Automation
Data Storage profits are up? - May 6, 2008
Compellent joined other storage companies including EMC and Commvault in reporting a strong first quarter despite a down economy. The company’s revenues more than doubled year over year to $18.3 million, growth of 107% over the first quarter of 2007 and 9% over the previous quarter.
The company also is still a ways from profitability, and lost $1.2 million last quarter despite the increased revenue. CEO Phil Soran said on the company’s earnings call that this is because Compellent is growing and is adding operating expenditures such as salaries for new employees. Soran said he expects Compellent to be profitable by the second half of this year.
With the rest of the country in financial turmoil, how are storage companies staying strong? “Storage is the last thing that gets cut from the IT budget,” was Soran’s answer. I would also imagine it’s because storage has always been a conservative market–it doesn’t have as far to fall as some other markets.
Another thing benefitting Compellent, according to Soran, is the acquisition of midrange disk array competitor EqualLogic by Dell. It’s been well-publicized that EqualLogic channel partners have been wary of the deal, if not downright alienated by it, because of Dell’s poor reputation in the channel. Soran declined to give any specific numbers around how many channel partners have defected or how much new business it accounts for, but volunteered anecdotally that Compellent is seeing more large EqualLogic channel partners looking its way as a result of the Dell deal.
Still, Soran says the company has a ways to go when it comes to gaining that mind share. Echoing some of NetApp’s statements when it rebranded itself earlier this year, Soran said Compellent does well when companies look at its products but often doesn’t get brought to the table.
I also asked him whether or not Compellent is seeing significant business as a tier-2 disk array in large shops. He said yes, but also declined to break out any numbers.
Soran attributed Compellent’s growth to the attractiveness of its consolidation and thin provisioning features in a down economy, similar to the power and capacity savings that have reportedly kept money flowing in to Data Domain’s coffers. But Soran said Compellent’s chief competitor remains EMC, which doesn’t yet offer many of the features he was referring to–and EMC also reported a stronger-than-expected first quarter.
“They have a good brand,” Soran said.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: DR BC Replication De-Dup iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant LTO Backup Exc NetBackup Legato TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare
LendingTree's Poor Security Practices are the cause for Data Breach - April 23, 2008
Orlando, FL - based LendingTree is warning customers that their personal data may have been compromised by its former employees who used their passwords to pilfer the data from the company's systems.
In an email to customers, LendingTree said the former employees helped some mortgage lenders gain access to its customer database by sharing their confidential passwords. The data was used by those lenders to market their own mortgage loans.
The lenders accessed LendingTree's loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008. The breached data includes names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and income and employment information.
LendingTree said customer loan request forms are normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers.
In the email to customers, the company said it has no evidence that any identity theft or consumer fraud has resulted from the breach. I'd be surprise to hear if LendingTree even made an effort to valid this statement, said one LendingTree client.
"When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation," LendingTree said. "We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved." What LendingTree should of been doing is keeping the horse in the barn with harden security rather then after the horse is down the road, meaning we are investigation, come on.
Security experts and analysts said the breach is likely the result of a breakdown in policy and the company's user provisioning system. The system is used to grant access rights to systems and applications when employees change roles within an organization.
Companies should conduct an identity audit process every three to six months to discover passwords still available to terminated employees, said Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and long time security expert. If LendingTree conducted the audit, the breach probably could have been prevented, McCarthy said.
"It's important to have a user provisioning system that will disable employee access when they leave the company," Cser said.
Companies in the financial services industry are furthest along deploying provisioning systems, but the trend is gaining ground in other industries, Cser said. Adoption is being driven primarily for compliance and the need to reduce IT cycle times.
"We're seeing transition from implementing Web access management systems towards user account provisioning," he said. "We predict the biggest gains will come from user account provisioning systems and their adoption."
Insiders are involved in about half of all data breach cases, but many firms are so focused on hardening the perimeter that insider threats are neglected, said Brian Cleary, vice president of marketing at access management vendor, Juniper Networks.
"This is a case of really poor policy automation and a fundamental lack of good access governance which now has exposed LendingTree to a potential liability," Cleary said.
Many firms discover during an access review a number of orphaned accounts existing within the organization that provide access privileges but don't map back to a particular user, Cleary said. Access review in an organization typically falls on the CISO, but other parts of the company are involved, Cleary said. Business units are in a good position to certify an employee has the right privileges and the company's audit and compliance team understand the policies and set them to the right business rules to create a set of controls.
LendingTree advised customers to obtain and monitor their credit reports and referred them to a LendingTree credit protection page on its website. LendingTree also set up a breach faq outlining the situation to customers.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/mainservices.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint DLP Tumbleweed Ironmail Ironport Secure Computing Orlando, FL - based LendingTree is warning customers that their personal data may have been compromised by its former employees who used their passwords to pilfer the data from the company's systems.
In an email to customers, LendingTree said the former employees helped some mortgage lenders gain access to its customer database by sharing their confidential passwords. The data was used by those lenders to market their own mortgage loans.
The lenders accessed LendingTree's loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008. The breached data includes names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and income and employment information.
LendingTree said customer loan request forms are normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers.
In the email to customers, the company said it has no evidence that any identity theft or consumer fraud has resulted from the breach. I'd be surprise to hear if LendingTree even made an effort to valid this statement, said one LendingTree client.
"When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation," LendingTree said. "We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved." What LendingTree should of been doing is keeping the horse in the barn with harden security rather then after the horse is down the road, meaning we are investigation, come on.
