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Dave & Buster's data thieves will be prosecuted by US Department of Justice - May 14, 2008

Orlando Florida - The United States Department of Justice has charged and intends to prosecute individuals responsible for the theft of credit and debit card numbers from 11 Dave & Busters Inc. locations, including the one in Miami, Jacksonville and Orlando.

The thefts occurred from May to August of 2007. Although the stolen data was never retained or stored by Dave & Buster's, the data was illegally accessed from the Dave & Buster's computer systems during the card verification and transmission process. No personal information -- such as names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers, PINs, or social security numbers -- were stolen.

The other stores involved are in Westminster, Colo.; Islandia and West Nyack, N.Y.; Utica, Mich.; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; and Frisco, Dallas and Austin, Texas.

Dave & Buster's was alerted to the potential data intrusion in late August 2007. The company worked with both the Secret Service and Department of Justice and assisted them in the investigation. In addition, Dave & Buster's retained outside security experts who identified the source of the data compromise. As a result the company has implemented additional security measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

"As soon as we became aware of the breach in August 2007, we took steps to secure our systems and remain confident that they are safe today," said CEO Steve King.

Dallas-based Dave & Busters operates 50 restaurant/entertainment complexes in 19 states and in Canada and Mexico.

For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/security-compliance-management.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 compare data leakage
 

Data De-dupe now available for your SAN - May 11, 2008

In the past few years, data reduction technologies like compression and more recently data de-duplication have become quite popular, especially for use in backup and archiving. Can this trend continue into primary storage?

In backup, especially where there is a great deal of redundant data, there has been a mass adoption of data reduction technologies. In just a few short years, data de-duplication has gone from an obscure to a well known term in the data center. Its ability to eliminate redundant segments of data has provided great benefit to backup storage and some types of archive storage. In backup data, assuming a weekly full backup, a 20X storage efficiency quotient is not uncommon.

Primary storage is different
Unfortunately, moving de-duplication into primary storage isn’t as simple as shifting its location. Following is an outline of the particular requirements of primary storage that need to be considered in planning de-duplication:

1. Primary storage is performance sensitive. Primary storage is active, and if the implementation of data de-duplication causes a performance impact on the production environment it will not be acceptable. Either the performance of the de-duplication technology must be so efficient and fast that it does not impact performance, or it has to be done out of band on files that are not immediately active.

The ideal is a near-production data set that is de-duplicated as a background process, removing the possibility of any performance impact. It would also make sense that this technology has the capability to de-duplicate and compress at different levels of efficiency --the greater the data reduction level, the greater the chance of impact on performance when the data is read back in. While it would be great to have an inline system that was fast enough to reduce the data set without impacting performance, the technology does not exist today.

2. Primary storage is unique. The other challenge to reducing data on primary storage is owing to the fact that the data is generally unique. This is a very different situation compared to backup data. In a backup, especially when doing a full backup every day or week, there is a high level of data redundancy. While production data may have some commonality -- for example, “extra” copies of the same database -- for the most part, data is not nearly as redundant as backup data or even archive data.

As disk-based archiving and disk backups become more common, they are actually causing even less redundant data to be kept on primary storage. In the past there was value in keeping a couple of extra copies of a database or set of files on primary storage “just in case.” Now those copies can be very easily sent to disk archives or disk backup devices. (This is a good thing!)

Note: The current user expectation to see storage efficiencies of 20X or more should not even be considered on primary storage. A more realistic goal might be 3X to at most 5X.

3. Primary storage is compressed. In addition to being unique, much of primary storage data is already in some pre-compressed format. Files such as images, media files, and industry-specific data sets like SEG-Y are already pre-compressed. Even the data files from the latest version of popular office productivity applications are pre-compressed. These pre-compressed files often represent the largest data set in the enterprise and the one with the fastest data growth.

To deal with this uniqueness and the pre-compressed nature of production data, a successful primary data storage reducer will have to “dig a little deeper.” While inline data reduction has the clear advantage in the backup and archive categories, production storage is an area where out-of-band management of the process might be more valuable.

Without the pressures to do data reduction so fast, time can be taken to examine a complex compound document and look for similarities within a file across the millions of files in the storage environment. This behind-the-scenes treatment of data also allows for time to be invested in understanding how specific formats -- .jpg, for example -- are stored; how that data becomes embedded into another document (for instance, a PowerPoint presentation); and how both the original data and its embedded occurrences might be best optimized for data reduction.

4. Primary storage is getting cheaper. The final challenge to data de-duplication on primary storage is the continual erosion of disk drive prices. The very condition that essentially killed HSM and later ILM may also be a detriment to the implementation of data reduction on primary storage. With 1 Tbyte SATA drives becoming available from the top-tier storage manufacturers, it may be deemed easier to simply buy larger capacity shelves of storage.

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

Best Practices for iSCSI Storage and Virtualization - May 10, 2008

IP SAN adoption is growing among users who want storage that's easy to install, configure and manage, and also comes at a price considerably less than that of Fibre Channel (FC) SANs.

