Category: Data security

Encryption, Authentication, Authorization, Key management, digital rights management

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Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) publishes two new cloud usage models

The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) has announced and published more documents for data center customers of cloud usage. These new cloud usage models for to address customer demands for interoperability of various clouds and services before for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) among other topics which are now joined by the new Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and foundational document for cloud interoperability.

Unlike most industry trade groups or alliances that are vendor driven or centric, ODCA is consortium of global IT leaders (e.g. customers) that is vendor independent and comprises as 12 member steering committee from member companies (e.g. customers), learn more about ODCA here.

Disclosure note, StorageIO is an ODCA member, visit here to become an ODCA member.

From the ODCA announcement of the new documents:

The documents detail expectations for market delivery to the organizations mission of open, industry standard cloud solution adoption, and discussions have already begun with providers to help accelerate delivery of solutions based on these new requirements. This suite of requirements was joined by a Best Practices document from National Australia Bank (NAB) outlining carbon footprint reductions in cloud computing. NAB’s paper illustrates their leadership in innovative methods to report carbon emissions in the cloud and aligns their best practices to underlying Alliance requirements. All of these documents are available in the ODCA Documents Library.

The PaaS interoperability usage model outlines requirements for rapid application deployment, application scalability, application migration and business continuity. The SaaS interoperability usage model makes applications available on demand, and encourages consistent mechanisms, enabling cloud subscribers to efficiently consume SaaS via standard interactions. In concert with these usage models, the Alliance published the ODCA Guide to Interoperability, which describes proposed requirements for interoperability, portability and interconnectivity. The documents are designed to ensure that companies are able to move workloads across clouds.

It is great to see IT customer driven or centric groups step and actually deliver content and material to help their peers, or in some cases competitors that compliments information provided by vendors and vendor driven trade groups.

As with technologies, tools and services that often are seen as competitive, a mistake would be viewing ODCA as or in competition with other industry trade groups and organizations or vise versa. Rather, IT organizations and vendors can and should leverage the different content from the various sources. This is an opportunity for example vendors to learn more about what the customers are thinking or concerned about as opposed to telling IT organizations what to be looking at and vise versa.

Granted some marketing organizations or even trade groups may not like that and view groups such as ODCA as giving away control of who decides what is best for them. Smart vendors, vars, business partners, consultants and advisors are and will leverage material and resources such as ODCA, and likewise, groups like ODCA are open to including a diverse membership unlike some pay to play industry vendor centric trade groups. If you are a vendor, var or business partner, don’t look at ODCA as a threat, instead, explore how your customers or prospects may be involved with, or using ODCA material and leverage that as a differentiator between you and your competitor.

Likewise don’t be scared of vendor centric industry trade groups, alliances or consortiums, even the pay to play ones can have some value, although some have more value than others. For example from a storage and storage networking perspective, there are the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) along with their various groups focused on Green and Energy along with Cloud Data Management Initiative (CDMI) related topics among others. There is also the SCSI Trade Association (STA) along with the Open Virtualization Alliance (OVA) not to mention the Open Fabric Alliance (OVA), Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and Computer Measurement Group (CMG) among many others that do good work and offer value with diverse content and offerings, some of which are free including to non members.

Learn more about the ODCA here, along with access various documents including usage models in the ODCA document library here.

While you are at, why not join StorageIO and other members by signing up to become a part of the ODCA here.

Ok, nuff said for now.

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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Over 1,000 entries now on the StorageIO industry links page

Industry trends and perspective data protection modernization

Is your company, organization or one that you are a fan of, or represent listed on the StorageIO industry links page (click here to learn more about it).

The StorageIO industry links page has been updated with over thousand different industry related companies, vendors, vars, trade groups, part and solution suppliers along with cloud and managed service providers. The common theme with these industry links is information and data infrastructures which means severs, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, applications and tools, services, products and related items for traditional, virtual and cloud environments.

StorageIO server storage IO networking cloud and virtualization links

The industry links page is accessed from the StorageIO main web page via the Tools and Links menu tab, or via the URL https://storageio.com/links. An example of the StorageIO industry links page is shown below with six different menu tabs in alphabetical order.

StorageIO server storage IO networking cloud and virtualization links

Know of a company, service or organization that is not listed on the links page, if so, send an email note to info at storageio.com. If your company or organization is listed, contact StorageIO to discuss how to expand your presence on the links page and other related options.