Security experts and analysts said the breach is likely the result of a breakdown in policy and the company's user provisioning system. The system is used to grant access rights to systems and applications when employees change roles within an organization.
Companies should conduct an identity audit process every three to six months to discover passwords still available to terminated employees, said Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and long time security expert. If LendingTree conducted the audit, the breach probably could have been prevented, McCarthy said.
"It's important to have a user provisioning system that will disable employee access when they leave the company," Cser said.
Companies in the financial services industry are furthest along deploying provisioning systems, but the trend is gaining ground in other industries, Cser said. Adoption is being driven primarily for compliance and the need to reduce IT cycle times.
"We're seeing transition from implementing Web access management systems towards user account provisioning," he said. "We predict the biggest gains will come from user account provisioning systems and their adoption."
Insiders are involved in about half of all data breach cases, but many firms are so focused on hardening the perimeter that insider threats are neglected, said Brian Cleary, vice president of marketing at access management vendor, Juniper Networks.
"This is a case of really poor policy automation and a fundamental lack of good access governance which now has exposed LendingTree to a potential liability," Cleary said.
Many firms discover during an access review a number of orphaned accounts existing within the organization that provide access privileges but don't map back to a particular user, Cleary said. Access review in an organization typically falls on the CISO, but other parts of the company are involved, Cleary said. Business units are in a good position to certify an employee has the right privileges and the company's audit and compliance team understand the policies and set them to the right business rules to create a set of controls.
LendingTree advised customers to obtain and monitor their credit reports and referred them to a LendingTree credit protection page on its website. LendingTree also set up a breach faq outlining the situation to customers.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/mainservices.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint DLP Tumbleweed Ironmail Ironport Secure Computing
Orlando, FL - based LendingTree is warning customers that their personal data may have been compromised by its former employees who used their passwords to pilfer the data from the company's systems.
In an email to customers, LendingTree said the former employees helped some mortgage lenders gain access to its customer database by sharing their confidential passwords. The data was used by those lenders to market their own mortgage loans.
The lenders accessed LendingTree's loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008. The breached data includes names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and income and employment information.
LendingTree said customer loan request forms are normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers.
In the email to customers, the company said it has no evidence that any identity theft or consumer fraud has resulted from the breach. I'd be surprise to hear if LendingTree even made an effort to valid this statement, said one LendingTree client.
"When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation," LendingTree said. "We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved." What LendingTree should of been doing is keeping the horse in the barn with harden security rather then after the horse is down the road, meaning we are investigation, come on.
Security experts and analysts said the breach is likely the result of a breakdown in policy and the company's user provisioning system. The system is used to grant access rights to systems and applications when employees change roles within an organization.
Companies should conduct an identity audit process every three to six months to discover passwords still available to terminated employees, said Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and long time security expert. If LendingTree conducted the audit, the breach probably could have been prevented, McCarthy said.
"It's important to have a user provisioning system that will disable employee access when they leave the company," Cser said.
Companies in the financial services industry are furthest along deploying provisioning systems, but the trend is gaining ground in other industries, Cser said. Adoption is being driven primarily for compliance and the need to reduce IT cycle times.
"We're seeing transition from implementing Web access management systems towards user account provisioning," he said. "We predict the biggest gains will come from user account provisioning systems and their adoption."
Insiders are involved in about half of all data breach cases, but many firms are so focused on hardening the perimeter that insider threats are neglected, said Brian Cleary, vice president of marketing at access management vendor, Juniper Networks.
"This is a case of really poor policy automation and a fundamental lack of good access governance which now has exposed LendingTree to a potential liability," Cleary said.
Many firms discover during an access review a number of orphaned accounts existing within the organization that provide access privileges but don't map back to a particular user, Cleary said. Access review in an organization typically falls on the CISO, but other parts of the company are involved, Cleary said. Business units are in a good position to certify an employee has the right privileges and the company's audit and compliance team understand the policies and set them to the right business rules to create a set of controls.
LendingTree advised customers to obtain and monitor their credit reports and referred them to a LendingTree credit protection page on its website. LendingTree also set up a breach faq outlining the situation to customers.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/mainservices.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint DLP Tumbleweed Ironmail Ironport Secure Computing Orlando, FL - based LendingTree is warning customers that their personal data may have been compromised by its former employees who used their passwords to pilfer the data from the company's systems.
In an email to customers, LendingTree said the former employees helped some mortgage lenders gain access to its customer database by sharing their confidential passwords. The data was used by those lenders to market their own mortgage loans.
The lenders accessed LendingTree's loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008. The breached data includes names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and income and employment information.
LendingTree said customer loan request forms are normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers.
In the email to customers, the company said it has no evidence that any identity theft or consumer fraud has resulted from the breach. I'd be surprise to hear if LendingTree even made an effort to valid this statement, said one LendingTree client.
"When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation," LendingTree said. "We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved." What LendingTree should of been doing is keeping the horse in the barn with harden security rather then after the horse is down the road, meaning we are investigation, come on.
Security experts and analysts said the breach is likely the result of a breakdown in policy and the company's user provisioning system. The system is used to grant access rights to systems and applications when employees change roles within an organization.
Companies should conduct an identity audit process every three to six months to discover passwords still available to terminated employees, said Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and long time security expert. If LendingTree conducted the audit, the breach probably could have been prevented, McCarthy said.