Consider Dave DePillis, manager of IT operations at Allied Cash Advance in Miami, who installed an iSCSI SAN (IP SAN) two years ago to make use of the cabling, switches and network adapters installed in his Gigabit Ethernet network. "Installing iSCSI was absolutely a no-brainer, especially since I had such a small initial investment," says DePillis. He's using iSCSI to back up file shares on four to six virtual machines with Symantec Corp.'s Backup Exec 12D to a Network Appliance (Net-App) Inc. FAS2020 file server. "I have more flexibility with iSCSI since I can use my LAN switches," says DePillis.

James Santillo is another happy iSCSI user. "iSCSI is easy to use and configure," says Santillo, systems administrator at Weiss Group Inc. in Jupiter, FL. He implemented iSCSI capability by installing StorMagic's SM Series iSCSI software on some industry-standard servers equipped with Serial ATA (SATA) drives.
Just what is iSCSI?
iSCSI was adopted by businesses shortly after its ratification by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in February 2003. The protocol, which was developed within the IETF to transport SCSI commands and block-level data over an IP network between a client and a target device, runs on top of standard Ethernet adapters and over Ethernet LAN or WAN switches.

The technology is implemented by loading a software-based driver--called an initiator--on an Ethernet adapter or by adding a dedicated iSCSI host bus adapter (HBA) to the host computer. Another initiator is added to the target storage array, which allows it to serve up data that will be transported across the network via the iSCSI transport.

iSCSI initiators are available from a number of sources and are categorized by operating system type. Two of the most popular are a Windows initiator from Microsoft Corp. and a Linux initiator from SourceForge

iSCSI can also be implemented with gateway technology in which an iSCSI controller attaches to a block-level storage array, thus enabling iSCSI transport. Examples of gateway-enabled iSCSI products are available from MDI Inc. and Exagrid.

In addition, a number of vendors have joined the iSCSI and FC worlds with what's called unified or multiprotocol storage. Vendors such as Microsoft, NetApp and Pillar Data Systems market arrays or software that can attach to the Ethernet network as a NAS or iSCSI device, and to the FC SAN.

Various-sized businesses have adopted iSCSI because it's easy to install, inexpensive, behaves just like Ethernet and doesn't require special skills like FC does.

"We don't have Fibre Channel experience," says Scott Christiansen, IT director at Leo A. Daly, an architectural and engineering firm in Miami Florida. "To get the iSCSI SAN up and running was so quick and easy; it was just unbelievable." Christiansen adds that the SAN "uses the same media as the Ethernet network; it's nice in the sense that everything we buy is Category 6 cable--it works for Ethernet, it works for the IP SAN."

Applications running on iSCSI
A few years ago, many analysts predicted FC SANs would be reserved for business-critical applications such as transactional databases, while iSCSI would be deployed for less business-critical, front-office applications, file shares and Web services. But when talking to users from various-sized organizations, it's clear iSCSI deployments span mission-critical applications and less-demanding office applications.

"Our primary business app runs off a Microsoft SQL Server," says Mike Leather, network services manager at Safeway Insurance Group in Westmont, IL. "Our developers and database administrators were telling me that our disk I/O performance wasn't acceptable; that was because we were growing too big for the original solution [and] we needed to look at something else."

Leather looked at FC SAN storage, but was wary of the challenges and expenses involved. He installed an EqualLogic IP SAN (now owned by Dell Inc.) primarily for his SQL Server environment, but soon found he was using iSCSI for everything. "The whole thing started out for SQL Server and exploded," he says. "We are using the SAN for file storage, Exchange servers and our VMware environment."

Weiss Group's Santillo found that iSCSI will support all of his applications, whether they're business critical or not. "Our custom in-house customer relationship management [CRM] app, which was running on Fibre Channel, is being moved to iSCSI," he says. "We had six SQL Server apps on Fibre Channel, but [they] are now on iSCSI. And we're moving our two Exchange databases to iSCSI. The CRM app is going on the Xiotech box [which is iSCSI enabled]. We're also moving our file systems and unstructured data over to Xiotech," he says. "I needed enterprise-level reliability without the price." Santillo says his six-year-old IBM FC SAN will become "end-of-life'd. We're migrating everything off to iSCSI."
iSCSI initiators
In the early days of iSCSI deployments, almost no one expected iSCSI software initiators to prevail over dedicated iSCSI HBAs.

Adaptec Inc., Alacritech Inc. and QLogic Corp. originally marketed iSCSI adapters complete with features such as TCP Offload, which negates some of the overhead of TCP/IP. These adapters were expensive and often sold for as much as $750, which is four to five times the cost of standard Ethernet adapters.

"We use the VMware and Microsoft iSCSI [Software] Initiator, and we also use iSCSI and Fibre Channel HBAs from QLogic," says Chris Rima, IT systems supervisor at UniSource Energy Corp. in Tucson, AZ. "We've been decreasing the use of the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator because it's not as efficient as the VMware iSCSI initiator or the QLogic iSCSI HBAs. There's a higher cost associated with the QLogic HBA, but it's minimal compared to the performance gains we get."