Visit the updated StorageIO industry links page and watch for more updates, and click here to learn more about the links page.

Ok, nuff said for now.

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

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What does new EMC and Lenovo partnership mean?

EMC and EMCworld

The past several weeks have been busy with various merger, acquisitions and collaborating activity in the IT and data storage world. Summer time often brings new relationships and even summer marriages. The most recent is EMC and Lenovo announcing a new partnership that includes OEM sourcing of technology, market expansion and other initiatives. Hmm, does anybody remember who EMCs former desktop and server partner was, or who put Lenovo out for adoption several years ago?

Here is the press release from EMC and Lenovo that you can read yourself vs. me simply paraphrasing it:

Lenovo and EMC Team Up In Strategic Worldwide Partnership
A Solid Step in Lenovo’s Aspiration to Be a Player in Industry Standard Servers and Networked Storage with EMC’s Leading Technology; EMC Further Strengthens Ability to Serve Customers’ Storage Solutions Needs in China and Other Emerging Markets; Companies Agree to Form SMB-Focused Storage Joint Venture
BEIJING, China – August 1, 2012
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) and EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced a broad partnership that enhances Lenovo’s position in industry standard servers and networked storage solutions, while significantly expanding EMC’s reach in China and other key, high-growth markets. The new partnership is expected to spark innovation and additional R&D in the server and storage markets by maximizing the product development talents and resources at both companies, while driving scale and efficiency in the partners’ respective supply chains.
The partnership is a strong strategic fit, leveraging the two leading companies’ respective strengths, across three main areas:

  • First, Lenovo and EMC have formed a server technology development program that will accelerate and extend Lenovo’s capabilities in the x86 industry-standard server segment. These servers will be brought to market by Lenovo and embedded into selected EMC storage systems over time.
  • Second, the companies have forged an OEM and reseller relationship in which Lenovo will provide EMC’s industry-leading networked storage solutions to its customers, initially in China and expanding into other global markets in step with the ongoing development of its server business.
  • Finally, EMC and Lenovo plan to bring certain assets and resources from EMC’s Iomega business into a new joint venture which will provide Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems to small/medium businesses (SMB) and distributed enterprise sites.

“Today’s announcement with industry leader EMC is another solid step in our journey to build on our foundation in PCs and become a leader in the new PC-plus era,” said Yuanqing Yang, Lenovo chairman and CEO. “This partnership will help us fully deliver on our PC-plus strategy by giving us strong back-end capabilities and business foundation in servers and storage, in addition to our already strong position in devices. EMC is the perfect partner to help us fully realize the PC-plus opportunity in the long term.”
Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO of EMC, said, “The relationship with Lenovo represents a powerful opportunity for EMC to significantly expand our presence in China, a vibrant and very important market, and extend it to other parts of the world over time. Lenovo has clearly demonstrated its ability to apply its considerable resources and expertise not only to enter, but to lead major market segments. We’re excited to partner with Lenovo as we focus our combined energies serving a broader range of customers with industry-leading storage and server solutions.”
In the joint venture, Lenovo will contribute cash, while EMC will contribute certain assets and resources of Iomega. Upon closing, Lenovo will hold a majority interest in the new joint venture. During and after the transition from independent operations to the joint venture, customers will experience continuity of service, product delivery and warranty fulfillment. The joint venture is subject to customary closing procedures including regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of 2012.
The partnership described here is not considered material to either company’s current fiscal year earnings.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $US30 billion personal technology company and the world’s second largest PC company, serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the Company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, see www.lenovo.com.
About EMC
EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

StorageIO industry trends and perspectives

What is my take?

Disclosures
I have been buying and using Lenovo desktop and laptop products for over a decade and currently typing this post from my X1 ThinkPad equipped with a Samsung SSD. Likewise I bought an Iomega IX4 NAS a couple of years ago (so I am a customer), am a Retrospect customer (EMC bought and then sold them off), used to be a Mozy user (now a former customer) and EMC has been a client of StorageIO in the past.