"It's important to have a user provisioning system that will disable employee access when they leave the company," Cser said.
Companies in the financial services industry are furthest along deploying provisioning systems, but the trend is gaining ground in other industries, Cser said. Adoption is being driven primarily for compliance and the need to reduce IT cycle times.
"We're seeing transition from implementing Web access management systems towards user account provisioning," he said. "We predict the biggest gains will come from user account provisioning systems and their adoption."
Insiders are involved in about half of all data breach cases, but many firms are so focused on hardening the perimeter that insider threats are neglected, said Brian Cleary, vice president of marketing at access management vendor, Juniper Networks.
"This is a case of really poor policy automation and a fundamental lack of good access governance which now has exposed LendingTree to a potential liability," Cleary said.
Many firms discover during an access review a number of orphaned accounts existing within the organization that provide access privileges but don't map back to a particular user, Cleary said. Access review in an organization typically falls on the CISO, but other parts of the company are involved, Cleary said. Business units are in a good position to certify an employee has the right privileges and the company's audit and compliance team understand the policies and set them to the right business rules to create a set of controls.
LendingTree advised customers to obtain and monitor their credit reports and referred them to a LendingTree credit protection page on its website. LendingTree also set up a breach faq outlining the situation to customers.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/mainservices.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint DLP Tumbleweed Ironmail Ironport Secure Computing
And the winner is........ - April 19, 2008
Leading Network Security Publication Honors Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda IM Firewall at Annual Awards Gala
Jacksonville Florida – Barracuda Networks, Inc., the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances, today announced that its Barracuda IM Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall were recognized by SC Magazine at the exclusive SC Magazine Awards Gala, held last week in conjunction with the annual RSA Conference. The Barracuda IM Firewall was selected for the Reader’s Trust Award for “Best IM Security Solution,” and the Barracuda Spam Firewall was awarded the 2008 SC Magazine Excellence Award for “Best SME Security Solution.”
As part of the Reader’s Trust Awards competition, SC Magazine readers representing IT’s most knowledgeable security professionals selected the Barracuda IM Firewall from among the industries’ finest solutions.
“We are truly honored to have been selected for these prestigious awards,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. “Knowing that the Barracuda IM Firewall was voted on by the readers of SC Magazine, is especially gratifying because we believe that many of those readers are also our customers, and we appreciate their continued support.”
Barracuda Networks and other 2008 SC Magazine Excellence Award winners were marked for distinction by a panel of 17 leading chief security officers from major corporations and large public sector organizations. The Barracuda Spam Firewall was selected for its excellence in protecting both small and medium enterprises.
“The Barracuda Spam Firewall was designed to be easy-to-use, powerful and affordable for businesses of all sizes,” said Drako. “To be recognized by this distinguished panel of security experts as the best overall SME security solution is an incredible honor for us.”
“In awarding the 2008 SC Magazine “Best SME Security Solution” Award, our judges have recognized Barracuda Networks as a key ally in their mission to safeguard businesses, customers and critical data in North America,” said SC Magazine Editor Illena Armstrong.
The awards highlight and showcase the best solutions, services and professionals while recognizing achievement and technical excellence in the information security industry. With more than 600 entries submitted in thirty categories, the 2008 SC Magazine Awards proved to be the most competitive in the program’s eleven year history.
The Barracuda Web Filter was also listed as a finalist for the Reader’s Trust Award for “Best Web Filtering Solution.” More information and a detailed list of categories and winners can be found at www.scmagazineus.com/awards.
About SC Magazine
SC Magazine provides IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies. The brand’s portfolio includes the SC Magazine Awards, SC Directory, SC Magazine Newswire and SC Magazine IT Security Executives Forums.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/products-security.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint DLP Tumbleweed Ironmail Ironport Secure Computing
Best Practices for Backup, Archive, Recovery and E-Discovery - April 12, 2008
St. Peterburg Florida -- Many IT administrators at small and medium businesses (SMBs) are facing a new budget cycle as the New Year dawns. One of the items which many are considering investing in is data protection technology. Most have experienced an explosion in the amount of data requiring protection while not experiencing an equivalent increase in their IT budget. Additionally, the responsibility of complying with new governmental and industry regulations for data retention, archiving and electronic discovery has fallen squarely in the lap of IT staffs which stretches their budgets further.
Data Protection Has Become More Complex
Data protection used to be an easier proposition. You could simply designate a system as the backup server, install some backup software, attach a tape library and start backing up production servers to it. But, with the advent of critical production applications, server and storage virtualization, critical data stored on desktops and laptops, and increased recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO and RPO) data protection has become much more complex.
Companies Must Now Do More with Less
It is easy to say that organizations must be more current and comprehensive in their backup, recovery and archiving procedures. Yet, few companies have the luxury of being able to assign the resources to address all these tasks optimally. The reality is that most organizations now count on increased productivity to drive profits. This means accomplishing more with fewer resources.
New Data Protection Technologies Abound
For companies looking to improve their data protection technology and procedures, there are a bewildering number of point solutions and possible combinations for data protection and archiving to be considered. It was not long ago when the backup solution was based on one piece of software. Now organizations must decide on all the hardware, too, including the compatible and scalable nature of each piece. In addition, they must consider a number of capabilities: disk-to-disk backup, VTLs, replication, snapshots, CDP, de-duplication, sophisticated archiving, email archiving, data encryption and security. Many options exist and many more are coming.
