Evaluate

Evaluate

Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.

• The status of NAND flash memory now and in the near future

  Flash memory chips have driven a revolution in storage, and faced a recent shortage because of huge demand. That's easing, and advances in NAND technology show a great future. Continue Reading

• Copy management systems reduce data consumption and storage costs

  Copy management systems offer a range of options for reducing excessive storage consumption and improving performance by eliminating the creation of redundant data copies. Continue Reading

• How an object storage architecture can help reduce storage complexity

  An object storage architecture tackles traditional storage limitations by offering a file structure that is ideal for storing and protecting large amounts of unstructured data. Continue Reading

• Everything you need to know about NVMe storage

  The NVMe protocol started out as a faster way to access data from speedy SSDs in a PC, but enterprises quickly saw the value in extending it to the storage network. Continue Reading

• The present and likely future of the NVMe protocol

  The NVMe and PCIe combination of protocol and interconnect was an inevitable development once solid-state drives were created, as was moving NVMe to fabrics. Continue Reading

• 2017 IT spending trends for data storage

  For the 15^th year, Storage magazine has surveyed storage pros to learn about their IT spending trends for the coming months. As you'd expect, the cloud continues to pick up steam for both primary and secondary projects, while ...Continue Reading

• Scale-out software-defined storage market menaces traditional storage

  Scale-out software-defined storage is on the rise to the detriment and decline of traditional storage products and arrays.Continue Reading

• Smarter storage starts with analytics

  Storage smartens up to keep pace with data-intensive business applications embedding operational analytics capabilities.Continue Reading

• Purchase of NAS arrays driven by need for capacity, desire to expand

  As unstructured data continues to lead storage growth, businesses are opting for scale-out NAS arrays to handle current and future capacity.Continue Reading

• Secondary data storage takes center stage

  Once considered a necessary evil, secondary storage systems are now providing much more than just backup protection.Continue Reading

• Take a deep dive into software-defined storage products

  Understanding the software-defined storage market is key to getting real value from an implementation, as is proper research and planning before making any product or vendor decisions.Continue Reading

• Five factors to consider before buying all-flash storage arrays

  Before purchasing all-flash array storage, you should determine whether your site plans to integrate AFA storage into its existing infrastructure or to start a new storage silo.Continue Reading

• Building a business case for all-flash array storage

  To make a business case for purchasing AFA storage, you must first understand what your applications need in terms of IOPS, latency and throughput.Continue Reading

• The state of flash storage performance

  All-flash arrays have virtually eliminated flash storage performance issues, for now. But applications and user expectations will eventually catch up. Innovations in flash technology -- such as nonvolatile memory express and storage-class memory (...Continue Reading

• Infrastructure provisioning made easier with hybrid cloud storage

  Storage provisioning delays slow down IT initiatives and negatively impact both revenue and the bottom line, which make hybrid clouds a realistic and attractive option.Continue Reading

• Overcome problems with public cloud storage providers

  Security and compliance concerns are chief obstacles to public cloud storage adoption, as IT managers are hesitant to have their critical data reside outside the data center.Continue Reading

• SAN arrays maintain primary data storage dominance, for now

  Solid-state flash is the most sought-after technology for primary storage, as storage area networks remain the main focus of increasing capacity for most enterprises.Continue Reading

• The state of flash storage systems

  Making flash storage performance even faster has little to do with the media itself and more to do with the storage infrastructure that surrounds it.Continue Reading

• Data storage infrastructure starts with science-fiction inspiration

  Find out what happens when you take a cue from an old science-fiction movie and build an 'interocitor' that becomes its own storage infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Classification of data can solve your data storage problems

  Having a data classification process in place can make your data smart enough to know what to do with itself, allowing you to attain the holy grail of enterprise data storage.Continue Reading

• AFA storage has total cost of ownership advantages over HDDs

  All-flash array storage TCO advantages, including reduced power and cooling and increased performance, can help an organization justify its use to store their active workloads.Continue Reading

• AFA storage advances may mean the end of the hybrid market

  Flash price drops and speed boosts make the all-flash array the smart choice over hybrid storage arrays for most enterprise users, not just those with high-performance computing needs.Continue Reading

• Storage Spaces Direct a key option in Windows Server 2016 features

  Windows Server 2016 includes new and updated capabilities with Storage Spaces, Storage Replica, Storage Quality of Service, data deduplication and Resilient File System.Continue Reading

• Hyper-convergence: It's for more than primary data storage

  The lines between primary and secondary storage and applications such as hyper-convergence remain blurry. But they are a starting point for further discussion.Continue Reading

• Businesses use enterprise file sync-and-share market to collaborate

  Enterprise file sync and share solves numerous business problems by offering organizations a way to provide more secure document sharing and collaboration.Continue Reading

