SMR uses a mapping system for LBAs that want to get written randomly to only writing them sequentially. Similar to SSD’s Flash Translation Layer (FTL), SMR HDDs use what is sometimes called a SMR (or Shingle) Translation Layer (STL), which is a similar concept. With SMR, however, much more is to be gained by making the

Today Microsoft announced a new offering that provides a high control platform enabling developers and ISVs to build highly scalable and customizable cloud services, Azure Service Fabric. Service Fabric provides the foundational technology that Azure core infrastructure runs on. Service Fabric also powers service such as Skype for Business, InTune, Event Hubs, DocumentDB, Azure SQL

For organizations leading the way with the business-critical solutions, technology refreshes are a fundamental part of doing business. Leading-edge applications can’t wait for legacy infrastructure; be it storage, interconnect, or compute related. The StorageReview Lab faces the same fundamental issues as application workloads become larger and more intense to take advantage of the newest generation

Seagate has announced that four Cray customers will be among the first to implement Seagate’s latest high performance computing storage technology. The four Cray customers that will be using the new technology are comprised of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Saudi Arabia-based King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Petroleum Geo-Services, and the

At ISC West this past week, Spectra Logic Corporation unveiled a new global division, Spectra Video Surveillance. Simultaneously, they also unveiled Spectra Video Surveillance’s first product, Spectra NVR3. NVR3 is an enterprise-class fully integrated video management software (VMS) that has intelligent analytics and multi-tiered storage.

Along with the updates and enhancements recently announced for its BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway, Spectra Logic has also announced that it is integrating with clients in the media and entertainment industry. This announcement provides direct access to deep storage for MAMs, editing suites, and media handlers. In effect, they could access all of their data with a

Microsoft Azure announced today the general availability of Azure Premium Storage. Unlike Azure Standard Storage that stores data on HDDs, Azure Premium Storage stores data on SSDs. That means workloads that require high I/O performance and low latency such as: OLTP, Big Data, and Data Warehousing on platforms like SQL Server, MongoDB, Cassandra, and others

Big Data comes up frequently in data management. Harnessing Big Data can lead businesses to all sorts of insights that could make them more efficient and more profitable. The only problem is that using Big Data can be quite the arduous undertaking when it comes to resource management and system administration. Google plans to tackle Big

Cisco recently introduced significant innovations to its Unified Computing System (UCS). Cisco launched several new offerings aimed at cloud service providers, high capacity media streaming, small IT environments, and data-intensive computing. The highlight at the time was the new modular or M-Series. However, shifting focus over to the C-series, specifically the C3160, one can begin to