Deciding on a Solution – Conventional Approaches Do not Meet Today’s Requirements
Traditional solutions for data protection, email archiving and SAN storage are too complicated. There are too many parts to manage and consider: software, hardware, disk, tape, network, SAN – the decisions are overwhelming. Once the technology decisions have been made, the pieces have to be put together which can take weeks or even months.
Total Solution Appliance Solves Many Problems
Now, more than ever, organizations need the best products available to provide them with effective data protection. A new approach for companies to consider for their storage and data protection is an all-in-one, automated solution preconfigured to address all data storage and protection functionality, usually called an “appliance.”
Organizations piecing a solution together will need to work with several companies. Each will have a comprehensive and in-depth view of what their specific product can do to address a particular problem. These vendors, however, do not have a total view of the organization’s requirements and are not able to address the entire problem. When buying individual components, an organization makes a huge trade-off. Buyers search for components optimized for their specific function; not for a best-of-breed total solution. This time-consuming purchasing process involves a complex set of comparisons to work with compatible vendors. An appliance vendor, by contrast, picks the best and most compatible components and takes ownership of them. Most SMBs will only solve their backup problem once. The appliance vendor has solved the same problem hundreds of times.
When a company purchases an appliance, it forgoes the relationship with the individual component vendors. Thus, an appliance vendor is motivated to install a reliable product because they will have to support it! The “data protection” appliance vendor will have a more holistic view of an organization’s problem and is more concerned that the entire data storage and protection solution works to satisfaction.
Upgrading an appliance is also simpler for the end user. When an organization upgrades, it can be sure that all components remain compatible with each other. With an individual components solution, an upgrade often results in an entire system overhaul. Finally, a data protection appliance allows a company to buy the capacity and capabilities it needs now and expand the appliance as the company’s requirements grow. The business dictates the functionality of a storage solution, rather than the reverse.
The conventional integration of a component approach requires manual integration and diagnostic activities that consume both human and system resources. An appliance addresses this problem by providing a pre-integrated simple-to-install solution. This is a benefit for all companies but is particularly useful for SMBs that normally have only a few minutes a day to address any one problem.
Selecting an Appliance Solution
Below is a short laundry list of things to consider when evaluating a data protection appliance:
Easy to purchase, install, manage and support.
Optimizes backups, archives, restores, disaster recovery and electronic discovery to meet corporate RTO and RPO.
Complies fully with regulated retention policies.
Efficiently uses media.
Automates daily functions and reduces administrative hours.
Provides an adaptable and scalable foundation for future data protection and storage needs.
In sum, organizations must look beyond the conventional approaches and toward recovery solutions packaged and implemented with appliance approaches that incorporate the best in component technologies. To do less will probably assure being an early casualty of the tremendous data changes coming in the 21st century.
The new PowerPath Encryption with RSA yields a number of advantages compared to other encryption technologies, such as gateway products, including easier deployment. PowerPath Encryption with RSA can be added to environments and is transparent to hosts, applications, replication, and backup infrastructure. It also offers built-in high availability, as the PowerPath Encryption with RSA provides a management appliance that is configured in redundant pairs for no single point of failure, compared to alternative solutions that need multiple appliances to provide high availability.
The new PowerPath Encryption with RSA also offers better scalability and centralized management. PowerPath Encryption with RSA provides encryption at the host and centralizes key management with RSA Key Manager for the Datacenter, which can support tens of thousands of hosts compared to other solutions that need additional appliances to meet growth requirements and cannot be centrally managed. It also offers better Flexibility, as the PowerPath Encryption with RSA gives users the ability to choose the LUNs (logical unit number) or volumes they want to encrypt.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: DR BC Replication De-Dup iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant LTO Backup Exc NetBackup Legato TSM
An Effective Disaster Recovery Strategy for Branch Offices - April 12, 2008
Tampa Florida -- The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season will start early this year, the second time in five years a storm will formed before June 1. As a result, experts are again predicting an above average hurricane year, estimating that there is a 74 percent chance a category three or higher storm will hit the U.S. mainland.
While the chance your business will be affected by a major natural disaster or terrorist attack is slim, other causes of unplanned downtime such as a hardware component failure, fire, power outage or surge, network attack or even human error are more prevalent. It is important to ensure your company has a reliable strategy for getting the business up and resuming normal business operations, no matter what the cause. Without a disaster recovery strategy the consequences to your business could be paramount. According to the Wall Street Journal, 92 percent of small businesses that experience significant data loss due to a major disaster go out of business within five years. You don't want to become part of this statistic.
With mission-critical data growth exploding in the small to midsized enterprise (SME) market-much of it on the edge of the network in branch offices-traditional disaster recovery solutions may not be enough to ensure business continuity throughout your entire organization.
Complete Restoration Disaster Recovery
In order to protect all company data regardless of physical location and to ensure business continuity across the entire organization, SMEs need to deploy a complete disaster recovery solution that integrates local backups and remote off-site vaulting in a single solution. Using a complete and integrated solution allows your organization to restore entire systems quickly, and get them back in the production environment as soon as possible after experiencing downtime. A complete bare metal restoration solution restores systems from the ground up-including the operating system (Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc.), business applications (Exchange, SQL, Oracle, Novell, etc.), user profiles and data files, in addition to reformatting drives.
The following details what SMEs should look for in a complete disaster recovery solution that protects their data center as well as data and systems in remote offices.