Lenovo Thinkpad
Some of my Lenovo(s) and EMC Iomega IX4

Let us take a step back for a moment, Lenovo was the spinout and sale from IBM who has a US base in Raleigh North Carolina. While IBM still partners with Lenovo for desktops, IBM over the past years or decade(s) has been more strategically focused on big enterprise environments, software and services. Note that IBM has continued enhancing its own Intel based servers (e.g. xSeries), propriety Power processor series, storage and technology solutions (here, here, here and here among others). However, for the most part, IBM has moved away from catering to the Consumer, SOHO and SMB server, storage, desktop and related technology environments.

EMC on the other hand started out in the data center growing up to challenge IBMs dominance of data storage in big environments to now being the industry maker storage player for big and little data, from enterprise to cloud to desktop to server, consumer to data center. EMC also was partnered with Dell who competes directly with Lenovo until that relationship ended a few years ago. EMC for its part has been on a growth and expansion strategy adding technologies, companies, DNA and ability along with staff in the desktop, server and other spaces from a data, information and storage perspective not to mention VMware (virtualization and cloud), RSA (security) among others such as Mozy for cloud backup. EMC is also using more servers in its solutions ranging from Iomega based NAS to VNX unified storage systems, Greenplum big data to Centera archiving, ATMOS and various data protection solutions among other products.

StorageIO industry trends and perspectives

Note that this is an industry wide trend of leveraging Intel Architecture (IA) along with AMD, Broadcom, and IBM Power among other general-purpose processors and servers as platforms for running storage and data applications or appliances.

Overall, I think that this is a good move for both EMC and Lenovo to expand their reach into different adjacent markets leveraging and complimenting each other strengths.

Ok, lets see who is involved in the next IT summer relationship, nuff said for now.

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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Data protection modernization, more than swapping out media

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

Have you modernized your data protection strategy and environment?

If not, are you thinking about updating your strategy and environment?

Why modernize your data protection including backup restore, business continuance (BC), high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) strategy and environment?

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

Is it to leverage new technology such as disk to disk (D2D) backups, cloud, virtualization, data footprint reduction (DFR) including compression or dedupe?

Perhaps you have or are considering data protection modernization because somebody told you to or you read about it or watched a video or web cast? Or, perhaps your backup and restore are broke so its time to change media or try something different.

Lets take a step back for a moment and ask the question of what is your view of data protection modernization?

Perhaps it is modernizing backup by replacing tape with disk, or disk with clouds?

Maybe it is leveraging data footprint reduction (DFR) techniques including compression and dedupe?

Data protection, data footprint reduction, dfr, dedupe, compress

How about instead of swapping out media, changing backup software?

Or what about virtualizing servers moving from physical machines to virtual machines?

On the other hand maybe your view of modernizing data protection is around using a different product ranging from backup software to a data protection appliance, or snapshots and replication.

The above and others certainly fall under the broad group of backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving, however there is another area which is not as much technology as it is techniques, best practices, processes and procedure based. That is, revisit why data and applications are being protected against what applicable threat risks and associated business risks.

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

This means reviewing service needs and wants including backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving that in turn drive what data and applications to protect, how often, how many copies and where those are located, along with how long they will be retained.

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

Modernizing data protection is more than simply swapping out old or broken media like flat tires on a vehicle.

To be effective, data protection modernization involves taking a step back from the technology, tools and buzzword bingo topics to review what is being protected and why. It also means revisiting service level expectations and clarify wants vs. needs which translates to what if for free that is what is wanted, however for a cost then what is required.

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

Certainly technologies and tools play a role, however simply using new tools and techniques without revisiting data protection challenges at the source will result in new problems that resemble old problems.

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

Hence to support growth with a constrained or shrinking budget while maintaining or enhancing service levels, the trick is to remove complexity and costs.

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

This means not treating all data and applications the same, stretch your available resources to be more effective without compromise on service is mantra of modernizing data protection.

Ok, nuff said for now, plenty more to discuss later.

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

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Modernizing data protection with certainty

Speaking of and about modernizing data protection, back in June I was invited to be a keynote presenter on industry trends and perspectives at a series of five dinner events (Boston, Chicago, Palo Alto, Houston and New York City) sponsored by Quantum (that is a disclosure btw).

backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving

The theme of the dinner events was an engaging discussion around modernizing data protection with certainty along with clouds, virtualization and related topics. Quantum and one of their business partner resellers started the event with introductions followed by an interactive discussion by myself, followed by David Chappa (@davidchapa ) who ties the various themes with what Quantum is doing along with some of their customer success stories.

