Around the Storage Block

» Excited about ExDS

-by Michael J. Callahan

Since this is my first posting here, I thought I should introduce myself. I am the Chief Technologist for the HP StorageWorks Scalable NAS Division. HP is very serious about broadening its offerings in file-based storage, and the creation of this division was a reflection of that. A significant part of the division--though by no means all of it--came to HP through the acquisition about a year ago of PolyServe, a shared data clustering software company where I was CTO and cofounder. HP had long partnered with PolyServe to deliver NAS solutions using HP servers and storage and PolyServe software, so it was natural for us to find a home here.

» Green Storage #3 – Green Storage and SNIA Unplugged Fest

Green Storage #3 – Green Storage and SNIA Unplugged Fest

- by David Garrels

» Web 2.0 and Cloud Storage

-by Ian Duncan

There’s a certain irony in writing a blog on what some people are calling ‘cloud storage’ whilst sitting on an Airbus at 34,000 feet looking down on a fluffy white vista… After spending the start of the week at SNW talking to journalists from EMEA and the US there’s clearly a lot of interest in how enterprises are dealing with explosive amounts of data. We have the privilege of talking to Snapfish on a regular basis so we understand how they plan and manage an infrastructure that needs to deal with extreme growth. Snapfish is adding a million customers a month but still manages to have a customer base that has a 90% recommendation rate (as in 90% of them have already recommended Snapfish) – that’s pretty darned impressive.

» The Right Write Stuff

-by Warren Smith

The Storage Networking Industry Association Executive Director, Leo Leger, announced last week that the most recent individual to gain elite recognition in the storage association’s Achievement Hall of Fame is HP’s John Wilkes. John is just the 2^nd storage professional to be so honored. And we at HP are obviously proud of John and his many contributions to the storage industry and to SNIA. John Wilkes’ contributions included his key role in formulating the Shared Storage Model, long before many people shared storage amongst hosts, and preserving with the SMI-S management interface standard.

» RSA2008 Conference

- by Carlos Martinez

With 17,000 attendees and over 350 exhibitors the RSA2008 Conference can be an intimidating experience for IT storage professionals who are investigating privacy solutions for data-at-rest. HP is a comforting and familiar face for these storage professionals because they know HP is committed to both storage and security with the power of our Secure Advantage portfolio. HP addresses security holistically from the desktop to the data center to protect resources, data and provide validation for audits.

» Implementing an optimized IT infrastructure takes the right combination of technical building blocks

» Green Storage #2 – Minimizing Environmental Impact

- by David Garrels

Last time in the Green Storage blog we talked about ways to minimize the power requirements of storage and the three tools you can use today to save power.  Now, let’s look at some of the things we’re doing at HP to minimize the environmental impact of our products themselves.

» Thin Provisioning: Why was a Leader a Laggard?

- by Craig Simpson

Recently a competitor, EMC, announced that they are one of the last major block storage vendors to join the Thin Provisioning party. That’s not the way they said it, but if you’re keeping score that’s the way it was. Amazingly enough EMC is often considered a leader in the storage industry. So how did a storage “leader” miss such an important development?

» VDI - a hot technology topic at VMworld Europe

- by Ian Selway

It’s been a few weeks now since VMworld Europe and I have to say, that as shows go, it may have been one of the most tiring yet rewarding shows I've recently attended. HP's booth was extremely busy for each of the three days, maybe it was the magician, maybe it was the impressive displays of hardware or maybe it was because we had our new EVA4400 an MSA2000 arrays on display for their first public outings. It really was a great show and a great platform to launch our new products.

» SRM.... Not your father's Storage Resource Management

» Iomega isn't the only one rejecting EMC's offer

» Unencrypted Tape Creates Security Vulnerabilities

» “Do something with the tapes!” says Joe Tucci

-by Warren Smith

There is a hilarious new video on YouTube. Strangely, the video was produced by the EMC Corporation to suggest that Joe Tucci ordered employees there to get rid of tape, because the company is backing up to disk (one hopes not exclusively). Titled: “Bob and Joe: Fun with Tape” the premise of the video is however out of sync with Mark Lewis, EMC’s President Content Management and Archiving Division.

» FCoE…On your mark…get set…Go!

-by Sean Fitzpatrick

The industry is buzzing about Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and what its impact may or may not have on iSCSI and network convergence. Initially there were some skeptics in the press like the story from Howard Marks FCoE: The Latest Standard We Don’t Need. But now it seems the tides are turning as you can read about some of the activity on the FCoE website. Putting initial total cost of ownership (TCO) discussions aside; the technology has merit and worth looking at as a catalyst to network convergence and maybe some day replacing iSCSI.

» No, this isn’t your typical Pepsi taste test challenge

-- Buzz Kaas, director of IT, Pattillo Construction

I participated in a HP vs. EMC “taste test” challenge at the HP facility in Houston this past January where we compared the usability of the EVA4400 and the EMC CX3-10.

Working side by side with a SE for each product, we ran through a typical setup of: creating disk groups, selecting RAID levels, creating LUNS, assigning to hosts, several types of virtual cloning routines and tearing it all back out.

» Reflections on this week's EVA 4400 launch

For those of you interested in learning more about the latest generation of our powerfully simple EVA array family, I'm attaching a link to the HP portal. http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/456105-0-0-225-121.html

» “Green” Storage – use it to solve real business problems

- by David Garrels

There’s a lot of “greenwashing” going on in the IT world today – vendors talking about their “green IT” strategy in so many different ways it becomes very confusing (buy a pc, plant a tree?). I’ve even seen vendors show up at tradeshows having changed their company logo & booth color to green, just to show how green they really are.

Interesting, but I think “green IT” is first and foremost about getting your business done – and then applying “green” concepts to drive better business outcomes AND better environmental outcomes.

» Step 1: Admit that IT complexity is making life unmanageable

- by Robin Hensley

We in the IT industry are to blame for building complexity into solutions. There I have said it... Hi, my name is Robin Hensley and I am a recovering complexity junkie. I feel better now as I'm told that taking the first step to recovery is acknowledgement.

The second step is belief that something can be done to reduce that complexity and take back control of your IT.  Read on to discover how server, storage, and infrastructure integration with the HP BladeSystem can be part of your 12 steps to recovery from IT complexity...