Quick Recovery
When it comes to quick recoveries and an SME's ability to resume normal business operations after experiencing downtime, the stakes couldn't be higher. Simply put, if customers are inconvenienced by not being able to visit a retail location, access a Website, email a sales rep, or receive requested information in a timely manner-regardless of the reason-they will move on to a competitor. The availability of services and products at headquarters and in branch offices is absolutely vital to the health of the company, making quick restoration of the IT systems that run the business a top priority. Minutes do matter.
Most SMEs do not realize that quick restores not only rely on recovering lost data, but also rely on rebuilding damaged or lost servers and workstations. Operating systems need to be restored, drives need to be reformatted, business applications need to reinstalled, data needs to be recovered and user profiles need to be restored. End users cannot do their job unless workstations and servers are returned to their normal state before downtime occurred. This takes time.
The most effective disaster recovery solutions speed up the systems recovery process by automating this process through scripting. Automatic bare metal restore allows administrators to perform a complete systems restoration to an existing system or to a new system with different hardware. While it typically takes a seasoned IT veteran a full day or longer to completely restore a system manually, there are disaster recovery solutions that allow staffers with little IT training to recover a complete system in less than an hour.
Off-Site Backups and Vaulting
In an effort to protect against data center outages and regional natural disasters, it is essential that SMEs implement off-site backups and a remote vaulting system that store data and system information at least 150 miles away. Tape rotation at a warehouse across town, a common approach of SMEs, does not provide the same level of off-site protection since the facility will most likely be impacted by the same disruption. The best backup and recovery solutions incorporate both local and off-site backups in one package. After first performing a local backup in the branch office, the solution replicates data to an off-site location where it is stored in a data vault and is easily recoverable.
Because bandwidth and server requirements could affect performance for end users, it is essential that SMEs deploy a solution that incorporates electronic data synchronization to off-site vaults. By only sending data that is new or has changed since the last backup, the solution requires less resources and dramatically reduces the amount of data that has to be sent over the WAN. This allows backups to be completed more quickly, efficiently and reliably. In the same vein, synchronization technology enables administrators to pause and re-engage in the middle of a backup if a connection is disrupted during the data transfer, preventing administrators from ever having to manually restart a transfer.
Vendor Neutral
When a disaster hits and remote offices are pulled off-line, SMEs don't always have the luxury of being able to replace their servers with the exact model or even the same brand. Often, they must make a quick replacement with what is available. Because of this, it is important that the company's disaster recovery solution is able to restore systems to different hardware. For example, an HP server needs to be able to be restored on a Dell box if that is what is available. This also gives SMEs flexibility with their purchasing decisions, allowing them to choose hardware that is the best suited for specific business needs and budget rather than letting interoperability inhibit choice.
Point-in-Time Recovery
Giving customers the ability to restore systems to a set point in time is an essential element of a complete disaster recovery solution. This is especially useful if a single system crashes and a database needs to be synched up with other end users. Email is another example. Point-in-time recovery allows administrators to recover deleted emails or files as needed or restore systems to a point in time within the past 30 days.
Simple Management
Most SMEs do not have the IT and staffing resources to dedicate to backup management and monitoring, making it essential that any disaster recovery solution be easy to use and automate as much manual process as possible. This is especially true on the edge of the network in branch offices where often there is no full-time IT administrator and a business staff member is typically tasked with starting the backup process each night.
It doesn't have to be this way. SMEs can make sure their disaster recovery solution is managed consistently from a central management console, giving a trained and dedicated administrator at headquarters complete access and visibility into the backup cycle. In addition, the solution needs to automate basic tasks, including the recovery process. This can help streamline IT management, prevent human errors and take business continuity responsibility off the shoulders of untrained business staff.
Scalability
Complete restoration solutions also need to be scalable to allow SMEs to expand their disaster recovery strategy in line with the business. It seems strange to think that a company can over-protect its IT systems, but it is nearly impossible to protect every server all of the time. SMEs need to determine what systems need to be protected and how fast they need to be recovered. Deploying a scalable disaster recovery solution that is flexible is a good start, as growing companies' needs can change quickly.
Some providers price their solutions on a per gigabyte of user data basis in conjunction with time-to-recovery needs. This ensures that SMEs are getting exactly what they require at an affordable price and that the IT budget is directly tied to the needs of the business.
Security
Another feature that SMEs may need is encryption technology that secures data as it is in transit and while being backed up and restored. Industry and government regulations are getting tighter every year, forcing companies-especially growing businesses-to plan for future compliance requirements, making it essential that all sensitive data is properly encrypted from the outset.
It is vital that SMEs take into account remote office computing when implementing their business continuity strategy, relying on a robust and complete disaster recovery solution that enables efficient backups and quick restores. Administrators need to ensure that they are able to manage the backup and recovery process from a central location, conduct complete restorations and recover systems to different hardware. Only then can SMEs be truly prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws their way.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
'Well Above-average' Hurricane Season Forecast For 2008 - Will You be Ready? - April 12, 2008
Miami Florida Science Daily (Apr. 10, 2008) — The Colorado State University forecast team upgraded its early season forecast today from the Bahamas Weather Conference, saying the U.S. Atlantic basin will likely experience a well above-average hurricane season.
"Current oceanic and atmospheric trends indicate that we will likely have an active Atlantic basin hurricane season," said William Gray, who is beginning his 25th year forecasting hurricanes at Colorado State University.
The team's forecast now anticipates 15 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30. Eight of the storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those eight, four are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater. Long-term averages are 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes per year. DR BC plans will be tested this year.