Themes and examples for these events build on my book Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking including:

  • Rethinking how, when, where and why data is being protected
  • Big data, little data and big backup issues and techniques
  • Archive, backup modernization, compression, dedupe and storage tiering
  • Service level agreements (SLA) and service level objectives (SLO)
  • Recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO)
  • Service alignment and balancing needs vs. wants, cost vs. risk
  • Protecting virtual, cloud and physical environments
  • Stretching your available budget to do more without compromise
  • People, processes, products and procedures

Quantum is among other industry leaders with multiple technology and solution offerings for addressing different aspects of data footprint reduction and data protection modernization. These include for physical, virtual and cloud environments along with traditional tape, disk based, compression, dedupe, archive, big data, hardware, software and management tools. A diverse group of attendees have been at the different events including enterprise and SMB, public, private and government across different sectors.

Following are links to some blog posts that covered first series of events along with some of the specific themes and discussion points from different cities:

Via ITKE: The New Realities of Data Protection
Via ITKE: Looking For Certainty In The Cloud
Via ITKE: Success Stories in Data Protection: Cloud virtualization
Via ITKE: Practical Solutions for Data Protection Challenges
Via David Chappas blog

If you missed attending any of the above events, more dates are being added in August and September including stops in Cleveland, Raleigh, Atlanta, Washington DC, San Diego, Connecticut and Philadelphia with more details here.

Ok, nuff said for now, hope to see you at one of the upcoming events.

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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Dell is buying Quest software, not the phone company Qwest

Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)

For those not familiar with Quest, they are a software company not to be confused with the telephone communications company formerly known as Qwest (aka now known as centurylink).

Both Dell and Quest have been on software related acquisition initiatives that past few years with Quest having purchased vKernel, Vizoncore (vRanger virtualization backup), BakBone (who had acquire Alavarii and Asempra) for traditional backup and data protection among others. Not to be out done, as well as purchasing Quest, Dell has also more recently bought Appassure (Disclosure: StorageIOblog site sponsor) for data protection, Sonicwall and Wyse in addition to some other recent purchases (ASAP, Boomi, Compellent, Exanet, EqualLogic, Force10, InsightOne, KACE, Ocarina, Perot, RNA and Scalent among others).

What does this mean?
Dell is expanding the scope of their business with more products (hardware, software), solution bundles, services and channel partnering opportunities Some of the software tools and focus areas that Quest brings to the Dell table or portfolio include:

Database management (Oracle, SQLserver)
Data protection (virtual and physical backup, replication, bc, dr)
Performance monitoring (DCIM and IRM) of applications and infrastructure
User workspace management (application delivery)
Windows server management (migrate and manage, AD, exchange, sharepoint)
Identify and access management (security, compliance, privacy)

What does Dell get by spending over $2B USD on quest?

  • Additional software titles or product
  • More software developers for their Software group
  • Sales people to help promote, partner and sell software solutions
  • Create demand pull for other Dell products and services via software
  • Increase its partner reach via existing Quest VARs and business partners
  • Extend the size of the Dell software and intellectual property (IP) portfolio
  • New revenue streams that compliment existing products and lines of business
  • Potential for better rate of return on some of its $12B USD in cash or equivalence

    Is this a good move for Dell?
    Yes for the above reasons

    • Is there a warning to this for Dell?
    Yes, they need to execute, keep the Quest team focused along with their other teams on the respective partners, products and market opportunities while expanding into new areas. Dell needs to also leverage Quest to further its cause in creating trust, confidence and strategic relationships with channel partners to reach new markets in different geographies. In addition, Dell needs to articulate its strategy and positioning of the various solutions to avoid products being perceived as competing vs. complimenting each other.

    Additional Dell related links:
    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)
    Dell Storage Forum 2011 revisited
    Dude, is Dell doing a disk deal again with Compellent?
    Data footprint reduction (Part 2): Dell, IBM, Ocarina and Storwize
    Post Holiday IT Shopping Bargains, Dell Buying Exanet?
    Dell Will Buy Someone, However Not Brocade (At least for now)

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

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    Enabling Bitlocker on Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

    Enabling Bitlocker on Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
    Updated 6/24/18

    A while back, I added a new laptop that required Enabling Bitlocker on Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. At that time some of my other devices run Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit with Bitlocker security encryption enabled (since upgraded to various Windows 10 editions). However back then, I ran into a problem getting Bitlocker to work on the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Professional.

