Access "Editorial: Top 10 reasons to find another vendor"
This article is part of the Vol. 6 No. 3 May 2007 issue of Tips for lowering the cost of storage support contracts
I'm up to my ears in numbers these days, culling stats from the surveys we run and the many other reports that pop up in my email. Reports can be fun even when they stretch the bounds of credulity--like IDC's recent prediction that the world will have to find some place to store 988 billion gigabytes of data by 2010. (I wonder if they'll 'fess up if the number falls short by a hundred billion gigabytes or so.) At least they're not predicting the Cubs will win the World Series ... Those kinds of numbers are pretty hard to fathom or confirm. At Storage, the numbers we typically deal with are a lot easier to put into context because they represent what you tell us you plan to do or buy, or how you think your vendors are treating you. But what truly makes some of the numbers come alive is talking to you about them when we do our follow-up interviews. So much of what I hear is about how you deal with vendors. And whether they're horror stories or experiences that are just a bit unnerving, they all demonstrate just how much time and effort is required for vendor ... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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- 10 ways to get the best storage price
- Backup reporting tools cast wider nets
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Snapshot: Email archiving on the rise with users
Email archiving on the rise with users
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Secure iSCSI storage
One of the raps against iSCSI storage is that it's not as secure as Fibre Channel SANs. But iSCSI can be as secure as you want it to be. It was built from the ground up with strong authentication and encryption capabilities that work … as long as they're used.
- Know when to hold 'em...
- More laptop backup options
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Survey Says: WAFS adoption picks up
WAFS adoption picks up
- Storage rethinks power strategies
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Midrange rivals top dog
Midrange arrays are encroaching on enterprise storage territory. Today's high-end midrange arrays and low-end enterprise arrays might look very similar. Features like clustering, mirrored cache, replication and snapshots have trickled down from enterprise arrays, while low-priced SATA drives have moved up to enterprise arrays.
- Users test deduplication limits
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Negotiating for support
Over a period of just a few years, the amount you spend on support contracts could equal or even exceed the price of the product itself. But storage support contracts are usually optional, and both the extent of coverage and its cost are definitely negotiable. A little hard bargaining and creativity, along with the leverage of seeking maintenance from a third-party support company, can go a long way toward knocking down your support costs.
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Storage managers in control
For the first time in five years, the amount of capacity storage managers plan to add this year dropped, according to the results of Storage magazine's latest Purchasing Intentions Survey. To be sure, the decrease was more of a sign that relief may be on the way for storage managers who have spent the last few years trying to keep up with runaway storage growth.
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Survey Says: WAFS adoption picks up
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Columns
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Hot Spots: Time to learn from Microsoft's mistakes
by Jon Oltsik
Security is a cradle-to-grave commitment that spans products, processes and personnel. Microsoft has proved that you can turn on a dime and remedy security shortcomings, and now some leading storage vendors are following its example.
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Storage Bin: 50 years of right is now very wrong
A huge portion of the issues we face today in storage and throughout our infrastructure are caused by us trying to use the same systems, architectures and methodologies we're used to for data that has all new requirements.
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Editorial: Top 10 reasons to find another vendor
Top 10 reasons to find another vendor
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Best Practices: Protecting SharePoint data
SharePoint's collaboration framework is gaining in popularity, but it has a number of data protection challenges that can result in significant levels of complexity rather quickly. Storage and data protection groups must work with application teams to plan an effective data protection strategy.
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Hot Spots: Time to learn from Microsoft's mistakes
by Jon Oltsik
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