• 'Holistic' data protection tools, a marketing meme on the rise

  Though vendors are calling their data protection products 'holistic,' they should blend security and disaster recovery services to improve their functionality.Continue Reading

• Future of the Ethernet drive may hinge on NVMe over Ethernet

  Despite their debut two years ago, drives that connect via Ethernet have been mostly a curiosity. The Ethernet flavor of NVMe over Fabrics may change that.Continue Reading

• How to navigate the public cloud service provider selection process

  Learn how to determine if your organization could benefit from public cloud storage and how to select the public cloud provider that will best meet your needs.Continue Reading

• A look at the services the leading public cloud vendors provide

  Examine the leading public cloud service providers and the features each offers, including backup and recovery, archival, hybrid cloud storage and cloud analytics.Continue Reading

• All-flash array market advances outpace demand, create opportunities

  Scott Sinclair says high-density, high-capacity all-flash storage arrays are a disruptive technology ahead of customer demand for now, but businesses will realize they need it.Continue Reading

• How to build a private storage cloud

  Building internal cloud storage must account for elasticity, choosing the right platform, allowing for workflow, and stack deployments and public cloud integration.Continue Reading

• Top enterprise storage vendors to watch in 2017

  Check out our comprehensive forecast of what challenges and opportunities the top enterprise storage vendors are expected to face in the coming year.Continue Reading

• A dozen data storage vendors to watch in 2017

  Hyper-convergence, solid-state, software-defined storage and the cloud have revolutionized the way we deploy, manage and secure storage. How the dozen leading data storage vendors presented here navigate the challenges and opportunities created by ...Continue Reading

• Start your hybrid cloud implementation off on the right foot

  Hybrid cloud storage has garnered a lot of interest because it offers cost savings and scalability. But there are some key concerns to think about before you dive in.Continue Reading

• Keep tabs on the following data storage startup vendors in 2017

  Our list of the top data storage startups to watch offers products for containers, data analytics, in-memory databases, NVMe flash and object storage.Continue Reading

• Four criteria for evaluating public cloud storage providers

  Prior to selecting a public cloud service provider, it's essential that you understand what each vendor offers and how their services can best meet your organization's needs.Continue Reading

• Focus attention on a cognitive data management system

  Jon Toigo advises paying less attention to storage component stories and more to system-focused narratives such as a cognitive data management process.Continue Reading

• Hyper-convergence meets private cloud platform requirements

  Infrastructure choice and integration are fundamental to capitalizing on all that a private cloud environment has to offer your organization.Continue Reading

• How eMMC 5.0 can improve your organization's small storage needs

  The latest eMMC specification puts the tiny flash storage devices on a level playing field with many SSDs when it comes to speed -- but eMMC is still the smallest flash drive.Continue Reading

• Differences between SSD caching and tiering technologies

  Brien Posey looks at popular ways of using SSD as cache, including write-around, write-through and write-back, as well as how the technology compares with SSD tiering.Continue Reading

• With on-premises storage, storage administrators must adapt or perish

  Storage admins show increased interest in and adoption of on-premises storage technologies such as software-defined storage and hybrid clouds.Continue Reading

• Flash storage caching boosts application performance, requires balance

  Chris Evans discusses the benefits to caching flash storage, the trade-offs involved and flash cache models, as well as a handy cheat sheet.Continue Reading

• Atomic storage offers speed and capacity, lacks intelligence

  Dutch scientists studying atomic data storage claim that 500 TB of data can be stored on one square inch, but data management remains elusive.Continue Reading

• Seven tips to improve data storage efficiency

  Storage networks, server-side flash, network cache, software-defined storage and all-flash or hybrid arrays help storage performance and efficiency.Continue Reading

• Simplifying data storage technologies is hard

  All-flash arrays and hyper-converged storage are two technologies that make it tough to simplify data storage technology.Continue Reading

• Almost time for SSD flash storage to be used with object storage

  As the price of flash SSD storage continues to fall, it becomes more attractive for object storage, which otherwise counts on big, slow and cheap HDDs.Continue Reading

• NAND flash technology is just the beginning

  NAND flash adoption has been as fast as the speed it offers, but faster storage techs such as 3D XPoint and phase-change memory are on their way.Continue Reading

• How to measure flash storage's true value

  Flash storage, or using the broader term, solid-state storage, suffers from an inadequate measure of value. Flash storage provides a step-function improvement in the ability to store and retrieve ...Continue Reading

• Storage Spaces Direct builds on Windows Storage Spaces

  With the new Direct feature, Windows Storage Spaces can use local storage for failover clusters. It also supports JBOD storage.Continue Reading

• Hadoop alternatives now offer data center-grade storage

  Data is growing at record rates with no signs of slowing. But what good is having petabytes of data if you can't gain business advantage from it? Accurate analysis of data can have great positive business results, but requires the right tools and ...Continue Reading

• Server-side flash technology lifts solid-state adoption

  Server-side solid-state storage is more ubiquitous than ever due to growing capacities and rapidly dropping flash technology prices. There are a many ways to install flash technology in a server, though there are decisions to make before you buy. We...Continue Reading

• IT resilience vs. disaster recovery: What's better for your business?