"Based on our latest forecast, the probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline is 69 percent compared with the last-century average of 52 percent," said Phil Klotzbach of the Colorado State hurricane forecast team. "We are calling for a very active hurricane season this year, but not as active as the 2004 and 2005 seasons." Disaster Recovery should be on the minds of every Florida based companies.
Current conditions in the Atlantic basin are quite favorable for an active hurricane season. The current sea surface temperature pattern in the Atlantic - prevalent in most years since 1995 - is a pattern typically observed before very active seasons. Warm sea surface temperatures are likely to continue being present in the tropical and North Atlantic during 2008 because of a positive phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Also, the currently observed weak Azores High will likely promote weaker-than-normal trade winds over the next few months enhancing warm SST anomalies in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic. Be it Backup Exe, NetBack, CDP or Snap Shot just backup your data.
Additionally, the team expects neutral or weak La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific, which, combined with a predicted warm north and tropical Atlantic, is a recipe for enhanced Atlantic basin hurricane activity. These factors are similar to conditions that occurred during the 1950, 1989, 1999, and 2000 seasons. The average of these four seasons had well above-average activity, and Klotzbach and Gray predict the 2008 season will have activity in line with the average of these four years. When you backup to disk or tape look for companies with VTL De-dupe Data Domain, Quantum, EMC or Exagrid.
The hurricane forecast team predicts tropical cyclone activity in 2008 will be 160 percent of the average season. By comparison, 2005 witnessed tropical cyclone activity that was about 275 percent of the average season.
The hurricane forecast team reiterated its probabilities for a major hurricane making landfall on U.S. soil:
A 69 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2008 (the long-term average probability is 52 percent).
A 45 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula (the long-term average is 31 percent)
A 44 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville (the long-term average is 30 percent).
The team also predicted above-average major hurricane landfall risk in the Caribbean.
"The United States was quite fortunate over the last two years in that we had only one hurricane landfall (Humberto - 2007)," Klotzbach said. "None of the four major hurricanes that formed in 2006 and 2007 made U.S. landfall." Using virtualization from VMware vs. Virtual Iron for disaster recovery is the best way to keep businesses running.
The Colorado State hurricane forecast team has cautioned against reading too much into the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 when Florida and the Gulf Coast were ravaged by four landfalling hurricanes each year. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne caused devastating damage in 2004 followed by Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005.
"The activity of these two years was unusual, but within the natural bounds of hurricane variation," Gray said.
Probabilities of tropical storm-force, hurricane-force and intense hurricane-force winds occurring at specific locations along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts within a variety of time periods are listed on the forecast team's Landfall Probability Web site. The site provides U.S. landfall probabilities for 11 regions, 55 sub-regions and 205 individual counties along the U.S. coastline from Brownsville, Texas, to Eastport, Maine. The Web site, available to the public at http://www.e-transit.org/hurricane, is the first publicly accessible Internet tool that adjusts landfall probabilities for regions, sub-regions and counties based on the current climate and its projected effects on the upcoming hurricane season. Klotzbach and Gray update the site regularly with assistance from the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.
The hurricane team's forecasts are based on the premise that global oceanic and atmospheric conditions - such as El Nino, sea surface temperatures and sea level pressures - that preceded active or inactive hurricane seasons in the past provide meaningful information about similar trends in future seasons.
The team will issue seasonal updates of its 2008 Atlantic basin hurricane activity forecast on June 3, Aug. 5, Sept. 2 and Oct. 1. The August, September and October forecasts will include separate forecasts for each of those months.
Tropical Cyclone Forecast for 2008
(1950-2000 Averages in parenthesis)
Named Storms 15 (9.6)*
Named Storm Days 80 (49.1)
Hurricanes 8 (5.9)
Hurricane Days 40 (24.5)
Intense Hurricanes 4 (2.3)
Intense Hurricane Days 9 (5.0)
Net Tropical Cyclone Activity 160 (100%)
* Numbers in ( ) represent average year totals based on 1950-2000 data.
The entire report is available on the Web at http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
The Best Web Application Accelerator unit is the Juniper Networks DX - April 6, 2008
Transparent acceleration, protection, and encryption make this pricey load balancer worth the money
Jacksonville Florida -- The days of the proprietary client are waning fast, as more and more enterprise applications become Web-enabled or entirely Web-based. Critical applications from e-mail to CRM to custom internal apps are all running on either internal or external Web sites, and they need both quick response times and fault tolerance. vs. Cisco. That's where load balancers come in. Adding redundancy and scalability to Web applications, load balancers create a cluster of Web servers, over which they distribute incoming requests, sending new requests to the server with the least load at any given moment. If a Web server goes offline, the other servers in the cluster take up the slack. Geographic load balancers create clusters at different physical locations so that applications will still be available even if an entire datacenter loses connectivity. vs Barracuda or Websense Citrix
The Juniper DX3680 goes well beyond the relatively simple task of creating clusters of Web servers – it can accelerate Web applications with several methods, including by compressing the HTTP sent between the Web server and the client, caching static parts of the Web page, and offloading SSL processing from the Web server. It will also optimize the network traffic so that the viewing of a Web page, which might normally take 100 back-and-forth messages between the Web server and client, can be accomplished with only a few messages.
