Access "Hot Spots: Time to learn from Microsoft's mistakes"
This article is part of the Vol. 6 No. 3 May 2007 issue of Tips for lowering the cost of storage support contracts
Storage vendors could learn a thing or two from the Redmond gang about plugging holes in leaky systems. When I joined ESG in 2003, the acronym stood for Enterprise Storage Group. As the company diversified into areas like security, we decided we needed a new middle name. Goodbye "Storage," hello "Strategy" and the Enterprise Strategy Group. Why am I sharing this story? ESG was a leading storage analyst firm, but fairly unknown outside the spinning disk and magnetic tape crowds. When I joined ESG to start the information security practice, I decided that one of my initial focus areas would be security issues as they relate to storage. ESG had great relationships with storage professionals and vendors, and I found little actual research or writing about storage security. It seemed like a green field, so off I went. After diving into storage security, I quickly realized why so little had been written on the subject. Storage professionals assumed security was something the networking and server folks had to deal with--a true case where ignorance was bliss. With ... 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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