But other users have overwhelmingly adopted the use of software initiators from Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft and the open-source community because they're inexpensive or freely downloadable from a vendor's site.

"We use the Microsoft software initiator and it works fine," says Mark Kash, IT specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, WV. "It's reliable and I haven't had any instances where it's corrupted anything," he says. "Originally, we considered using TOE cards from QLogic because we were thinking a firmware-based platform may be more reliable, but we saved money using the software-based alternative."

Microsoft's iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.06 is the most popular iSCSI initiator. It supports multipathing for load balancing and failover, 64-bit platforms and IPv6. Multipathing lets the initiator establish multiple sessions with one target, enabling load balancing and failover among multiple network adapters or HBAs.
Is performance good enough?
According to analysts, iSCSI performance would fall short of that of FC. However, end-user experiences don't bear that out.  I guess when you compare the low performance manufactures like Lefthand Networks and Equal Logics but not a EMC NS or NetApp FAS

"We ran some performance tests to see the difference between iSCSI and Fibre Channel, and we saw what the industry saw: iSCSI is able to offer about 80% the performance of 2Gb Fibre Channel," says UniSource Energy's Rima. "4Gig Fibre Channel is a little bit more, but it's not substantial enough given the cost to use it."

Rima chose iSCSI because it fulfilled his "performance needs." He runs Microsoft Exchange on iSCSI, and has been able to scale his storage up but "maintain a network topology that's low cost and low impact in terms of support."

Jim Bollinger, systems and network engineer at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, has seen the same performance results as Rima. Bollinger installed Overland Storage REO disk-based appliances to back up his storage environment.

"iSCSI has been capable of doing everything we need it to do," says Bollinger. "You could take iometer.exe and take the array right up to 100Mb/sec. It's every bit as good as local SCSI and sometimes better. We've had no trouble on big files filling the pipe on our LTO-3 backup--up around 70MB/sec to 80MB/sec--and we've been backing up 7TB to 8TB a day."

10Gb/sec Ethernet
The advent of 10Gb/sec Ethernet bodes well for iSCSI. With Dynamic TCP Offload added to 10Gb/sec adapters running iSCSI, users will see the benefits--higher performance and access--of removing TCP processing from the host computer and placing it on a dedicated HBA from vendors such as Alacritech, Neterion Inc. and NetXen Inc. Dynamic TCP Offload takes advantage of Microsoft's TCP Chimney Offload technology, which offloads the TCP stack to the network card.

Bollinger, who uses QLogic HBAs that perform both TCP and iSCSI offload, says he'll migrate to 10Gb/sec Ethernet for the trunks between university buildings.

"10Gb/sec to 100Gb/sec is in our planning process and further validates our decision to deploy iSCSI," says Kash at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "I'm comfortable that iSCSI is going to take over from Fibre Channel, and [that] it will no longer be considered a low-cost, lower performing alternative."

Rima says "we can do TCP Offload with the TCP Offload on our NetApp boxes," adding that "10Gig should allow us to scale up quite a bit."

Besides the use of existing Ethernet switches, adapters and common Category 6 cabling, users have seen other advantages. "The ROI of iSCSI is hard to measure, but our complaints from users on performance issues are practically non-existent now," says Safeway Insurance Group's Leather. "That's a huge ROI. In our business, if someone has trouble with our Web site while they're writing insurance, they won't wait for us, they'll just go to the next insurance carrier. You can't measure the lost business."

For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-area-network.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, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland, Cape Canaveral

Other Projects: DR BC 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 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 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar CX4

Best Practices in Disk-Based Backup - VTL or NAS - May 10, 2008

Miami Florida - Data growth is a fact of life for IT departments according to Sencilo Solutions President Brian McCarthy. As your business grows, so does the amount of data it generates, and the amount of storage capacity needed to properly retain the data cascades out of control.

Planning Your Disk-Based Backup means to understand your Organizations requirements of all sizes face the dilemma of how to backup increasing amounts of data while reducing the hassles of traditional tape-based systems.
In response, organizations are implementing new solutions using disks as the backup medium. The backup server copies the data to a disk-based system in the data center. This means that backups are faster, restores are more reliable and you will not have to deal with the hassles of tape management. Disk-based backup ensure better backup and restore performance and long-term data integrity, availability and security of your data. This makes disk-based backup one of the hottest topics in the data storage industry today.

When considering a disk-based backup system, there are many branches in the decision tree to consider when selecting the right solution for a given environment. Companies with 1TB to 100TB of data tend to set up disk-based backup as a NAS (network-attached storage) target. NAS is hard disk storage that is set up with its own network address rather than being attached to the department computer that is serving applications to a network's workstation users. The NAS device is attached to a local area network (typically, an Ethernet network) and assigned an IP address.

Those companies with more than 50TB of data, in a Fibre Channel environment, tend to set up disk-based backup with a VTL (virtual tape library) interface fronting the disk. Fibre Channel is especially suited for connecting computer servers to shared storage devices and for interconnecting storage controllers and drives.