In addition, the DX3680 shields applications running on Web servers from Internet-based attacks, preventing hackers from issuing unauthorized commands or taking advantage of known bugs in the Web server software, and it can handle user authentication via RADIUS or LDAP. Look for us in the Gartner Magic Quadrant
Cluster call
Juniper Bucking the trend of cramming load balancers with switches and as many as 20 Ethernet ports, Juniper decks out the DX3680 with a total of 4 ports, which should be enough in most cases – one in and one out is all a load balancer really needs. Initial setup of the system is straightforward, via serial terminal, though it’d be nice to see a default IP address allowing for initial configuration via browser.
Once the basic networking information is set, you can begin creating virtual clusters, as well as rules for how each cluster will be used. There are three types of clusters: a basic cluster, a forwarder, or a redirector.
A basic cluster defaults to high security and allows only basic HTTP functions – anything more has to be explicitly allowed through a rule. The DX3680 has predefined rules for a number of standard Web applications, including Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) and SharePoint, PeopleSoft, and IBM/Lotus Domino. Most of the rules have to be applied at the command line rather than through the Web GUI. If you want to create your own rules, there are examples to work with, but it's not a simple process – be prepared to test and debug your new rules. This is equally true with similar load balancer products, such as F5’s application rules.
For non-HTTP traffic, a forwarder simply passes all traffic to the server cluster without processing it or accelerating the outgoing traffic. A redirector takes traffic addressed to a given address and sends it to a different one, without processing it at all.
A basic load balancing cluster can be set up quickly and easily. Adding functions such as encryption, server application protection, "sticky" sessions for e-commerce or other stateful transactions, and acceleration of Web traffic will make the cluster as complex as you like.
Balancing acts
To test this system, I set up a standard Web site and simulated lots of clients accessing the site. The DX3680 should be able to handle large amounts of traffic without problems; in my testing, I had to use artificially small requests to generate any load on the system, but with normal requests, the system can handle more users than the network connection will support. (As for the DX3680's basic stats, it handles up to 256 HTTP proxy clusters; 1,024 server load balancing clusters; 64 servers per application cluster; 7,300 SSL transactions per second; 80,000 concurrent SSL connections; and 1.1 million concurrent SLB connections.)
Characterizing acceleration is more difficult – the amount of noticeable acceleration a user sees will vary greatly, depending on the type of application, how many users are on the system, which browser the user has, and many other factors. I tested response times for several types of Web transactions, including OWA, the serving of static pages, and a basic Java application, and found that applications were 30 to 400 percent faster than without the load balancer in place. One process that is simplified is converting a Web site from HTTP to HTTPS. Instead of rewriting all of the code on the site, the DX3680 handles the conversion automatically, and it takes care of the SSL processing, too.
The standard ruleset available when the DX3680 box is initially configured is called the Nitro.apprule. This set of rules protects against common attacks, causes clients to cache images, enables active acceleration of Web pages, and more. It's a simple starting point for getting acceleration working without having to do any programming.
The DX3680 can offload quite a bit of processing to reduce the load on the Web servers. In addition to SSL processing, it will cache images and other static content – even JavaScript so that requests from browsers are served by the DX3680 rather than by the Web servers in the cluster. This is intended to reduce loads on the servers, but it may increase performance for end-users as well.
Logging and reporting functionality is broad and deep, covering all aspects of cluster operations, and offers up as much detail as you want. The system provides detailed logs for all the clusters it serves (it pushes them to a central log server), including real-time performance logging for every user connection, if desired. The reporting tools provide a wealth of information, and I found them well organized and easy to follow.
Additional features include quality of service, which can be specified separately for each cluster, and ActiveN clustering that makes adding more DX systems a simple process. vs Radware
Pricey, but worth it
The Juniper DX3680 is not a system that someone would buy for simple load balancing. With a price as tested of $70,485 and a base price of $49,995, there are many less expensive load balancers out there that will create clusters of Web servers.
However, the system's sophisticated rules engine and acceleration features, as well as its ability to provide authentication, to protect Web servers and application servers, and to transparently add SSL encryption to a Web site without redoing code, will not be found on inexpensive load balancers. The DX3680 should allow even a small company to provide enterprise-class Web applications without a big investment in recoding.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/network-application-acceleration.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint
Is Quantum blasting pass Data Domain in Data De-dup Market? - April 4, 2008
De-duplication eliminate redundant data to improve space and power efficiencies for really green storage
Miami Florida NetApp Inc. on Tuesday announced that the de-dupe adoption rate among its customers has tripled since November 2007, reaching more than 3,500 systems and 100 petabytes (PB) of raw storage capacity.
The storage vendor claimed that more than 1,000 customers have deployed de-dup across all tiers of data, including primary, backup and archival data. Companies like Data Domain Quantum Sepaton vs Falcon Stor Exagrid are not growing close to this.
De-duplication technology, which plays an important role in virtualized environments, is quickly gaining traction among customers who are struggling with data proliferation. Look for EMC Diligent and IBM to join in.
Now customers can eliminate redundant data quickly to improve space and power efficiencies, as well as to reduce the amount of raw storage required. Unlike other Disk to disk or D2D technologies.
NetApp claimed that it is the only major storage and data management vendor to embed de-duplication technology across its entire line of storage systems and to provide an end-to-end solution. Magic Quadrant by Gartner and Awarding winning no doubt. So why LTO-4 tape?
Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and Storage Veteran of 25 years said there is a definite trend in the market today toward virtualizing storage environments.
"De-duplication is just one example. Organizations are embracing de-duplication because of the efficiencies it provides their organizations [and] significantly reducing the amount of physical capacity that must be purchased and managed," she said.
