
Posted by Mario Apicella on March 9, 2007 10:10 AM
January 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
EMC is starting today a series of live demos of its products, which I believe is a first for the company. Actually I can't think of other storage vendors putting on a similar line up of Webcasts.
You can preview what's already scheduled and eventually register here. Today's event is about Flare 24, the software that controls EMC storage arrays.
Are these Webcasts going to prove useful? I like the concept, actually I may have suggested to EMC and to other vendors to start similar product demos, but let me hold judgment at least until I see the first one.
So far I have only registered for the Flare demo, but couldn't help looking at what's coming after this.
Those upcoming topics sound interesting but I find annoying some of the blurbs used to describe them. For example, I am particularly turned off when I hear that something can make a complicated endeavor like recovering from a disaster "simple".
However, this is the unfortunate language that EMC used to present their Recovery Point demo, expected to go on at the end of the month.
Disaster Recovery and Data Protection Made Simple with EMC RecoverPoint
Anybody who is or has been in the field knows that the major effort when preparing a DR strategy is to address the challenges created by human, environmental and logistics breakdowns that can happen when disasters strike.
No piece of hardware or application can make those challenges "simple". Ask the people in New Orleans if in doubt.
Anyway, I'll keep an open mind hoping that the marketing slant doesn't extend to the content of those demos.
Feel free to post on this blog your comments on this and future Webcasts. I'll do the same.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 25, 2007 06:25 AM
December 04, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The folks at Scentric must feel like a million bucks. Why? Well you would too if you had just persuaded two major vendors such as EMC and Google to buy into your technology.
In case you missed what Scentric does please read about the debut of their data classification software, Destiny R2, earlier this year
Only a few weeks later Scentric entered a partnership with Archivas
Fast forward to last week, when Scentric revealed that the integration of their Destiny R2 data classification software and EMC Centera was a done deal.
I am a bit perplexed about the EMC-Scentric deal. Aren't Destiny and InfoScape going to collide sooner or later? Perhaps someone at EMC can illuminate me posting a comment on that.
Anyway, Scentric did not loose any time and today they announce having:
... joined the Google Enterprise Professional program, which extends the power of Google search and helps customers get more value out of their Google enterprise search deployments..
I am not surprised to see Google and Scentric cooperating. Sounds like a win-win, that opens the way for more focused search solutions for Google enterprise customers and let Scentric focus on just data classification.
Too bad that Scentric hasn't come up with an easy way to classify Web pages, yet. For now try Stumble Upon if Google and other search engines don't always get you what you're looking for.
You'll be surprised how far a little, user driven, Web page classification can go. Moreover, like many good things in life, Stumble is free. Happy stumbling.
Posted by Mario Apicella on December 4, 2006 08:09 AM
November 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
VeriTest report: Clariion CX3-80 vs NetApp FAS3070
You probably heard by now that NetApp just announced a new appliance the FAS3070 that supposedly competes with the EMC Clariion CX3-80.
What's interesting is that NetApp has also commissioned a comparison of performance and usability of the two arrays to VeriTest. You can find the report here
Please post your comments after you had a chance to read that comparison. I didn't spend much time on the report, but one of the key findings caught my attention:
During performance tests using 200 disk drives, we found that the FAS3070 configured with dual parity RAID-DPTM delivered 10 percent higher aggregate performance and 8 percent lower average latency compared to the CX3-80 configured with RAID 5.
If those results are confirmed, it would indicate that NetApp has solved some of the problems with RAID 6 that EMC is still working on, at least according to this comment from Storagezilla.
Posted by Mario Apicella on November 7, 2006 07:26 AM
August 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
To be honest, I am not sure. Napoleon had certainly a sharp mind but I doubt that even his extraordinary intellect could have predicted the need to carry data over a storage network using a specialized transport protocol like iSCSI.
However, the IT department of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, a university that was reportedly founded by Napoleon in 1810, must appreciate iSCSI because they decided to adopt Datacore SANmelody to create a centralized storage network that will cover the needs of students, teachers and administration.
Why was Napoleon founding universities in Italy, of all places, in 1810? If you're like me and forget easily your history lessons Wikipedia can help remembering that Napoleon led the French Army to conquer most of Europe in those years. In fact, he was also King of Italy for some time.
Back to our century, it's interesting to note that the choice of SANmelody by the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa could also have been influenced by a special promotion "buy one, get two" that Magirus, a Datacore VAR, is currently offering on SANmelody and SANsymphony.
However, even if we remove the appeal of any special pricing, choosing hardware neutral solutions such a Datacore's has the undeniable advantage of preserving investments already made for a longer time, which is a non minor feat in cash-strapped academic environments.
I'm probably going out on a limb here, but I feel comfortable enough saying that given the scope of his ambitions and the always limited amount of resources available to him, Napoleon would probably have liked a protocol such as iSCSI that maximizes the usefulness of your money and of your investments.
Should you hear differently from the Emperor, please let me know.
Posted by Mario Apicella on August 21, 2006 09:31 AM
August 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Brocade-McData deal: a happy ending for their tale?
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard the news about Brocade purchasing McData is an old Storage Insider article.
Before I go further, here is the press release
The article I remembered was co-authored with my good pal Dan Neel and titled :"A tale of two vendors".
The way things were in that now remote March 2002, nobody would have predicted today's news. Obviously the two companies have changed.
That Brocade cooperation with Cisco mentioned in the article soon was to become sour. With that behind them, Brocade and McData moved on to pursue their own acquisitions, remaining however surprisingly similar in their intent to expand beyond the switch straight-jacket each one of them was wearing.
In fact, even today that analogy with the identically shaped North-going Zax and South-going Zax is still appropriate. (Nice going, Dan).
The difference is that today instead of a stand-still that similarity of body and mind between the two vendors becomes a reason to join forces.
Is this the happy ending of that tale? Perhaps, will see. Ask me again four years from now.
Posted by Mario Apicella on August 8, 2006 09:28 AM
July 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
... from Dell, of course. In fact, Dell has quietly started its own blog, Dell one2one this week.
It's worth checking it out because despite its rather hushed entry in the blogsphere One2one has already collected many praises and many critiques.
I'll hold my suggestions because all what could have been said about the blog has already been spelled out in the numerous comments from customers and pundits that Dell has collected this week.
However, hope I can, and I certainly hope that Dell will add a storage specific section to One2one.
Congratulations to all the Dell people involved and welcome to the blog craze.
Posted by Mario Apicella on July 13, 2006 02:09 PM
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