  DR may be dying. The term DR, that is, not the actual process of disaster recovery. There is a move in the industry to replace the phrase with "IT resilience." At last week's ZertoCON business ...Continue Reading

• How do RDMA storage systems improve latency reduction?

  RDMA technology can help speed up I/O in storage environments by bypassing copy processes in the software stack when data is called up from a system's memory.Continue Reading

• Complete guide to server-based storage in its modern forms

  From hyper-convergence to the cloud, better understand direct-attached storage and its many forms with this essential guide.Continue Reading

• NetApp and Synology top NAS storage systems survey

  A storage pioneer and relative newcomer land top honors in our 10^th Quality Awards NAS storage systems survey of midrange and enterprise users.Continue Reading

• The significance of parallel I/O in data storage

  Parallel computing has been around since the 1970s, but the re-emergence of multiprocessor systems may give parallel I/O a big place in the current data storage landscape.Continue Reading

• Five types of storage virtualization: Pros and cons

  Expert Brien Posey discusses five ways to virtualize storage in an organization. Review the pros and cons of each approach to find the best fit for your data center.Continue Reading

• Base enterprise hybrid cloud evaluation on security, cost

  Explosive data growth has organizations looking at hybrid cloud storage to meet their capacity needs. But cloud costs and security issues need to be addressed.Continue Reading

• Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance system overview

  Oracle ZFS Storage uses mechanical and flash storage. The ZS3-2 and ZS4-4 models offer a variety of software for storage management, encryption and security.Continue Reading

• HPE StoreEasy 1000 Storage family product overview

  The Hewlett Packard Enterprise StoreEasy 1000 Storage family -- formerly HP StoreEasy 1000 Storage -- has four mid-level NAS models, management tools and BitLocker Drive Encryption support.Continue Reading

• Will most 3D NAND flash products continue to feature TLC?

  Vendors are using TLC flash in their 3D NAND flash products, which allows for greater capacity at a lower cost, according to Brien Posey.Continue Reading

• NetApp FAS2500 series: Technical overview

  The NetApp FAS2500 series includes the FAS2554, FAS2552 and FAS2520. The NAS systems support hybrid flash setups for environments with mid-tier network storage needs.Continue Reading

• Hitachi NAS platform 4000 overview

  The Hitachi NAS platform 4000 series consists of four product models that use a discrete controller that can be attached to almost any Hitachi storage system.Continue Reading

• EMC VNXe3200 midrange NAS system technical overview

  The VNXe3200 from EMC is a NAS system for environments that require midrange network storage solutions.Continue Reading

• Server-side caching has new data center role

  Some server-side caching products have evolved into complete software-defined storage platforms that can aggregate flash across multiple servers.Continue Reading

• EMC Isilon X-Series NAS: Isilon x200, x210 and x410

  The Isilon X-Series is a lineup of NAS systems that support hybrid flash setups. The products are designed for environments with mid-tier network storage needs.Continue Reading

• Purchasing an enterprise SAN: Top-tier products compared

  Expert Jacob Gsoedl drills into eight top-tier enterprise SAN products and how each one performs in seven technical areas. Detailed charts make the information easy to digest.Continue Reading

• EMC Isilon S-Series NAS: Isilon S210 and Isilon S200

  The Isilon S210 and S200 are part of the EMC Isilon S-Series line of NAS systems for data storage environments that require mid-level network storage offerings.Continue Reading

• EMC Isilon NL400 NAS platform

  The EMC Isilon NL400 is a midrange NAS platform with a maximum raw capacity of 210 TB per node. The array is designed specifically for environments that require near-line storage.Continue Reading

• Top object storage vendor use cases for IT

  Today's object storage vendors provide products that are often the best option for archiving, backup and data lake architectures.Continue Reading

• Cost savings for virtualizing servers not yet reality

  Though you've heard for years that virtualizing servers will save money, Jon Toigo argues that the cost of virtualization hasn't lowered.Continue Reading

• EMC XtremIO storage array

  The XtremIO storage array from EMC is an all-flash system that offers scalability and high performance.Continue Reading

• Why are object stores a good match for archival data storage?