    Yes I know I should not be using Windows and I also have plenty of iDevices and other Apple products lying around. Likewise to the security pros and security arm-chair quarterbacks I know I should not be using Bitlocker, instead using Truecrypt of which I have done some testing and may migrate too in the future along with self-encrypting device (SED).

    However lets stay on track here ;).

    Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Gen6
    Image courtesy of Lenovo.com

    The problem that I ran into with my then new Lenovo X1 was that it came with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, which has a few surprises when trying to turn on Bitlocker drive encryption. Initializing and turning on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) management was not a problem, however for those needing to figure out how to do that, check out this Microsoft TechNet piece.

    The problem was as simple as not having a tab and easy way to enable Bitlocker Drive Encryption with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. After spending some time searching around various Microsoft and other sites to figure out how to hack, patch, script and do other things that would take time (and time is money), it dawned on me. Could the solution to the problem be as simple as upgrading from the Professional version of Windows 7 bit to Windows 7 Ultimate?

    Update: 6/25/18

    While this post is about Windows 7, there are some new challenges with Windows 10 bit locker and removable devices including USB. These new issues are tied to Windows 10 running in BIOS instead of UEFI boot mode.

    Here are some additional Windows 10 Bitlocker related resources:

  • Via Microsoft: Bitlocker Frequently Asked Questions
  • Via Microsoft: Bitlocker Overview and Requirements
  • Via Intel: Converting Windows Installation from BIOS to UEFI

    • Microsoft Windows 7 via amazon
    Windows 7 image courtesy of Amazon.com

    The answer was going to the Microsoft store (or Amazon among other venues) and for $139.21 USD (with tax) purchase the upgrade.

    Once the transaction was complete, the update was automatically and within minutes I had Bitlocker activated on the Lenovo X1 (TPM was previously initiated and turned on), a new key was protected and saved elsewhere, and the internal Samsung 830 256GB Solid State Device (SSD) initializing and encrypting. Oh, fwiw, yes the encryption of the 256GB SSD took much less time than on a comparable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or even an HHDD (Hybrid HDD).

    Could I have saved the $139.21 and spent some time on work around? Probably, however as I did not have the time or interest to go that route, however IMHO for my situation it was a bargain.

    Sometimes spending a little money particular if you are short on or value, your time can be a bargain as opposed to if you are short on money however long on time.

    I found the same to be true when I replaced the internal HDD that came with the Lenovo X1 with a Samsung 256GB SSD in that it improved my productivity for writing and saving data. For example in the first month of use I estimate easily 2 to three minutes of time saved per day waiting on things to be written to HDDs. In other words 2 to three minutes times five days (10 to 15 minutes) times four weeks (40 to 60 minutes) starts to add up (e.g. small amounts or percentages spread over a large interval add up), more on using and justifying SSD in a different post.

    Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

    Samsung SSD image courtesy of Amazon.com

    If your time is not of value or you have a lot of it, then the savings may not be as valuable. On the other hand, if you are short on time or have a value on your time, you can figure out what the benefits are quite quickly (e.g. return on investment or traditional ROI).

    Where To Learn More

    Learn more about Windows, Bitlocker and related topics

    Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

    Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

    What This All Means

    The reason I bring the topic of time and money into this discussion about Bitlocker is to make a point that there are situations where spending some time has value such as for learning, the experience, fun or simple entertainment aspect, not to mention a shortage of money. On the other hand, sometimes it is actually cheaper to spend some money to get to the solution or result as part of being productive or effective. For example, other than spending some time browsing various sites to figure out that there was an issue with Windows 7 Professional and Bitlocker, time that was educational and interesting, the money spent on the simple upgrade was worth it in my situations. While many if not most of you have since upgraded to Windows 8 or Windows 10, some may still have the need for Enabling Bitlocker on Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

    Ok, nuff said, for now.

    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2018. Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

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    NetApp on rough ground, or a diamond in the rough?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    In case you missed it, NetApp announced their most recent quarterly earnings a few weeks ago which in themselves were not bad. However what some of their competition jumping up and down for joy while others are scratching their heads is the forward-looking guidance given by NetApp.