To understand the differences between the NAS and VTL options, it's important to keep the following factors in mind:

Onsite Disk-based Backup—Short Term Retention

The first decision is how much retention you will put on disk at the primary backup location. If you plan to keep a week or two of retention onsite, on disk, then any standard disk will work. If you are keeping short retention onsite, then any standard backup storage solution will meet the requirement. The three most common options are:

SCSI or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)-connected disk set up as a disk volume
Ethernet-connected NAS server with disk
Fibre Channel connection with VTL (virtual tape library) software fronting the storage
A VTL provides the benefits of disk storage in a system that emulates a tape library to existing backup software.

Onsite Disk-based Backup—Longer Term Retention

If you plan to keep four or more weeks of onsite retention, or years of offsite retention, then the quantity of standard disk becomes too hard to manage and too costly to afford. Therefore, data reduction techniques that only store unique data (i.e. do not store the redundant data) can retain larger amounts of backup history using a small fraction of the disk required when using standard disk.

In this case, you should consider a disk-based backup system with built-in data deduplication technologies. Data deduplication systems employ a data reduction technique that identifies common "chunks" of bytes among multiple data files, and only stores these chunks once. Using this method, you can store data in less disk space.

There are two interfaces to data deduplication systems and two types of data deduplication in the next level down the decision tree. The interfaces are NAS and VTL. The two data deduplication methods are byte-level data deduplication and block-level de-duplication.

Byte-level data deduplication compares one backup to another, and only stores the bytes that change from backup to backup. Block-level data deduplication breaks the backup job into 8KB blocks. The blocks are compared via their hashes to find duplicate blocks, and then only unique blocks are stored. Both methods achieve approximately the same data reduction.

To summarize, the options available for data deduplication in disk-based backup systems are:

NAS with byte-level data deduplication
VTL with byte level data deduplication
NAS with block-level data deduplication
VTL with block-level data deduplication

In selecting the best approach for your organization, decide if you prefer NAS or VTL. This is typically determined by the environment for storage. An Ethernet environment will choose NAS and a Fibre Channel environment will typically choose VTL.

The final branch is to decide which kind of NAS or VTL disk-based backup system with data deduplication is preferred. The key considerations in making this decision are the following:

How the system is supported, managed and deployed
The desired backup and restore performance of the system
How the system grows and scales
How the system can size to the environment
The cost of the system

By understanding your backup retention requirements, your current storage environment, the different approaches to data de-duplication, as well as the key considerations for evaluating disk-based backup systems, you will be able to make an informed decision and select the correct system to meet the data backup and recovery requirements of your environment.

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

What Data Domain does NOT want you to know - May 9, 2008

1. What does the term "data de-duplication" really mean?
There's really no industry-standard definition yet, but we're getting close. Everybody agrees that it's a system for eliminating the need to store redundant data, and most people limit it to systems that look for duplicate data at a block not a file level. That's an important feature. Imagine 20 copies of a presentation that have different title pages–to a file-level data reduction system they look like 20 completely different files. Block level approaches would see the commonality between them and use much less storage.

The most powerful data de-duplication uses a variable-length block approach. Products using this approach look at a sequence of data, segment it into variable length blocks, and when they see a repeated block, they store a pointer to the original instead of storing the block again. Since the pointer takes up less space than the block, you save space. In backup, where the same blocks show up over and over, users can typically store 10 to 50 times more data than on conventional disk.

2. How can data de-duplication be applied to replication?
Replication is the process of sending duplicate data from a source to a target. If you replicate all the backup data then you need a relatively high performance network to get the job done. But with de-duplication, the source system–the one sending data–looks for duplicate blocks in the replication stream. If it has already transmitted a block to the target system, then it doesn't have to transmit it again–it simply sends a pointer. Since the pointer is much smaller than the block, we need much lower bandwidth networks for replication.

3. What applications does data de-duplication work with? Are there any that it doesn't work with?
When it's being used for backup, it supports all applications–email, databases, print and file applications, etc–and all qualified backup packages. Variable block length de-duplication can find redundant blocks in the backup stream for all of them. Certain file types–some rich media files, for example–don't see much advantage the first time they are sent through de-duplication because the applications that write the files already eliminate redundancy. But if those files are backed up multiple times or backed up after small changes are made, de-duplication can have very powerful capacity advantages.

4. Is there any way to tell how much de-duplication advantage I will get with my data?
There are really four primary variables. How much the data changes (that is, how many new blocks get introduced), how well it can compress, what your backup methodology is (full vs. incremental, for example), and how long you plan to retain the data. Some vendors–Quantum is one–offer sizing calculators to estimate the effects.

5. What is the real benefit of using data de-duplication?
There are really two. 1) Data de-duplication technology lets you keep more backup data on disk than with any conventional disk backup system–which means you can restore more data faster. 2) It makes it practical to use standard WANs and replication for DR protection–which means users can reduce their tape handling.