Dexma Inc., a company that creates and hosts mortgage-lending software for financial institutions, has used de-duplication to expand its data storage management capabilities.
By combining NetApp and VMware Inc. offerings, the company has created a virtual environment that enhances storage provisioning and increases its ability to more easily scale its storage system to meet its data management needs.
Since the installation of NetApp deduplication in September 2007, Dexma has recovered much of its previously utilized disk space.
This has freed up crucial disk space to be used by other applications, according to the David Waterhouse, the company's senior systems administrator.
"We were able to decrease our storage requirements for our customer file retention by 35%," Waterhouse said. "This has had a direct effect on our bottom line."
De-duplication, which is free of charge to customers as an inherent feature in all NetApp storage systems, will also be free when it is extended to NetApp's virtual tape library (VTL) offering later this year.
The de-duplication option for NearStore VTL will dramatically reduce the cost of storing backups on disk by providing effective storage capacities that are greater than today's systems, according to the vendor.
Patrick Rogers, NetApp vice president of solutions marketing, said de-duplication has become a core element of his company's storage offerings as more customers grapple with growing amounts of data.
While the technology helps customers control growth, Rogers said it's apparent that customers are rethinking their traditional data-backup approaches as VTL becomes more prevalent.
He said recent hardware and software updates introduced in March have more than doubled the maximum usable storage capacity of NearStore VTL and increased write-compressed performance by up to 20%, enabling enterprise customers to protect more data in less time.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-area-network.php
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
Quantum Wins Another Major Account vs. Data Domain in the De-Dupe Race - April 2, 2008
Orlando Florida --Quantum Corp. the leader in cost-effective and scalable disk-based backup solutions D2D with byte-level data de-duplication, today announced that.............................at the request of Bill Anderson the CEO of Exagrid bandrews@exagrid.com we have been asked to remove this post.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Data Domain, EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, HDS, IBM, Commvault, Xiotech and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, storage virtualization installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral Green Simpana Offerings Projects: BC DR planning Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ SSD Solid state disk SANmelody FalconStor tier zero Xiotech ISE nx4 ax4 greenBytes ZFS Sun Top 10 ROBOBak managed services hosting cloud grid Datacore Compellent compellant equallogic lefthand networks don't buy storage stop buying storage itguardian cherub networks Arkeia Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts
Juniper Networks launches Next Generation High-Performance Ethernet Switches - April 2, 2008
Orlando Florida March 31, 2008 -- Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR), the leader in high-performance networking, today announced the immediate availability of the EX-series Ethernet switches. Launched recently at the company's Global Enterprise Event in New York City, Juniper's EX 3200 and EX 4200 switches are available today, and the EX 8200 series remains on schedule for availability in the second half of 2008. vs MARS
"Juniper is now shipping the first members of a new family of high-performance Ethernet switches running on JUNOS software, our customer-proven single-source network operating system," said Hitesh Sheth, executive vice president and general manager of the Ethernet Platforms Business Group at Juniper Networks. "The EX 3200 and 4200 switches deliver operational simplicity and reliability to accelerate the deployment of applications and services across the extended enterprise to advance the economics of networking." vs HP Procurve
"Juniper has proven to be a strategic partner that is more interested in solving our problems and creating a solution than simply selling us a box," said Frank Ziegler, vice president of communications at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. "The Juniper Networks EX-series is the fastest switch we've ever tested in our lab, and the solution gives us the opportunity to deliver consistency throughout our infrastructure, from the access layer, through the data center and out to the enterprise edge. Juniper's EX-series switches will also enable us to deliver an extensive layer of access control to perform defense-in-depth." This will no doublt be awarding winning and in the Magic Quadrant for switches
Juniper's EX 3200 series: Fixed-Configuration Platforms
The EX 3200 series switches are fixed-configuration Ethernet platforms offering a simple, cost-effective, standalone solution for low-density regional and corporate office deployments. Installed in wiring closets to provide network access, the 24- and 48-port EX 3200 switches offer simple plug-and-play 10/100/1000BASE-T connectivity to meet today's converged network requirements. Full and partial Power over Ethernet (PoE) options are available for supporting IP-enabled devices such as telephones, security cameras and wireless LAN (WLAN) access points in converged network environments. Optional four-port GbE and two-port 10GbE uplink modules with pluggable optics are also available for supporting high-speed connections to other switches or upstream devices such as routers. A field-replaceable power supply and fan tray lowers mean time to repair. Brocade or SMC and F5
Juniper's EX 4200 series: Virtual ChassisTM Technology
The EX 4200 series Ethernet switches with Virtual Chassis technology combine the reliability, scalability, and ease of management of modular systems with the economics and flexibility of stackable platforms, delivering a high-performance, scalable solution for data center, corporate and regional office environments. Like the EX 3200 switches, EX 4200 series switches offer 24- and 48-port 10/100/1000BASE-T configurations with full and partial PoE and optional GbE and 10GbE uplink modules, plus a 24-port fiber switch offering 100/1000BASE-X support. Using Virtual Chassis technology, up to 10 EX 4200 series switches can be interconnected over a 128 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) backplane, creating a single virtual switch supporting up to 480 10/100/1000BASE-T ports and up to 40 GbE or 20 10GbE uplink ports. All EX 4200 series switches include HA features such as redundant, hot-swappable internal power supplies and field-replaceable, multi-blower fan trays to help deliver maximum uptime.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/network-switches.php
About Sencilo Solutions
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