    NetApp can be seen as being on rough ground given their forward-looking guidance over the next year which could be seen as either very conservative, or an admission that they are not growing as fast as some of their competitors are challenging them.

    Reading between the lines, looking at various financial and other resources in addition to factoring in technology items, there is more to NetApp then meets the eye and current stock price or product portfolio.

    For example, NetApp is sitting on over $4 Billion USD cash that they could use for an acquisition, buying back stock, launching a major sales and marketing initiative to expand into new or adjacent markets or other activities. Speaking of acquisitions, NetApp has done some in the past including Spinnaker, which is now integrated with Ontap (e.g. clustering), Topio, Decru (security encryption) and Onaro (DCIM and IRM management software tools). More recently, NetApp has acquired Bycast (archiving and policy storage management software), Akorri (capacity management and DCIM and IRM software) and Engenio. NetApp is also maintaining good margins via both direct, channel and OEM activities while launching new products such as the channel and SMB focused FAS 2220.

    Its arguable depending upon your point of view (or who you for or are a fan of) if NetApp has all the right product pieces now, in the works, or on their radar for acquisitions. Assuming that NetApp has the pieces, they also need to move beyond selling simply what is on the truck or what is safe and comfortable or perhaps easy to sell. This is not to say that NetApp is not being effective in selling what they have and pushing the envelope, however keeping in mind who their main competitor is, the old sales saying of being able to sell ice to an Eskimo comes to mind.

    Two companies on parralel tracks offset by time: EMC and NetApp

    In the case of NetApp, when the competition makes an issue about scalibility or performance of their flagship storage systems FAS and Ontap storage software, change the playing field leveraging all the tools in their portfolio. NetApp like EMC before them is figuring out how to sell via different channels or venues their complete portfolio with a mix of direct, channel and OEM. After all, it seems like only yesterday that EMC was trying to figure out where and when to sell CLARiiON (e.g. now VNX) as opposed to avoiding competing with the Symmetrix (aka now the VMAX) not to mention expanding from a direct to channel and OEM model. Perhaps NetApp can continue to figure out how to leverage more effectively the Engenio E series for big bandwidth beyond their current OEMs. NetApp can also leverage their existing partners who have embraced Bycast (aka StorageGrid) while finding new ones.

    The reality is that NetApp is being challenged by EMC who is moving down market into some of NetApp’s traditional accounts along with in the scale-out NAS and big data sectors. This is where NetApp can leverage their technical capabilities including people combined with some effective sales and marketing execution to change the playing field vs. responding to EMC and others.

    NetApp has many of the pieces, parts, products, people, programs and partners so now how can they leverage those to expand both their revenues, as well as support margin to grow the business, unless they are looking to be acquired.

    I still subscribe that NetApp and EMC are two similar companies on parallel tracks offset by time, by about a decade or decade and a half.

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Thus, IMHO NetApp is a diamond in the rough, granted I am guessing EMC and some others do not see it that way. However, there was a time when EMC was seen as a diamond in the rough while others discounted that notion, particularly an Itty Bitty Manufacturing company from New York who is now focusing on services among other things.

    Keep in mind however, diamonds can also be lost or taken as well as there can be fake gems.

    Here are some related links:
    Unified storage systems showdown: NetApp FAS vs. EMC VNX
    Two companies on parallel tracks moving like trains offset by time: EMC and NetApp
    NetApp buying LSI’s Engenio Storage Business Unit

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    Only you can prevent cloud data loss

    Storage I/O trends

    Some of you might remember the saying from Smokey the bear, only you can prevent forest fires and for those who do not know about that, click on the image below.

    The reason I bring this up is that while cloud providers are responsible (see the cloud blame game) is that it is also up to the user or consumer to take some ownership and responsibility.

    Similar to vendor lock-in, the only one who can allow vendor lock in is the customer, granted a vendor can help influence the customer.

    The same theme applies to public clouds and cloud storage providers in that there is responsibility of providers along with government and industry regulations to help protect consumers or users. However, there is also the shared responsibility of the user and consumer to make informed decisions.

    What is your perspective on who is responsible for cloud data protection?

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    Spring (May) 2012 StorageIO news letter

    StorageIO News Letter Image
    Spring (May) 2012 News letter

    Welcome to the Spring (May) 2012 edition of the Server and StorageIO Group (StorageIO) news letter. This follows the Fall (December) 2011 edition.

