FEATURED by Kevin OBrien
Unitrends Recovery-943 Backup Appliance Review
The Unitrends Recovery-943 Backup Appliance has 97TB of raw capacity and robust connectivity options, and it incorporates standard features found on existing Unitrends Recovery appliances such as backup, archiving, instant recovery, and disaster recovery functionality. In the past, these recovery appliances have been configured and marketed to small and medium businesses. These smaller organizations face complex backup requirements and don't have the dedicated resources and expertise needed to apply multi-platform backup-administration and as such have been Unitrends target-market. The Recovery-943 is however a step-up from previous Unitrends options with three times the storage capacity of its predecessor and the ability to scale the functionality of the Unitrends RecoveryOS to the enterprise market.
May 21st, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Permabit Annouces Albireo Compress and Replica
Permabit Technology is announcing its Albireo Compress and Albireo Replica data compression and replication applications that integrate with Permabit Albireo Virtual Data Optimizer (VDO). Permabit already offers a comprehensive Linux-based software-defined-storage solution in VDO that features deduplication and thin provisioning. Compress works with VDO's deduplication to reduce data storage requirements by as much as 35x. Replica coordinates with VDO to optimize data for content. Together with existing features on Albireo VDO, Compress and Replica enable Permabit OEMs to deliver performance and scalability on top of lowered time, resource and monetary investment.
May 21st, 2013 by Bill Valle
TwinStrata Announces CloudArray 4.5 and DRaaS
TwinStrata is announcing the immediate release of its next version CloudArray 4.5 which has been evolving to simplify management and now offers a solution for on-demand disaster recovery via the disaster recovery as a service enhancement (DRaaS). CloudArray 4.5 introduces a new snapshot function that eliminates the need for separate backup software and can save storage space by requiring 20X less space than traditional backup strategies. This new release also has an intuitive administrative interface which allows the users to tune schedules to better accommodate high usage time frames to avoid contention for data access with other applications. Schedules are managed in increments of 15 minutes and 1Mb/s intervals. CloudArray 4.5 also provides the next generation of dynamic caching, adding flexible volume migration and balancing across cache policies to meet performance, sizing and tech refresh requirements.
May 21st, 2013 by Bill Valle
HDS Debuts Hitachi Cloud Services
Hitachi Data Services (HDS) is announcing its new Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) which offers users the ability to manage content securely in an off-premise cloud environment. HCP Anywhere allows employees to access content from anywhere, at any time, on any device easily. End-to-end file sharing is securely maintained by corporate IT to be deployed safely and securely. By downloading an iOS app for mobile devices, users can easily access content without needing any formal training, and this ease of use extends to the administrators with simple setup, deployment and management of the application. HCP integrates with Microsoft’s Active Directory Services and affords administrators with the ability audit and manage large numbers of users.
May 20th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Veeam Announces Veeam Backup and Replication v7
Veeam Software is announcing Veeam Backup and Replication v7 data protection software includes two new innovations: built-in WAN Acceleration and Backup from Storage Snapshots. Veeam is known for their backup, replication and virtualization management solution for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, and this announcement indicates up to 50% faster offsite backup using the built-in WAN Acceleration. On top of these features, Veeam Backup and Replication v7 includes over 50 new features and enhancements to the software including Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, VMware vCloud Director Integration, Self-Service Recovery of VMs and Guest Files, and Native Tape Support.
May 16th, 2013 by Josh Linden
Pogo Storage Announces Nexenta-Certified PogoRack
Pogo Storage and Nexenta Systems have introduced PogoRack, a petabyte-scale storage platform oriented towards government IT requirements that leverages NexentaStor ZFS and other open storage technologies. In doing so, PogoRack operates on an industry-standard hardware platform to reduce overhead for cloud, virtualization, database, and other on-demand data applications. PogoRack targets government IT environments that often face strict completion and budget requirements while also being required to meet operational standards and procurement regulations. According to Pogo, using open Nexenta technologies is a viable strategy for government IT departments to keep the cost of storage infrastructures within public budget limitations.
May 15th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
NetApp Announces NetApp Connect
NetApp is announcing its brand new NetApp Connect application that utilizes technology from ionGrid to enable users to access corporate data from their mobile device securely and intuitively. NetApp Connect is designed to add security to data access which employees have typically done using consumer-based solutions. It maintains security by keeping sensitive data behind the firewall. Users will be able to access documents, presentations, and other information from home directories, SharePoint and CIFS shares in a seamless fashion by downloading the application to their mobile device. Simplifying the process, NetApp Connect doesn’t require VPN setup or separate authentication tools.