6. What is variable-block length data de-duplication? How do you get variable-length blocks and why would I want them?
It's easiest to think of the alternative. If you divided a stream of data into fixed-length segments, every time something changed at one point, all the blocks downstream would also change. The system of variable-length blocks allows some of the segments to stretch or shrink, while leaving downstream blocks unchanged–this increases the ability of the system to find duplicate data segments, so it saves significantly more space.

7. If the data is divided into blocks, is it safe? How can it be restored?
The technology for using pointers to reference a sequence of data segments has been standard in the industry for decades, you use it every day, and it is safe. Whenever you write a large file to disk, it is stored in blocks on different disk sectors in an order determined by space availability. When you "read" a file, you are really reading pointers in file's metadata which point to the various sectors in the right order. Block-based data de-duplication applies a similar kind of technology. And de-duplication vendors typically build in a variety of data integrity checks to verify that the system is sound and the data remains available.

8. Where does data de-duplication take place during the backup process?
There are really two choices. You can send all your backup data to a backup target and perform de-duplication there, or you can perform the de-duplication on the host during backup. Both systems are available and both have advantages. If you de-duplicate on the host during backup, you send less data over your backup connection, but you have to manage software on all the protected hosts, backup slows down because de-duplication adds overhead, and it can slow down other applications running on the host server. If you de-duplicate at the backup target you send more data over the connection, but you can use any backup software, you only have to manage a single target, and the performance is normally much higher because the hardware system is specially built just for de-duplication.

9. Can de-duplication technology be used with tape?
No and yes. Data de-duplication needs random access to data blocks for both writing and reading, so it needs to be implemented in a disk based system. But tape can easily be written from a de-duplication data store and in fact that is the norm. Most de-duplication customers plan on keeping a few weeks or months of backup data on disk, and then use tape for longer term storage. When you create a tape from de-duplicated data, the data is re-expanded so that it can be read directly in a tape drive and will not have to be written back to a disk system first.

10. What do data de-duplication solutions really cost?
There's a lot of variability, but there is a pretty good rule of thumb starting point. Assuming an average de-duplication advantage of 20:1–that's a number widely used in the industry–we have seen list prices in the range of $1/GB. So a system that could retain 20TB of backup data would have a list price of around $20,000–that's much lower than if you protected the same data using conventional disk. A note: options could increase that price–and discounts from resellers or vendors could reduce it.

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

What the PCI Council wants you to know! - May 9, 2008

Jacksonville Florida -- When the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council released version 1.1 of the PCI Data Security Standard in September 2006, it clarified existing mandates and added, in Requirement 6.6, some new ones pertaining to the custom application code that handles protected payment card data.

Basically, the council offered enterprises a choice: have an application security organization review custom application code for common vulnerabilities, or install a Web application firewall in front of Web-facing applications.  See http://www.sencilo.com/security-web-application-controllers.php for more info. 

In keeping with the council's measured approach to improving the security of payment card data, what was put forward as a "best practice" in 2006 will become a full-blown requirement on June 30, 2008. Many companies are already bemoaning the burdensome nature of PCI compliance and will no doubt chafe at paying for either more outside consultants or more security hardware and software.

On the other hand, there are plenty of security professionals who will say that what the PCI DSS requires is nothing more than the same application development and deployment approach that many companies have used for years. I can think of several financial and telecom companies that adopted a similar strategy when working with internally imposed PCI-comparable standards in 1999. Since then, there has been an increase both in the number of people qualified to conduct code reviews and in the availability of commercially supported application-layer firewalls.

Amid today's threat climate, where there is no shortage of people prepared to use whatever attacks they can to gather and exploit payment card data, a strong case can be made for both putting an application-layer firewall in front of Web-facing applications and having application code independently reviewed. However, in the real world, where cost constraints have never been tighter, some enterprises must choose one or the other.

The case for application firewalls
The main reason for an application firewalls like Barracuda Networks is that it will, if properly supported, actively protect against emerging threats, something a one-time code review will not. Sure, a code review might be able to list classes of attack against which the code is deemed secure, and a reviewer may be able to discount some emerging threats by referring to that list. A code review, however, does not provide a way to tweak application proxies in response to attacks.

One common argument against the application firewall is that it may be tricky to fit into an existing architecture. Another objection is that it may work out to be more expensive than a code review. Pricing varies between brands but you could easily be looking at a purchase cost of around $5,000 for something that will handle around 900 MB of throughput, rising to around $8,000 for 2 gigabites per second (Gbps). Total cost will depend upon the level of application traffic, ongoing licensing fees and personnel costs to manage and maintain your Web application firewall capability. However, if you have staff on hand with the skills to tune and manage an application firewall, like the folks who are already running your enterprise firewall, the additional cost may only be incremental or a security based consultant like Sencilo Solutions of Lake Mary Florida. 

The case for code review
A code review is not cheap and in most cases much more expensive the a firewall. For whomever performs it, you are probably looking at tens of thousands of dollars in cost, although the exact figure will obviously depend upon application complexity. Bear in mind, though, that a code review doesn't require the same level of ongoing care and maintenance as a firewall (although future code revisions will need review).

However, enterprises should already be budgeting for code review as part of the software development process. Unfortunately, some earlier PCI guidelines gave the impression that internal code reviews would not be acceptable. Thankfully, we now know it's possible to use an internal staff for the review if it is a) trained and specialized in application-code assessments and b) not the same people who developed the application, this according to the Feb 2008 "Information Supplement: Requirement 6.6 Code Reviews and Application Firewalls Clarified" document.

This clarification document approves, with the above caveat, the "proper use of automated application source code analyzer (scanning) tools" and the "proper use of automated web application security vulnerability assessment (scanning) tools."

Making the choice
So now it looks like there may be three avenues available, and in each case the choice may simply come down to people. Does the enterprise have staff who can:
a. Configure and maintain an application-layer firewall?
b. Perform a code review?
c. Use a third-party vulnerability detection tool and fix any problems the review uncovers?

Of course, the decision could also depend upon architecture considerations and how well an application-layer firewall would work with existing systems and devices.

Another factor to consider, particularly for those leaning toward a third-party code review, is how comfortable the organization may be with the status of its code. It is not unusual for payment card applications to develop over time and include some legacy code of unknown origin and unclear purpose. A security staff may not want to remove legacy code and run the risk of breaking a mission-critical application. Without suggesting that anyone should sweep potential bugs under the carpet, placing a firewall in front of an application might be less costly, or less disruptive, than re-writing it in light of a code review.

Finally, it has to be said that PCI DSS, admirable as its goals may be, has been far from perfect in practical terms. Not knowing exactly where the PCI Security Standards Council has drawn the line with Requirement 6.6 can be frustrating for those who are otherwise keen to toe that line. To a security professional who would normally urge the use of both code reviews and firewalls, it is another example of the compliance dilemma. If you promulgate a standard intended to increase security, you must be prepared to answer the question: "What must I do to comply with the standard?" The problem is, the question often becomes "What is the minimum I can do to be in compliance?" Just a few weeks ago, the PCI Council also released a clarification stating that companies can either perform the code review or install the application firewall, but that they would ideally like to see enterprises do both.

I recommend taking the time to understand PCI's Web application requirements, including the clarification documents, and consider how the approved options mesh with your architecture and resources. It is now clear that enterprises have multiple paths to compliance and, if executed properly, any of the options will not only help achieve compliance, but also improve Web application security.

For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/security-web-application-controllers.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 compare

What Symantec's Enterprise Vault Division does NOT want you to know! - May 6, 2008

Lake Mary, Florida -- Barracuda Networks Inc., the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances, today launched the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 models for enterprises and large organizations searching for an affordable solution to preserve and index all emails.  The Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 models also help organizations to efficiently store and manage emails while satisfying regulatory compliance criteria for saving email.“One of the biggest challenges facing larger organizations today is the need to balance making sure that their email server continues to operate efficiently while also future proofing their network for compliance,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “The Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 enable enterprise customers to achieve legal and regulatory compliance needs while making more efficient use of storage technology by providing increased performance, reliability and scalability inside the IT organization.”


The Barracuda Message Archiver 850 can archive and index email for up to 4,000 users and the Barracuda Message Archiver 950 has enough processing power to handle 6,000 users.  Both models include dual-redundant power supplies and hot-swappable RAID arrays.  In addition to offering the full set of storage capabilities – including single instance storage and built-in storage and redundancy through internal or external mirroring – offered with all Barracuda Message Archiver models, the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 models also include a hardware-based iSCSI host based adapter for high-performance interaction with Storage Area Networks.


Reliable Search and Storage for Public Records Requests

As the second largest school district in Washington with more than 29,000 students spread across 54 schools, the Spokane Public School District in Spokane needed to ensure that it was equipped to quickly respond to email discovery requests.  In Washington, all public organizations, including school districts, are subject to public records requests and various entities can request specific information, such as emails, related to district operations.  Spokane Public Schools selected the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 to help manage and store the email of its more than 4,500 email users to fulfill these public records requests.


“Prior to installing the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 there was no centralized way to fulfill this type of request,” said Brown.  “All employees would be asked to go through their own email inboxes and forward any emails related to the specific request to the IT staff for inclusion in a response to the requesting entity.  This was a slow, time-consuming and ineffective process.”


As with the full Barracuda Message Archiver product line, the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 offer a complete set of message archiving features designed with both compliance and storage efficiency in mind.  The Barracuda Message Archiver stores and indexes all email for easy search and retrieval by both regular users and third-party auditors and offers greater ease of use and administration, enabling deployment in less than 60 minutes.


“We were pleased that the Barracuda Message Archiver 850 not only was able to archive on a going forward basis but it also allowed us to automatically import in all messages already in our email system giving us access to information that had been up to that point difficult to retrieve,” said Brown.  “In addition it is easy to maintain and we appreciate that updates and enhancements are made in a timely fashion.”


Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Message Archiver 850 and 950 are currently available in the U.S. and priced at $29,999 and $44,999 respectively with no per user licensing fees.  International pricing and availability varies by region. 


About the Barracuda Message Archiver

The Barracuda Message Archiver is a complete and affordable email archiving solution, designed to effectively index and preserve all emails, achieve legal and regulatory compliance needs, and make more efficient use of storage technology inside the IT organization.  Leveraging standard policies and seamless access to messages, email content is fully indexed and backed up to enable administrators, auditors and end users quick retrieval of any email message stored in an organization’s email archive.  Delivered by Barracuda Central, Energize Updates provide automatic updates to its extensive library of virus and policy definitions for enhanced monitoring of compliance and corporate guidelines, document file format updates needed to decode content within email attachments and security updates for the underlying platform to remain free of potential security vulnerabilities.


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 cloud Enterprise Vault


De-Dup now with GRID Storage - May 6, 2008

ExaGrid Systems, Inc., the leader in cost-effective and scalable disk-based backup solutions with byte-level data de-duplication, recently announced the industry's first 30TB disk-based backup system with data de-duplication and a scalable GRID architecture. This product enhancement allows customers to store a 30TB full backup, plus weeks or months of retention, in a single GRID system. The expanded 30TB capacity will be available for both ExaGrid's EX series servers with internal storage, as well as the ExaGrid iSCSI Gateway for Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.

In addition to expanded backup capacity, ExaGrid provides best-in-class backup performance by writing to disk at full disk speed (post-processing) and by adding complete servers in a GRID for system expansion, instead of just more disk capacity. This scalable GRID-based approach maintains fast backup performance even as data grows. ExaGrid is also uniquely fast for restore performance as it stores the most recent backup in its complete, non-de-duplicated form ready for rapid restoration or tape copies.

The latest version of the ExaGrid Disk-based Backup system includes the following important enhancements and customer benefits:

Scalable Virtualized GRID Architecture:


  • Store a 30TB full backup, plus retention of backup history, in a single GRID system (up to six 5TB ExaGrid servers in a virtualized GRID system).

  • Plug-and-play growth—new systems virtualize together automatically. No splitting data or losing de-duplication efficiency across separate systems.

  • Fully configured ExaGrid installations are managed via a single Web UI, accessed with one login, unlike other solutions that require logging into and managing multiple separate devices.

  • Performance scales with data growth since processing power and memory are added along with storage capacity.

  • Automatic load balancing across all servers in the GRID.

  • Multiple 30TB GRID systems can be installed for increased capacity.


 

 

Highest Performance for Shortest Backup Window and Fastest Data Restoration:

  • Fastest backup performance due to post-process de-duplication. Write directly to disk without any processing on the fly to slow down backups. (Backup throughput: up to 4TB/hour).

  • Fastest restore and tape copy performance with byte-level data de-duplication which keeps the most recent backup in its whole form, unlike other solutions which require re-assembly from small blocks and large hash tables. (Restore throughput: up to 2.6TB/hour).


 

Most Cost-Effective and Flexible Solution:

  • Granular sizing options "right size" to specific customer backup data requirements, today and in the future.

  • Five EX Series server configurations with internal storage hold full backups of 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB or 5TB, plus retention. Servers can be combined, with up to six servers in a single GRID (5TB EX Series servers x 6 = 30TB ExaGrid GRID system).

  • No need to over buy storage capacity upfront. Systems can be easily combined in a virtualized GRID for larger capacities as needed.


 

Support for Leading Backup Applications

  • CA ARCserve

  • CommVault Galaxy

  • Symantec Backup Exec

  • Symantec NetBackup

  • EMC Networker

  • Microsoft SQL Dump

  • VMware Backup (VMDK)


 

Energy and Rack Space Efficient Operation

  • Customers can store many times more backup data in the same space for substantial savings in power, cooling and space requirements versus standard disk.


 

"We hear over and over again that completing ever larger backups in a short backup window is a primary customer concern," said Bill Andrews, president and CEO, ExaGrid Systems, Inc. "This latest product enhancement allows customers to achieve the shortest backup window possible with our post-processing data de-duplication, but also to maintain that short backup window as their data grows by leveraging our scalable GRID architecture. This approach also allows customers the flexibility to buy only what they need, when they need it, as additional servers can be added into the GRID at any time. The strength of our scalable GRID architecture is that you can grow the system as your data grows and performance does not degrade. Each server brings additional memory, processor and bandwidth resources, along with storage capacity."

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

RSA, the Security Division of EMC, Delivers Standards-Based Approach to Help Simplify Compliance - May 6, 2008

Orlando Florida -- RSA, The Security Division of EMC , today announced the findings of a new research paper that details the benefits organizations may gain -- including reduced costs and improved security -- by implementing a standards-based framework of security controls. The paper also details the ability of comprehensive security frameworks to help companies more easily comply with a variety of security requirements handed down by regulatory bodies, industry groups, partners, customers and internal policies.In addition, RSA announced new reports within the RSA enVision(R) security information and event management solution that are designed to enable organizations to more easily report on key aspects of the ISO 27002 standard -- a global code of practice for information security management which is useful in defining an effective set of best practice security controls as part of a compliance framework.


In March 2008, RSA commissioned Michael Rasmussen, industry analyst and President of Corporate Integrity, to undertake a research paper based on what it means to develop a "sustainable and cost-effective IT compliance program." The key findings of this project are that the typical approach to compliance -- responding on a regulation-by-regulation basis without an integrated IT compliance management program -- escalates costs, reduces visibility of the control environment overall, wastes resources, and leads to unnecessary complexity, inflexibility, vulnerability and exposure.


"A proactive approach to IT compliance allows organizations to look confidently to the future while also mitigating risk in the course of business," said Mr. Rasmussen. "An effective IT compliance program should be centered on a comprehensive framework, based on industry-wide standards -- such as ISO 27002."


Security Frameworks-Based Programs to Simplify IT Compliance


As organizations worldwide struggle to both comply with a plethora of compliance requirements and improve enterprise-wide security, a framework-based approach founded upon best practices and controls helps customers to build a proactive security program that may effectively break down the walls that often isolate organizational compliance silos. By driving compliance holistically, rather than on a requirement-by-requirement basis, companies may reduce costs by both avoiding redundant technology controls and easing the process of managing compliance. In addition, leveraging international standards such ISO 27002 as the foundation of an IT security and compliance program helps organizations align efforts to comply with key portions of many global regulations, including: the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS), HIPPA, Sarbanes-Oxley, the European Union's Data Protection requirements and regional data privacy laws.


"Our forward-thinking customers are using framework-based security and compliance programs to cost-effectively satisfy multiple requirements and manage information risk," said Steven Preston, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at RSA, The Security Division of EMC. "This goal can be achieved through the application of a consistent, holistic set of repeatable, scalable, enterprise-wide controls, which are centered upon recognized IT security best practices."


RSA Solutions to Establish Security Frameworks for Simplified Compliance


RSA's portfolio of technology solutions offers key security controls that help organizations establish frameworks based upon global best practices and standards. Key controls delivered by RSA's solutions include:


New Reporting Capabilities Within the RSA enVision Platform for ISO 27002-based Security and Compliance Programs


The RSA enVision platform is designed to offer a comprehensive suite of out-of-the box reports, which help enable organizations to effectively monitor their ISO 27002-based security and compliance program. These reports are prepared to align directly with the ISO 27002 standard, and help enable organizations to effectively demonstrate compliance with critical areas of the specification. Reports within RSA enVision platform related to ISO 27002 focus on areas such as computer account logon activity, computer account status, control of collected evidence, control of human resources data, malicious software activity, password changes and expirations and source code access.


Information Security Services to support Framework-based Compliance Initiatives


In addition to delivering a broad range of security controls, various EMC information-centric security consulting services -- leveraging solutions from RSA -- help enable organizations to effectively enact framework-based compliance programs.


For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/security-web-application-controllers.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 compare


Nexsan going Public? Not a chance - May 6, 2008

Storage hardware and software vendor Nexsan Corp. is trying to raise $80.5 million in an initial public offering (IPO) after suffering through a decade of unprofitability.

"We have not been profitable in any fiscal period since we were formed," Nexsan stated in papers filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nexsan was founded in 1999 and has recorded $21.9 million in net losses since July 2004.

Nexsan's decision to go public is surprising because the current market climate is "inhospitable," The 451 Group analysts Henry Baltazar and Brenon Daly wrote in a report issued May 1, a week after the IPO filing. Nexsan, a specialist in storage and digital archiving, is billing itself as a "green" storage vendor with systems offering high density and energy efficiency. (Compare storage products.)

Nexsan cautioned investors in its SEC filing that it faces stiff competition from Dell, EMC, IBM, Sun and several other big storage vendors.

"We have a history of losses, and we may not achieve profitability in the future," Nexsan wrote in the SEC filing. "We face intense competition from a number of established companies and expect competition to increase in the future, which could prevent us from increasing our revenue and end user base."  Say one VAR from recent Storage Conference "only Stevie Wonder would buy their stock, besides the product is marginal at best."

Nexsan's product releases over the past year or so include an appliance for smaller organizations and branch offices that lets them archive and retrieve as many as 20 million documents and a joint venture with Reldata Inc. that combined their network-attached storage, iSCSI and Fibre Channel technologies.

Customers use Nexsan hardware and software to store and preserve e-mail, office documents, medical images, and digital video and audio files, The 451 Group noted. Long-term storage of fixed content is a big priority for Nexsan these days.

"[Nexsan] was a pioneer in the disk-to-disk backup space and helped lead the push toward the development of inexpensive storage systems leveraging high-capacity, low-cost disk drives," The 451 Group said. "More recently, Nexsan has moved deeper into digital archiving for unstructured data. Interestingly, it describes itself ... as a 'fixed content' specialist. Although this product line contributes less than 10% of revenue, the company is staking its future on the opportunity in this market."
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



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