    You can get access to this news letter via various social media venues (some are shown below) in addition to StorageIO web sites and subscriptions.

    Click on the following links to view the Spring May 2012 edition as an HTML or PDF or, to go to the news letter page to view previous editions.

    You can subscribe to the news letter by clicking here.

    Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO newsletter, let me know your comments and feedback.

    Nuff said for now

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
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    Various cloud, virtualization, server, storage I/O poll’s

    The following are a collection of on-going industry trends and perspectives poll’s pertaining to server, storage, IO, networking, cloud, virtualization, data protection (backup, archive, BC and DR) among other related themes and topics.

    In addition to those listed below, check out the comments section where additional poll’s are added over time.

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Here is a link to a poll as a follow-up to a recent blog post Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD? (also check these posts pertaining to storage arrays and SSD and flash SSD’s emerging role).

    Poll: Are large storage arrays day’s numbered?

    Poll: What’s your take on magnetic tape storage?

    Poll: What do you think of IT clouds?

    Poll: Who is responsible for cloud storage data loss?

    Poll: What are the most popular Zombie technologies?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What’s your take on OVA and other alliances?

    Poll: Where is most common form or concern of vendor lockin?

    Poll: Who is responsible for, or preventing vendor lockin?

    Poll: Is vendor lockin a good or bad thing?

    Poll: Is IBM V7000 relevant?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What is your take on EMC and NetApp on similar tracks or paths?

    Poll: What’s your take on RAID still being relevant?

    Poll: What do you see as barriers to converged networks?

    Poll: Who are you?

    Poll: What is your preferred converged network?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What is your converged network status?

    Poll: Are converged networks in your future?

    Poll: What do you think were top 2009 technologies, events or vendors?

    Poll: What technologies, events, products or vendors did not live up to 2009 predictions?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What do you think of IT clouds?

    Poll: What is your take on the new FTC blogger disclosure guidelines?

    Poll: Is RAID dead?

    Poll: When will you deploy Windows 7? Note: I upgraded all my systems to Windows 7 during summer of 2011

    Poll: EMC and Cisco VCE, what does it mean?

    Poll: Is IBM XIV still relevant?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Note: Feel free to share, use and make reference to the above poll’s and their results however please remember to attribute the source.

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue

    This is the fifth in a five-part series around the recent IBM PureSystems announcements. You can view the earlier post here.

    So what about vendor or technology lock in?
    So who is responsible for vendor or technology lock in? When I was working in IT organizations, (e.g. what vendors call the customer) the thinking was vendors are responsible for lock in. Later when I worked for different vendors (manufactures and VARs) the thinking was lock in is what was caused by the competition. More recently I’m of the mind set that vendor lock in is a shared responsibility issue and topic. I’m sure some marketing wiz or sales type will be happy to explain the subtle differences of how their solution does not cause lock in.

    Vendor lock in can be a shared responsibility. Generally speaking, lock in, stickiness and account control are essentially the same, or at least strive to get similar results. For example, vendor lock in too some has a negative stigma. However vendor stickiness may be a new term, perhaps even sounding cool thus it is not a concern. Remember the Mary Poppins song a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down? In other words, sometimes changing and using a different term such as sticky vs. vendor lock in helps make the situation taste better.

    So what should you do?
    Take a closer look if you are considering converged infrastructures, cloud or data centers in a box, turnkey application or information services deployment platforms. Likewise, if you are looking at specific technologies such as those from Cisco UCS, Dell vStart, EMC Vblock (or via VCE), HP, NetApp FlexPod or Oracle (ExaLogic, ExaData, etc) among others, also check out the IBM PureSystems (Flex and PureApplication). Compare and contrast these converged solutions with your traditional procurement and deployment modes including cost of acquiring hardware, software, ongoing maintenance or service fees along with value or benefit of bundled tools. There may be a higher cost for converged systems in some scenarios, however compare on the value and benefit derived vs. doing the integration yourself.

    Compare and contrast how converged solutions enable, however also consider what constraints exists in terms of flexibility to reconfigure in the future or make other changes. For example as part of integration, does a solution take a lowest common denominator approach to software and firmware revisions for compatibility that may lag behind what you can apply to standalone components. Also, compare and contrast various reference architectures with different solution bundles or packages.