  Latency in object stores that stems from a large amount of metadata means the technology is better suited to non-transactional data.Continue Reading

• HUS VM SAN array platform

  The Hitachi Unified Storage VM is a storage array designed for enterprise SAN environments requiring high storage capacities.Continue Reading

• Taking stock of the cloud storage market

  Rich Castagna takes a closer look at the impact of cloud storage, what's preventing more widespread adoption, and the potential of the technology.Continue Reading

• Performance counts when buying a solid-state storage device

  More than half of our surveyed companies are using flash now, with plans to use it for more than just mission-critical apps.Continue Reading

• What separates object storage systems from SDS?

  Although software-defined storage and object storage can work in similar ways, there are significant differences between the two.Continue Reading

• What's the difference between EMC VNX series and ViPR?

  Brien Posey explains how two of EMC's virtual storage products work and for what use cases they work best.Continue Reading

• Examine your computing environment before you buy flash storage

  The decision to buy flash storage can overcome many performance issues, but other areas of your computing environment could be contributing factors.Continue Reading

• Realize the benefits of storage virtualization

  Storage virtualization can come in a number of different forms. Some might consider storage virtualization as software that acts as a control layer to pool capacity from multiple, different vendors. Others might include the several types of products...Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of memory channel storage

  Memory channel storage is a relatively new technology that allows storage professionals to overcome some of the most limiting storage bottlenecks. Although flash storage is often heralded as providing far greater performance than traditional hard ...Continue Reading

• Will memristor technology replace NAND flash?

  Brien Posey says that with HP working on a memristor-based computer it plans to launch by 2020, the technology could eventually succeed NAND flash.Continue Reading

• SAN basics: All the tools you need to purchase a storage-area network

  Whether you're purchasing a SAN for the first time or looking to upgrade, this guide walks you through the buying process from start to finish.Continue Reading

• HP MSA 2040 storage array

  The HP MSA 2040 is a rack-mountable modular storage array for SAN environments that includes increased support for virtualization.Continue Reading

• EMC VMAX Series storage arrays

  The EMC VMAX is a family of SAN arrays designed for enterprise environments requiring large amounts of storage.Continue Reading

• Unlock the potential of a converged system for storage

  Converged storage offerings package compute, storage and networking together for easy deployment and cost savings. Two of the primary benefits of converged infrastructure systems are enhanced time to production and a potential for cost savings. A ...Continue Reading

• Five ways VDI technology is affected by storage

  Managing storage for your VDI infrastructure has progressed, but there are still some snags. Here are five ways to avoid VDI environment issues.Continue Reading

• Hewlett-Packard 3PAR StoreServ 7000 Series Storage Arrays

  The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7000 series is a line of storage arrays designed for enterprise SAN environments.Continue Reading

• Three reasons why object storage is a good HDFS alternative

  HDFS manages data across dispersed nodes, but an object storage system that leverages commodity storage can be a compelling alternative.Continue Reading

• Vendors predict the future of data storage 2015

  The future of data storage isn’t easy to predict. While some vendors see it clearly, others prove that, going into 2015, their crystal balls may be a little hazy.Continue Reading

• Atlantis USX 2.0

  Atlantis Computing's USX 2.0 claims the silver medal in the storage system software category in Storage magazine's Products of the Year competition.Continue Reading

• Nimble CS700

  Nimble Storage adds a higher-capacity model to its iSCSI hybrid arrays, plus an all-flash shelf to bulk up performance.Continue Reading

• Scality Inc. Ring 5.0

  Scality's Ring 5.0 software-defined storage shares the bronze award in the Products of the Year storage system software category with VMware's VSAN.Continue Reading

• HP OneView for VMware vCenter 7.4.2

  HP OneView for VMware vCenter management software provides a complete look into virtual environments, spanning both physical and virtual layers.Continue Reading

• What's the difference between 'usable' and 'effective' flash capacity?

  Vendors often publish numbers for 'usable' capacity versus 'effective' capacity. Can you explain this and how can you plan flash capacity needs with these numbers in mind?Continue Reading

• When should I use global file locking in the cloud?

  According to analyst George Crump, global file locking isn't required for single-office cloud users, but for multisite organizations it is a top requirement in a cloud service.Continue Reading

• It's time to redefine the enterprise file sync-and-share market

  Today's enterprise file sync-and-share products do so much more than synchronizing data that it might be time to re-think the moniker.Continue Reading

• What criteria are most important when evaluating cloud storage costs?

  With cloud storage pricing models varying so much, it makes sense to compare summaries of these criteria to be sure you make the right choice.Continue Reading

• What are the benefits of using the Boot to VHD feature?

  Boot to VHD may be seen as a novelty feature, but it also has practical uses in the workplace. Brien Posey explains in this expert answer.Continue Reading

• How is big data changing data archiving strategies?

  Analyst Jon Toigo explains why performing analytics on big data sets means that data is no longer considered cold, reducing the importance of archives.Continue Reading