May 15th, 2013 by Kevin OBrien
HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage Review (StoreEasy 5530)
HP has been going through a transformation recently when it comes to the branding of their storage products. 3PAR, LeftHand, NAS and JBOD storage solutions have become more neatly accounted for with clear steps defined to help buyers understand which solutions fit their needs. The StoreEasy family addresses the SMB and midmarket with storage offerings that range from 1U entry-level filers to more complex arrays that could include elements from the enterprise 3PAR and virtual storage offerings. The StoreEasy 5000 takes its place at the top of the StoreEasy family. The StoreEasy 5530 configuration that we're now reviewing can either operate on its own as the primary NAS storage for a small organization or branch/remote office, or the 5530 can form the beginning of a much larger storage environment. Either way, the StoreEasy runs Windows Storage Server 2012 and is designed to be an easy drop-in for Windows-based environments. The storage server itself offers dual blade servers in an active/active configuration to offer not just a highly-available (HA) solution, but one that can also load balance and offer non-disruptive in-place upgrades.
May 14th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Synology Announces DiskStation DS1513+
Synology is announcing the immediate release of their five-bay DS1513+ NAS for the SMB enterprise market that offers increased throughput, more redundancy and easy business application usage as enhancements over the DS1512+. Synology is also providing High Availability to prevent long instances of downtime as well as network load balancing to optimize storage across drives. With the Synology DS1513+, administrators have initial access to as much as 20TB of raw storage. However, they will also be able to scale out to 60TB of raw storage with the use of two eSATA ports on the rear of the machine.
May 13th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
HP Announces Enhanced Storage for SMB
HP has announced the next generation of its MSA entry disk array, updates to the HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio and a new program for HP channel partners. The enhanced HP offerings are designed to make storage deployment and management simpler for SMBs and government agencies who often don't have the resources or expertise in the field to utilize their system for maximum performance and availability. In particular, according to HP their MSA 2040 Storage system performs up to 4x competing models, and the HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio makes it easier to manage file data without specialized expertise. Organizations will be able to obtain these enhanced HP offerings via HP's new Simply StoreIT program. The program is for HP channel partners and provides training, marketing and incentives to the channel to assist them in addressing customers' needs and in finding new revenue.
The SAS 616iSD 10G is part of an extensive line of block-level storage arrays offered by JetStor. The iSCSI 616iSD offers up to 48TB of storage via 16 3.5" bays in a 3U enclosure. JetStor features dual redundant active/active RAID controllers and four 10GbE ports, two per controller. Each controller is powered by an Intel IOP342 64-bit Chevelon dual-core storage processor, and includes features like parity-assist ASIC, iSCSI-assist engine and TCP Offload Engine (TOE). Should 48TB prove insufficient, the 616iSD can be expanded with four JBOD shelves (SAS716J) for a maximum capacity of 240TB per array.
The StarTech 2636 cabinet is a 15U server rack that ships fully assembled and is ready to go right out of the box. The growing rack space requirements of the 
The Mellanox SX1036 is a 1U managed Ethernet switch that provides up to 2.88Tb/s of non-blocking throughput via 36 40Gb/s QSFP ports that can be broken out to achieve up to 64 10Gb/s ports or offer a mixture of 40Gb/s and 10Gb/s connectivity. As a backbone to the .jpg)
The Lenovo ThinkServer RD630 represents a calculated entry into the server market: an affordable server with specifications that support database applications and virtualized infrastructure. The RD630 was announced earlier this year as part of an initiative to expand the ThinkServer brand into enterprise cloud and virtualization deployments. It is a scalable 2U rack server solution featuring hardware RAID and eight to sixteen 2.5-inch hot-swap SAS or SATA drives. Powering the ThinkServer is the Intel Xeon E5-2600 processor family with the Intel C602 Chipset. New products like the RD630 are positioning Lenovo to take on other OEMs like Dell and HP that already operate in the enterprise server market.
Eaton’s Advanced Monitored family of ePDUs are designed to allow administrators to remotely monitor the power usage of individual outlets or sections over the network. Out-of-the-box web monitoring is built into the ePDU, and SNMP allows integration with third-party management systems. The eAM001 Advanced Monitored ePDU brings 20 C13 outlets and 4 C19 outlets to the 