    Most importantly compare and evaluate the solutions on their ability to meet and exceed your base requirements while adding value and enabling return on innovation while also being cost-effective. Do not be scared of these bundled solutions; however do your homework to make informed decisions including overcoming any concerns of lock in or future costs and fees. While these types of solutions are cool or interesting from a technology perspective and can streamline acquisition and deployment, make sure that there is a business benefit that can be addressed as well as enablement of new capabilities.

    So what does this all mean?
    Congratulations to IBM with their PureSystems for leveraging their DNA and roots bundling what had been unbundled before cloud and stacks were popular and trendy. IBM has done a good job of talking vision and strategy along lines of converged and dynamic, elastic and smart, clouds and other themes for past couple of years while selling the pieces as parts of solutions or ala carte or packaged by their ISVs and business partners.

    What will be interesting to see is if bladecenter customers shift to buying PureFlex, which should be an immediate boost to give proof points of adoption, while essentially up selling what was previously available. However, more interesting will be to see if net overall new customers and footprints are sold as opposed to simply selling a newer and enhanced version of previous components.

    In other words will IBM be able to keep up their focus and execution where they have sold the previous available components, while also holding onto current ISV and BP footprint sales and perhaps enabling those partners to recapture some hardware and solution sales that had been unbundled (e.g. ISV software sold separate of IBM platforms) and move into new adjacent markets.

    Here are some links to learn more:
    Various IBM Redbooks and related content
    The blame game: Does cloud storage result in data loss?
    What do you need when its time to buy a new server?
    2012 industry trends perspectives and commentary (predictions)
    Convergence: People, Processes, Policies and Products
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    The function of XaaS(X) Pick a letter
    Hard product vs. soft product
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    Part I: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part II: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part III: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part IV: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

    Here are some links to learn more:
    Various IBM Redbooks and related content
    The blame game: Does cloud storage result in data loss?
    What do you need when its time to buy a new server?
    2012 industry trends perspectives and commentary (predictions)
    Convergence: People, Processes, Policies and Products
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    The function of XaaS(X) – Pick a letter
    Hard product vs. soft product
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    Part I: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part II: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part III: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part IV: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking

    Ok, so what is next, lets see how this unfolds for IBM and their partners.

    Nuff said for now.

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Going dutch and other Spring 2012 StorageIO activities

    Spring 2012 StorageIO traveling out and about events are underway with activities already having occurred in New York City along with several online live and recorded web casts that you can find here and backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving. Other upcoming events and traveling to various venues include Dallas (SNW), San Francisco, Washington DC, Nijkerk Netherlands and Las Vegas among others you can see here. Themes and topics of these and other events include data center convergence, infrastructure optimization, data protection modernization, data protection for virtual and cloud environments, performance and capacity planning, metrics that matter and strategy among others.

    Greg in action Nijkerk Storage Seminar

    For those of you in the Netherlands, or elsewhere in Europe, I’m going to be doing a two-day seminar for storage professionals along with for those involved in strategy, architecture and related data infrastructure topics on May 7 and 8. On May 9, I will be doing a deep dive companion seminar. You can learn more about these seminars being organized by Brouwer Consultancy in Nijkerk Netherlands by visiting their site here which includes agenda and related information.

    Watch for more events, seminars, webinars and virtual trade shows by visiting the StorageIO events page.

    Drop me a note if you would like to schedule or arrange for a seminar or event near you.

    Ok, nuff said for now, see you out and about

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    StorageIO books by Greg Schulz added to Intel Recommended Reading Lists

    My two most recent books The Green and Virtual Data Center and Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking both published by CRC Press/Taylor and Francis have been added to the Intel Recommended Reading List for Developers.

    Intel Recommended Reading

    If you are not familiar with the Intel Recommended Reading List for Developers, it is a leading comprehensive list of different books across various technology domains covering hardware, software, servers, storage, networking, facilities, management, development and more.

    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage NetworkingIntel Recommended Reading List

    So what are you waiting for, check out the Intel Recommended Reading list for Developers where you can find a diverse line up of different books of which I’m honored to have two of mine join the esteemed list. Here is a link to a free chapter download from Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking.

    Ok, nuff said for now.

    cheers
    gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved