"Podcast: Storage reporting tools" SearchStorage ANZ 7/1/2009 In this podcast interview, Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses the benefits storage infrastructure reporting tools can provide any IT professional's storage environment, as well as strategies for maximizing the efficiency of a storage management plan.           "NexentaStor reaches out to the enterprise with high availability" SearchStorage 6/30/2009 "ZFS can be tough to use from a manageability standpoint," said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Terri McClure in an email to SearchStorage.com.           "Mimosa Systems adds case management tool to NearPoint 4.0 data archiving software" SearchStorage 6/29/2009 Log shipping, according to Brian Babineau, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), is seen as more advanced than the more typical journaling approach to ingesting data into an archive.   ESG Research Brief: Enterprise SSD Usage is Not a Flash in the Pan 6/30/2009 Despite the fact that flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs) offer performance levels more than 30 times greater than traditional hard disk drives (HDDs)—as well as providing other benefits such as higher availability and reduced power and cooling requirements—the cost of flash-enabled storage systems remains a significant roadblock to widespread adoption. In the enterprise market, early adopters have largely been organizations with ample storage budgets, as well as those whose current performance needs justify the significant price delta between SSD and HDD technology. However, the prevailing perception is that there is a fit for flash-based SSDs in an overall tiered storage strategy and that usage will become more ubiquitous as prices decline. ESG Research Brief: Is Data Destruction a Compelling Use Case for Self-Encrypting Drives? 6/18/2009 To protect sensitive data, many storage vendors now offer encryption capabilities with their enterprise-class systems. In spite of increasing privacy legislation and an avalanche of publicly-disclosed data breaches, most large organizations believe their enterprise storage systems are relatively well-protected and thus continue to forego encryption. Some storage vendors are now proposing self-encrypting drives for another use case: data destruction. By deleting encryption keys, these vendors believe they can help enterprises automate data destruction processes. In theory, this is true—but ESG research demonstrates that, though key deletion for data destruction may have some niche market appeal, it is not a “killer app” for storage encryption across the broad enterprise market. ESG Lab Validation Report: Manageable, Affordable, and Automated Disaster Recovery Solutions SunFire X4450 Enterprise Servers Sun Storage 6000 Array Family VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5/18/2009 A growing number of organizations are deploying networked storage in conjunction with server virtualization to consolidate, reduce costs, and improve the flexibility and availability of mission-critical applications. IT managers choosing networked storage for virtualized environments are looking for easy and cost effective disaster recovery without sacrificing performance. This ESG Lab report presents the results of hands on testing of VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, SunFire X4450 servers, and SAN-attached Sun Storage 65/6780 series deployed in a highly virtualized data center.

< Home   < Search   Search All records In The News  (887 found) Upcoming Events  (2 found) Briefs  (917 found) Research Reports  (94 found) Lab Reports  (136 found) In The News (887 found) "Podcast: Storage reporting tools" SearchStorage ANZ In this podcast interview, Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses the benefits storage infrastructure reporting tools can provide any IT professional's storage environment, as well as strategies for maximizing the efficiency of a storage management plan. "NexentaStor reaches out to the enterprise with high availability" SearchStorage "ZFS can be tough to use from a manageability standpoint," said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Terri McClure in an email to SearchStorage.com. "Mimosa Systems adds case management tool to NearPoint 4.0 data archiving software" SearchStorage Log shipping, according to Brian Babineau, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), is seen as more advanced than the more typical journaling approach to ingesting data into an archive. "Symantec hybrid service represents "unique" approach to endpoint security" IT Business The new offering from Symantec represents a unique approach to endpoint security, according to Jon Oltsik, senior analyst of information security with the Enterprise Strategy Group in Millford, Mass. "Continuous data protection (CDP) playing a role in data backup" SearchDataBackup Lauren Whitehouse of Enterprise Strategy Group added that customers will not rip out backup software they already have in place. "TJX to pay $9.75 million for data breach investigations" SearchSecurity "This was a self inflicted wound and certainly TJX has done a lot of work since the breach, but the breach itself was the result of poor processes and negligence," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Mimosa NearPoint, LiveOffice Mail Archive offer hybrid SaaS email archiving approach" SearchStorage "This is the first legitimate hybrid SaaS and on-premise email archive solution," said Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "EMC's RSA security division offers new channel incentives" eChannelLine Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, said the rebates would help RSA's channel to focus on solutions important to their customers. "Symantec unveils endpoint protection services" NetworkWorld “Everyone’s trying to rationalize budgets, and some things are operational burdens,” says Jon Oltsik, analyst at consultancy Enterprise Strategy Group, about Symantec’s new set of services. "Linux Kernel Driver Supports Neterion Products" TMC Net Neterion's 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter helps to eliminate this problem by offloading I/O processing and returning CPU horsepower back to the pool of virtual machines, says Mark Bowker, Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "DataDirect Networks Web Object Scaler (WOS) challenges EMC's Atmos in the cloud" SearchStorage "They're offering scale-out technology that can drop into the data center with two nodes and remain price competitive with scale-out NAS," said Terri McClure, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. "US govt could hinder EMC bid for Data Domain" The Guardian EMC also stands out as a leader because it offers the broadest line of data reduction technology -- selling three types of products within that category, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. "Dell Becomes a Data Storage Contender" Enterprise Storage Forum "I like the message Dell is sending with this," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure. "Hitachi Helps Storage Shops Reclaim Capacity" PCWorld This has led to a big problem with trapped capacity, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. "HP refreshes ExDS9100 scale-out NAS" SearchStorage Terri McClure, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said the market opportunity for prepackaged scale-out systems in the Web 2.0 space seems limited so far. "What the Heck is Going On in the Data Storage Industry?" Enterprise Storage Forum "Clearly, some of the consolidation is brought on by the economic situation resulting in the opportunistic purchase of relatively cheap intellectual property/market share, and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of this," said Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "HP vs. Cisco: A Data Center Smackdown Looms?" Computerworld "If you listen to the descriptions, Matrix sounds a lot like Unified Computing," according to John Oltsik, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "EMC-NetApp Takeover Battle a Culture Clash?" Enterprise Storage Forum But Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said Tucci's letter isn't as much about corporate culture as it is about making the case that the company's offer is better than NetApp's. "Fedora Sets Leonidas Loose, Builds Collaboration Portal" E-Commerce Times However, Fedora and Red Hat have a long way to go before they can catch up with market leaders VMware, Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) and Microsoft, according to Mark Bowker, an analyst with the research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. "Isilon targets enterprise NAS with Backup Accelerator, N+2:1 parity" SearchStorage "I think Isilon has closed most of the major holes," wrote Terri McClure, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), in an email to SearchStorage.com. "Electronic medical records present challenge to healthcare industry" SearchStorage Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said hospitals often have end users (doctors) that are used to long-standing legacy systems. "Citrix drives desktop virtualisation" ITWeb South Africa Mark Bowker, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, says in a press statement: “This innovative approach from Citrix and Intel has the potential to swing the pendulum toward desktop virtualisation alternatives and disrupt a traditional desktop management industry that is costing enterprises billions of dollars a year today.” "Dell, CommVault release bundled de-duplication appliance" Computerworld "The latest CommVault-Dell offering provides customers with benefits to help cut data management capital and operating expenses, facilitate consolidation of distributed backup operations, and slash server virtualization-related storage costs," Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., said. "Electronic Records Management: File This Under ‘More Work Needed'" Workforce Management Companies are still struggling with how to deal with records that are “born digital,” says Brian Babineau, senior analyst with Boston-based Enterprise Strategy Group "Dell's data deduplication strategy: partner for target and host dedupe products" SearchDataBackup Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said, "Inevitably this is a feature of a storage system or an application. It's not a standalone function. The avenue Dell is pursuing is to have lots of different solutions." "Storage Performance Council offers SPC-1C/Energy (SPC-1C/E) benchmark" SearchStorage Although the value of benchmarks such as those from the Storage Performance Council have been questioned because tests may not reflect real-world use of storage systems, Brian Garrett, technical director of ESG Lab at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said SPC-1C/E is helpful because of today's emphasis on power consumption. "Systems integration, telecom offer new hardware niche in New England" Mass High Tech “I’d be stunned to see the manufacturing of basic hardware return to the area,” said Steve Duplessie, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, a Milford-based technology industry analyst firm. "Up-&-Coming Networking Technologies" Processor “Higher throughput reduces latency, enables virtualization, and offers a path to a unified network combining storage and data center traffic,” says Steve O’Donnell, an analyst and managing director at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Data firm rethinks $1.8b bid by EMC" The Boston Globe Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, questioned the logic of a $2 billion bidding war over Data Domain. "Analysis: EMC doesn't need Data Domain, but damages chief rival NetApp" Computerworld "My first take was 'oh, that is really smart,'" said former EMC employee Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. "VMware virtualization shops seek low-cost storage alternatives" SearchServerVirtualization Admittedly, that's "an extreme number," said Mark Bowker, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, but regardless, "storage is the biggest piece of that pie." "The Money In Storage: Why EMC, NetApp Duel For Data Domain" The Wall Street Journal Additionally, a higher bid is a riskier proposal for NetApp, which is significantly smaller than EMC. In trying to match EMC, the long-term success of Data Domain becomes more of a make-or-break proposition for NetApp, said Steve Duplessie, storage industry analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "If EMC wins and screws it up entirely, it's not going to put them out of business," Duplessie said. "EMC tops NetApp's bid for Data Domain" eChannelLine Steve Duplessie, founder of Enterprise Strategy Group, posted on his "Steve's IT Rants" blog about the deal, questioning the logic of EMC's bid to buy Data Domain. "Dedupe Wars: Quantum, NEC Extend Deduping Capabilities" Byte and Switch Most IT departments are still exploring data deduplication and have not yet implemented the technology, said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Quantum, NEC add to data deduplication product arsenals; FalconStor claims fastest DR time in VTLs with dedupe" SearchDataBackup Other post-process delta-differential products from vendors such as ExaGrid Systems Inc., FalconStor and Sepaton also include some content awareness, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse. "IBM converges the network" ITWeb Bob Laliberte, analyst from Enterprise Strategy Group, says: "As the FCOE market develops, securing key vendor design wins and go-to-market channels will be critical to establishing market leadership and accelerating adoption of FCOE technology." "Hewlett-Packard launches Windows 2008-based multiprotocol data storage system for SMBs" SearchSMBStorage Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure said multiprotocol arrays are becoming especially popular with smaller companies who often want block and file capability without having to buy and manage separate systems. "Analyst: Mac Java Hack Signals Big Trouble" ComputerWorld It's this kind of nonchalant attitude toward serious security problems that analysts like Jon Oltsik, Mac security analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, say is making them a bit irritated. "How to understand deduplication ratios" SearchStorage ANZ The effectiveness of data deduplication is often expressed as a deduplication or reduction ratio, denoting the ratio of protected capacity to the actual physical capacity stored. Click the link to read this article by ESG Analyst Lauren Whitehouse. "Sepaton unveils high-end remote replication solution" eChannelLine "Coupling deduplication with replication to reduce bandwidth requirements enables large-scale data center environments to meet DR imperatives," said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "IBM Adds Solid State to High-End Storage" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters agreed. "IBM's announcement certainly takes it in the right direction," said Peters. "NetApp to buy Data Domain" SearchStorage ANZ The price of the deal only amplified skepticism that the Data Domain products will remain relegated to one part of NetApp's business. "You have to believe there will be some product rationalization, where they choose the best [product] for primary [storage] and the best for secondary [storage]," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said. "Digital Reef integrates FAST ESP and SharePoint Server 2007 support" SearchStorageAsia Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said ESG's research shows close to half of large organizations use SharePoint, and approximately 35% use it to manage compliance records and evidence. "NetApp shells out $1.5 billion for Data Domain" InfoStor While the product overlap between NetApp and Data Domain may be miniscule, it does exist, according to Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Microsoft Offers Free Template For Secure Software Development Process" Dark Reading "In general, I'd say that you have to start somewhere, and Microsoft will likely have the best success with integration into its own tools focused on its large development community," says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group "EMC Adds Some Thunder to the Cloud" InternetNews.com "We don't yet know if Google or Amazon are actually making any money with the cloud, as it's not split off on their balance sheets," said Brian Babineau, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "HP plans web-based data classification service" SearchStorage ANZ Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said data classification and indexing tools like those offered by Autonomy Corp., FAST and Attivio can generate taxonomies for a user. "Mac Software: Stepchild to Windows Versions No More?" The New York Times Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik figures Macs have around a 5 percent penetration rate among companies that allow Macs in their environments. "Kazeon bolsters eDiscovery review and analysis software" SearchStorage Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, pointed out that Kazeon's support for collection and culling of SharePoint files will also come in handy. "With $20 Billion Up for Grabs, Everyone's an EMR Vendor" Enterprise Storage Forum Indeed, talk to any storage or storage virtualization or data management and archiving vendor and they'll probably tell you they have the latest, greatest EMR solution — or are working on it. And maybe they do, said Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. But he also sees a lot of hype. "What Happens to the Data When An Online Storage Site Closes?" Network World A company with no doomsday plan is setting up its customers for a data disaster, says Lauren Whitehouse of Enterprise Strategy Group. "Could Solid State Spell the End for Hard Drives?" Enterprise Storage Forum Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, agrees with at least some of this assessment. "I'd say that Fibre Channel drives are first in the firing line," said Peters. "Extreme offers 582 10 GbE ports in new data center switch modules" SearchNetworking "Looking at the demands of the dynamic data center, from top-of-rack and end-of-rack, [Extreme] is giving [itself] enough headroom to meet today's requirements but easily give its customers something that will scale," said Jon Oltsik, principal analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "EMC Addresses SAN Configuration Problems" CIO "What they've announced is pretty cool technology for them, in the fact that it's agentless," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group of Milford, Mass. "Growing data storage infrastructure may require new provisioning tools" SearchStorage Brian Garrett, technical director of the Enterprise Strategy Group Lab, said that although fully automated end-to-end storage provisioning might sound great, getting there isn't so simple. "Cheaper virtualisation becoming a reality" Computerworld "VMware owned the market for a couple years, but now with the introduction of Microsoft's Hyper-V, Citrix making XenServer free, and even Oracle's VM, there's pricing pressure on VMware," says Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "First Look - Windows Storage Server 2008" SearchStorage ANZ "The expanded single-instance-storage capability is a key feature of WSS 2008," Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Terri McClure wrote in an email to SearchStorage ANZ. "F5 Networks makes ARX file virtualization switch more tier friendly" SearchStorage "F5 has been getting traction for ARX lately," said Terri McClure, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "They're not breaking out [ARX revenue], but they had a pretty decent first quarter." "Multiprotocol storage arrays gain interest, adoption" SearchStorage According to Terri McClure, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a fall 2008 ESG survey of 338 administrators with storage buying responsibilities found that 67% of them had multiprotocol storage implementations underway or were in the planning phases. "PHD Virtual improves VM backups" Infostor "The esXpress approach uses Linux-based VMs, called VBAs, that only run during the backup schedule. This means you don't need client agents in VMs or the Service Console, and it doesn't require VCB – no proxy hardware, VCB license or scripting," says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Built-in encryption is the future of storage" SC Magazine “Others will surely follow,” predicts Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst with market research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Why IT should start throwing data away" InfoWorld And more such regulations are in the works, notes Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. "If you're in business, you're going to be regulated somehow," he says. "BakBone acquires continuous data protection partner Asempra" SearchDataBackup Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said that so far, the integration between Asempra and BakBone has been mostly at the interface level, and suggests that BakBone work on deeper integration to add policy-based controls to the continuous data protection process. "MAID yet to reach full potential" SearchStorageAsia "MAID should be playing a role [in green data centers]," said Mark Peters, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), who points out that there's no sign of a marked increase in the use of MAID or any disk spin-down. "CA adds deduplication, virtual server backup to Recovery Management" SearchDataBackup Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse says CA has quickly caught ARCserve up with the rest of the pack. "Data classification 101" SearchStorage "Data classification was never a product or really a market," said Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Hitachi Data Offers Free Storage Virtualization" ChannelTimes "Programmes that promote storage efficiency are endemic right now and deservedly so. Heterogeneous support and virtualization are extremely valuable approaches both operationally and financially; however with 'Switch it On' Hitachi Data Systems strikes a new and welcome chord - it is not only exposing inefficiency and talking about what it can offer, but is actually helping its customers to do something to address it, without them having to get out their checkbooks," said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "EMC cuts costs with employee pay cuts" SearchStorageAsia Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said his firm expects spending to begin picking up around mid-year. "The downfall of Sun Microsystems" The New York Times The biggest reason for Sun's downfall is "the inability to recognize the x86 open architecture, as opposed to what they were selling with the Sparc processors," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. "Data Storage Slideshow:Who Will Ride the IT M and A Wave Following Oracle-Sun?" eWeek "We believe there is going to be more M&A activity in technology because valuations are depressed, and it is going to be difficult for many companies to grow in this economy. What will be interesting is how the transactions evolve," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau told eWEEK. ESG Adds Prominent European Managing Director Senior IT Executive & Entrepreneur Steve O’Donnell joins growing ESG team in Europe Milford, MA –- April 22, 2009 – Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a market-leading information technology research, analysis, and strategy firm, today announced the addition of Steve O‘Donnell as Managing Director for ESG‘s European operations. Steve will lead the growth of ESG in Europe as well as the global IT operations practice for the company. "VMware and ISVs Including Marathon Square Off on Fault Tolerance" CIO Customers can choose whether they want high availability for a single VM, all the VMs on a server, the server itself, or full fault tolerance for the full physical server so that not a second's worth of data or transactions are lost in the case of either hardware or virtual-server problems, according to Mark Bowker, analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group. "iPod Touch: The iPod of War" NetworkWorld "Given the ubiquity of the iPod, the platform is perfect for military applications assuming that Apple and the [Department of Defense] can harden the system as needed," says Enterprise Strategy Group security analyst Jon Oltsik. "VMware: My Own Private Cloud" Forbes That saves the marketing manager from "having to go through a process that can take weeks or months" and entail getting approval for buying actual new machines and networking equipment, says Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "Key to Oracle-Sun Deal: Storage, DB Hardware" eWeek "Oracle is very good at making money in open source," Enterprise Strategy Group storage analyst Brian Babineau told eWEEK. "Virtual security appliances: A 'new and growing trend'" SearchServerVirtualization "It's a new and growing trend," said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. "We're seeing lots of different people doing similar things." "Archiving vendors Iron Mountain, Tarmin sharpen e-discovery focus" SearchStorage.co.uk Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said an uptick in lawsuits usually follows increased regulations, and that will increase the need for e-discovery tools. "EMC rolls out new Symmetrix disk arrays" SearchStorageAsia "It kind of ends that whole I/O problem with virtual servers because PowerPath will automatically load balance across the system," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "EMC's New Symmetrix Array Targets Virtual Data Centers" CIO While server virtualization makes one server act as many independent virtual machines, storage virtualization takes 1,000 disparate elements and makes them appear as one, says Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "EMC vastly expands system's storage capacity" The Boston Globe "Our technical guys have already ripped the thing apart and been wildly impressed by its capabilities," said Steve Duplessie, a senior storage analyst at consulting firm Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford. "Trend Micro Takes on Endpoint Security, Management" eWeek “Enterprises need proactive security solutions that are able to immediately detect new and emerging Web-based threats without overburdening their endpoints. The cloud-client infrastructure behind File Reputation means fewer updates to the client, with a more predictable impact on endpoint resources,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. "Atrato add solid state, smarter software" SearchStorage.co.uk Mark Peters, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said intelligent management is required to improve the economics of solid state. "8-Gig Fibre Channel Slowly Makes Its Mark" Byte and Switch "Companies have been working with Fibre Channels for many years, so they have developed a great deal of internal expertise about how to manage it," says Bob Laliberte, an analyst with research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. "Sun made colossal mistake in turning down IBM offer, analysts say" NetworkWorld "Pure insanity" is the phrase used by Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau to describe Sun turning down the premium offered by IBM. Click the link to read more. "How to choose a midmarket disaster recovery service provider" SearchSMBAsia "If it's business continuity, then it involves more than backup tapes," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Alternatives to data replication" SearchStorage "For critical and high-end application servers, IT managers tend to favor array-based replication over host-based replication because it keeps server resources dedicated to the app and doesn't expose it to potential bugs or flaws in the replication software," said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Sun Walks Away From IBM Merger Talks" Internetnews.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said the fallout reminded him of the failed merger negotiations between Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) a year ago. Click the link to read more. "EMC announces content archiving, e-discovery applications" NetworkWorld Middle East "They didn't have the burden of legacy products," said Brian Babineau, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Aptare widens SRM net to include VMware, NetApp replication" SearchStorage.com "In terms of timeframe, they're behind some of the other SRM players," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "But server virtualization for mission-critical, production applications is just hitting its stride." Click the link to read more. "Seeking Enterprise Mac Support?" NetworkWorld "Typically, Mac people have their own network for support, tips and best practices," says Jon Oltsik, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Macs in the Enterprise: the Cost Factor" NetworkWorld Nevertheless, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik says Mac support can be daunting. Click the link to read more. "When and where should you dedupe?" SearchStorage.com The impact that data growth is having on backup windows is driving more organizations to implement disk-to-disk backup. This has created tremendous interest in data deduplication because the capacity optimization resulting from deduplication means that data can be retained longer on disk, which increases the likelihood of a disk-based recovery vs. a slower, manual, tape-based recovery. Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Lauren Whitehouse. "ParaScale launches cloud storage software" ComputerWorld Terri McClure, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford, Mass., said in a statement that PCS addresses the need to cost-efficiently store and manage huge amounts of unstructured data in an age when everything is being retained by companies. Click the link to read more. "QLogic delivers single-ASIC FCoE adapters" SearchStorage.com Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said single-ASIC CNAs will have a much better value proposition for storage and server vendors. Click the link to read more. "VMware Bucks Microsoft's Cheaper is Better Mantra" CIO Even without a straight dollar-cost comparison of the purchase and licensing costs, however, VMware still has a considerable advantage over Microsoft, according to Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "What's up with private clouds" SearchCIO.com SearchCIO.com recently sat down with virtualization and cloud computing expert Mark Bowker, an analyst at The Enterprise Strategy Group, to find out just how real companies' plans are for developing a private cloud. Click the link to read more. "Dell Adds SSDs in Updated EqualLogic Line" CIO India The most remarkable thing Dell has done is to deliver far more in every area without raising prices, said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Steve Duplessie. Click the link to read more. "Is Apple Safari safe?" CIO "Since browsers are literally a window to the Internet, they are extremely vulnerable to malicious code masquerading as a plug-in, applet or application," says Jon Oltsik, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "IBM and Sun: Innovation or Consolidation?" InternetNews.com "It is extremely likely that we will see more regulation in the financial markets as a result of the current economic crisis," Brian Babineau, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group told InternetNews.com earlier this year. Click the link to read more. "EMC Bridges Virtual, Physical Networks to Spot Problems" Network world Asia Virtual server infrastructures do more than eliminate the need for an application to know much about the hardware on which it's running and make it possible for more than one application to share a server, according to Bob Laliberte, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Anti-virus is alive and kicking" SC Magazine This trend requires a fresh definition of the anti-virus market, says John Oltsik, an analyst with IT researchers Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Tiered storage 101" SearchStorage.com Policy-based migration tools are finally allowing tiered storage to move from the planning stage to reality, said Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Analysis: IBM Can Probably Sell Sun Better Than, Well, Sun" eWeek For Sun, a potential merger is the best outcome that management and shareholders could ask for, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "CA Upgrades SRM for Mainframes, Distributed Systems" Byte and Switch Not only does that make storage management easier, but it can help with the growing shortage of IT personnel with mainframe skills, says Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, a research firm. Click the link to read more. "Mimosa adds SharePoint archiving" SearchStorage.co.uk Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said SharePoint has become a critical application in the enterprise for document management. Click the link to read more. "CA makes its SRM more virtualization-friendly" SearchStorage.com Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said it's not enough just to have virtualization support. "The key to capacity utilization is having that view from the server level," he said. Click the link to read more. "The State of the Data Storage Job Market" Enterprise Storage Forum Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, has also spotted the move toward the IT generalist. Click the link to read more. "Does Cisco's server grab exceed its reach?" eWeek It's a daring move in this economy, said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, and has already created a wedge in Cisco's relationships with HP and IBM. Click the link to read more. "Understanding Cisco's roll of the dice" CNET News Daily Podcast With about $30 billion in cash to spend, John Chambers is not in any mood to walk on eggshells. And so it is that with Monday's bold announcement to offer its own server hardware, Cisco's CEO is taking on Hewlett-Packard and IBM, among others. Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik puts the news in perspective. "Cisco's Data Center Invasion" Forbes Magazine Even so, the prospect of handing Cisco so many elements of the data center could raise fears among customers, says Mark Bowker, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "No one wants to tie their entire data center to a single vendor," he says. Click the link to read more. "The future of secure development at Microsoft " SD Times "The next step for the SDL or something similar is broad acceptance in academia. We need developers trained on SDL and we need a special program for SDL testing experts," said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Measuring data center efficiency easier said than done" Network World There has to be some way of analyzing an individual data center's use of power, and PUE is a great step in that direction, says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "EMC extends Smarts solutions to virtualized server environments" eChannelLine "The inclusion of the server domain for the Smarts product line is pretty compelling," said Bob Laliberte, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Tucci: EMC positioned for growth" The Boston Globe Steve Duplessie, a storage analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, said there's a good chance that an aggressive EMC can grow market share even in tough times. Click the link to read more. "HP Upgrades EVA Arrays, Virtualization Software" Byte and Switch While the upgrades and enhancements may not be sexy, according to Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, they will appeal to IT departments seeking "easy to use" administration as they try to cope with smaller staff. Click the link to read more. "Endpoint Virtualization Suite Soon" CIO India "The usefulness in this is regaining control of the endpoint, the desktop specifically," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker about the suite, noting that similar emerging technologies from Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware are coming into view. Click the link to read more. "Fibre Channel over Ethernet: allowing the big data-center synch" Network World Middle East Bob Laliberte, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, agrees. "The economy will certainly get more companies to look at FCoE," he says. Click the link to read more. "Virtual desktop infrastructure: Part 2 - the products" SearchCIO.com But Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), remains dubious about the ROI model for VDI. He said users are still trying to figure out how to get a return. Click the link to read more. "Scale-out NAS on the rise" SearchStorage.com Unstructured data will make up 80% of the information in the corporate data center by 2012. Much of that will continue to be the type of file data IT managers have dealt with for years -- home directories and file shares -- but new file storage requirements are also growing in importance and impact. Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Terri McClure. "What is virtual desktop infrastructure?" SearchCIO.com "Network storage is very important in this virtualized environment," said Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Technology briefing: Anti-virus is alive and kicking" SC Magazine This trend requires a fresh definition of the anti-virus market, says John Oltsik, an analyst with IT researchers Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Data Domain Boosts Throughput With OS Upgrade" Byte and Switch Data Domain is among the few tech companies still growing despite the cutbacks in spending on IT, says Brian Babineau, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Storage budgets shrink as capacity grows" SearchStorage.com We're predicting data growth rates at roughly 25% to 30%, and storage budgets up 3% in 2009," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Five Steps for Keeping Data Safe and Secure" SmallBusinessComputing.com "BitArmor approaches the data protection problem in a unique way, i.e., by embedding protection policies with the data itself, and not by protecting just the devices where data resides," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "VMware's Confederation Of Clouds" Forbes.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker says VMware's announcement is significant because it lays out how VMware plans to achieve its big-picture goal of becoming the operating backbone of virtualized data-centers. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft, Citrix join forces against VMware" The New York Times "What this is really about is Microsoft and Citrix as a team going against VMware," said Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC introduces new Celerra" eChannelLine Terri McClure an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, highlighted ease of use in the current "plug and play setup" in the Celerra, in contrast to earlier more complex models of the product. Click the link to read more. "Iron Mountain Goes Virtual With File Archive" InternetNews.com "This kind of hybrid solution is fairly unique as it's the first that connects that on-premise environment to an off-site service and provides on-demand access," Brian Babineau, senior analyst with ESG, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Virtualization Takes Market Share Battle To The Desktop" CNN Money Mark Bowker, an analyst at research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, says companies will have to make significant investments in hardware and networking to get their infrastructure ready for virtualization. Click the link to read more. "Virtualization Takes Market Share Battle To The Desktop" Fortune Magazine Mark Bowker, an analyst at research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, says companies will have to make significant investments in hardware and networking to get their infrastructure ready for virtualization. Click the link to read more. "Slashed budgets? Think strategic, not tactical" NetworkWorld "We see a lot of tactical activity, and that's probably human nature to plug the obvious holes," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst with Milford, Mass.-based research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Symantec to release Endpoint Virtualization Suite in winter" Computerworld "The usefulness in this is regaining control of the endpoint, the desktop specifically," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker about the suite, noting that similar emerging technologies from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware are coming into view. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft partners with Iron Mountain" InfoStor Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), says Microsoft’s partnership with Iron Mountain creates a win-win scenario: “With its long-standing tenure as a SaaS provider and in the physical storage and records management business, Iron Mountain is a brand that Microsoft customers can trust. In fact, it’s likely that many DPM customers already do." Click the link to read more. "Cisco vs. HP: The battle is joined" Network World Asia "This is clearly a demonstration of HP really taking ProCurve in the enterprise and leveraging other HP strengths," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Take advantage of new-generation tape" SearchStorage.com "Recently, vendors have added more automation to their tape libraries," noted Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Big three storage vendors, security industry, team on key management standard" SearchStorage.com But Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said KMIP focuses on a wider variety of devices and imposes clearer rules on methods of key management communication than other standards. Click the link to read more. "The upside of an economic downturn: Storage efficiency" InfoStor Warren Buffett's remark that, "only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked" is apropos for the current economic downturn. Today, more than ever, many organizations are feeling exposed and anxious. Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Lauren Whitehouse. "WAN critical to virtualization's payoff" Network World "If I can benefit from VDI, that's great; if I can benefit from it over the WAN, that's gravy," says Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "The Laptop Buyer's Burden: HDD or SSD?" TechNewsWorld "Recently, vendors have made progress on the lowering the pricing and improving the performance of SSDs' raw materials, so they have become a more viable alternative to HDDs," Mark Peters, an analyst with market research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, told TechNewsWorld. Click the link to read more. "HP upgrades its PC blade desktop alternative" Computerworld Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., said that to date, most of the users adopting PC blades are trying to solve a niche problem. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft Sees Opportunity in Mobile Phone Data Storage" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse called such services "a first line of defense for protecting basic data such as the phone book, calendar items, etc. Users that leverage their phone for data are often tied to a corporate or personal-delivered service that probably has some built-in data protection capabilities. The scenario where data could be at risk is for data that originates on an endpoint device and doesn't synchronize with a central system or service." Click the link to read more. Is Orange the New Green? Semantics are so important in the IT world. "Green" has been a pretty important word of late - but, is orange the new green? What does that even mean? Take a look at a video blog by ESG Analyst Mark Peters to find out. "WAN optimisation qualified by EMC" SNS UK "With optimization products like Riverbed's in place for faster data protection, organizations can dramatically reduce their recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO)," said Jon Oltsik, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "IBM Revamps Venerable Tivoli Storage Software" InternetNews.com "TSM will find replicate data after the backup is completed to disk and eliminate redundancy. That means that capacity of the backup data is optimized," Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Asempra supports longer retention, new appliance" SearchDataBackup.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said she expects Asempra to stick with the low end of the market for the foreseeable future. Click the link to read more. "Drive Makers Agree on TCG Encryption Standard" The New York Times Considering the TCG's membership, "in five years, you can imagine any drive ... will be encrypted, and there will be virtually no cost for it," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "E-Discovery Gets an Upgrade at LegalTech" Byte and Switch "There is only a small subset of technology solutions that are purpose built for e-discovery. The majority of these tools have other purposes," says Brian Babineau, a senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "10 Virtualization Vendors to Watch in 2009" CIO In a mid-2008 survey Enterprise Strategy Group conducted among VMware users, only a quarter of respondents said the tools they had available to track and monitor their virtual infrastructures were sufficient to let IT maintain current or contractually required service levels, according to ESG analyst Mark Bowker. Click the link to read more. "Virtual desktops getting security boost" NetworkWorldAsia The Citrix client hypervisor is scheduled to be available about the time that VMware releases its client hypervisor, but the difference is that VMware's runs on top of the host machine's operating system, says Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Coming soon: Full-disk encryption for all computer drives" NetworkWorld "In five years time, you can imagine any drive coming off the production line will be encrypted, and there will be virtually no cost for it," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Brocade, Cisco expand data center platforms" SearchStorage.com "I don't know if you can compare them side by side, but they're going down the same path to help automate the data center infrastructure and network storage infrastructure," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte of the DCX and Nexus. Click the link to read more. "HP ProCurve unveils data center network strategy" SearchNetworking.com "Previous to this announcement, [ProCurve] really didn't have data center-specific products," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC Braces for Tough Storage Market" InternetNews.com Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Brian Babineau said that outlook could contain a glimmer of good news. "Companies right now are planning for the absolute worst," he said. Click the link to read more. "ESG insights: pNFS boosts NAS performance" InfoStor "We’re going to explore some new functionality that leverages scale-out architectures to drive performance improvements: parallel NFS (pNFS)." Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Terri McClure. "CommVault, Arkeia sharpen focus on virtual server backup" SearchStorage.com "It's basically consolidating in the backup catalog all the different backup copies a user can recover from," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said. Click the link to read more. "Virtual Desktops Getting Security Boost" CIO India The Citrix client hypervisor is scheduled to be available about the time that VMware releases its client hypervisor, but the difference is that VMware's runs on top of the host machine's operating system, says Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Economy Clouds Storage Market Outlook" Enterprise Storage Forum "De-duplication is becoming a must-have across the board in data protection," said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Rackable puts desktop CPUs in low-cost servers" InfoWorld Mark Peters, a server analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said the "physicalization" marketing pitch may not be very helpful. Click the link to read more. "SharePoint Backup FAQ" SearchStorage.com Microsoft Office SharePoint Server use is increasing and so are the complexities of managing it. Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse talks about what this means for your organisation. Click the link to read more. "Citrix to Enable Virtualization for Laptops" CXOtoday This innovative approach from Citrix and Intel has the potential to swing the pendulum toward desktop virtualization alternatives and disrupt a traditional desktop management industry that is costing enterprises billions of dollars a year today, said Mark Bowker, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Symantec to integrate Enterprise Vault with the cloud" SearchStorage.co.uk Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), says using the cloud will help organizations manage their archives, although it brings e-discovery challenges. Click the link to read more. "Kroll Ontrack allows restore of SharePoint objects" SearchStorage.com Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, points out that forensic data is often retrieved without the original backup software or source server, and Kroll Ontrack is extending that capability to application data. Click the link to read more. "New Enterprise Vault release to support deduplication" SearchStorage.com "The decision right now is no longer whether to archive," says Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "After CEO, Staff Cuts, What's Next for Seagate?" InternetNews.com That's why Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, expects Seagate to reveal a revamped strategy in the near future. Click the link to read more. "Europe lacks data centre security" CRN Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said: “The amount of sensitive information continues to grow precipitously, so organisations need a broader deployment of encryption technologies across data centres in order to protect data confidentiality and privacy. Click the link to read more. "Seagate to Cut 800 U.S. Jobs, CEO Watkins Resigns" eWeek.com "Seagate has exposure to both the consumer and enterprise spending downturn and the board needed to make some difficult decisions to help the company prepare for the future," said storage analyst Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC to cut 2,400 jobs; 600 are in Bay State" The Boston Globe Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at the Milford research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, yesterday said that EMC's restructuring isn't the result of a dramatic slump in demand for its products. Click the link to read more. "DataCore shrinks iSCSI SAN bundles for SMBs" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group founder and analyst Steve Duplessie says demand has increased over the last year for inexpensive shared storage to support server virtualisation at the low end of the market. Click the link to read more. "EMC Acquires Open Source Support Firm" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said EMC could use SourceLabs' Linux management tools to bolster the management of its Decho (Mozy) and Atmos cloud products. Click the link to read more. "Storage in 2009: Data protection" SearchStorage.com "Looking back on 2008, data protection/data backup saw several noteworthy trends. The factors that elevated some technologies over others were driven by a tenuous business climate and initiatives that focused on efficiency, cost savings and environmental sustainability." Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Lauren Whitehouse. "Obama, Dems Could Mean New Compliance Regs" InternetNews.com "It is extremely likely that we will see more regulation in the financial markets as a result of the current economic crisis," said Brian Babineau, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Five hot storage technologies for 2009 (and five flops)" SearchStorage.com "The whole point of these systems is to reduce maintenance windows and to prolong technology investments," says Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Dashboard: Vendors Jump on e-Discovery Bandwagon" Intelligent Enterprise "I've received about 4,000 press releases [claiming to fit the bill]," says Brian Babineau, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Networking predictions for the new year" CnetNews As 2008 draws to a monotonous close, there is still a sliver of time left for me to make my 2009 networking predictions. Yes, money will be as tight as a Minnesota Senate race next year, but there certainly will be a number of bright spots. Here is my list of 10 technology areas to watch in 2009 (in no particular order): Click the link to read more. "Is your thin provisioning too thin?" The Nation Technology The Enterprise Strategy Group tested this in its labs, comparing the performance of a random access workload with 8KB block size on 8 spindles in a RAID 10 configuration, against 32 spindles in four RAID 10 groups and saw a 716-per-cent improvement in throughput, with a 118-per-cent faster response time at the start point. "FAQ: When to use SSDs in the enterprise" SearchStorage At Enterprise Strategy Group, Mark covers storage systems and storage in the data centers, and also writes a blog called Mark My Words, which he calls "an askance view of what's amazing, asinine or ahead in storage." In today's FAQ, Mark is going to let share some of the questions he's hearing most often about solid state technology. Click the link to read more. "Jingle bell storage: What to buy a geek for the holidays" SearchStorage.com "I have five laptops on my home network, and the big issue of late is figuring out central storage so photos and music can be stored and shared," writes Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse in an email to SearchStorage. "ix2 also has some built-in backup capabilities, so even though I subscribe to a backup service, I can store some stuff locally…[and] it lists for less than $500." Click the link to read more. "EMC unveils cloud storage platform" InfoStor Other vendors that offer high bandwidth, high performance, scale-out systems for file sharing and file serving environments beg to differ, but Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure says there is some truth to EMC’s statement. Click the link to read more. "Three deals symbolized storage trends in 2008" New York Times Another research company, Enterprise Strategy Group, pegs the annual growth rate of data between 30 percent and 60 percent. "Organizations are having a hard time getting their arms around all that data," said ESG analyst Lauren Whitehouse. Click the link to read more. "Sun Upgrades xVM VirtualBox, Has big Dreams" InternetNews.com With the virtualization market seeing an increased number of partnerships and the emergence of new players as vendors seek to cash in on a market analysts predict will be hot for 2009, Sun may have a chance, Mark Bowker, analyst at research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Nebulous cloud computing" CNet News When discussing cloud computing, I often think of Joni Mitchell's haunting lyrics from the song, Both Sides Now. Click the link to read more. "Sifting Through Online Backup Service Options" Byte and Switch "Many organizations are figuring out that an online backup service may make sense for a subset of their data protection strategy -- possibly remote and branch offices and remote and mobile workers," said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) . Click the link to read more. "Symantec Tells Customers to Stop Buying Storage" eWeek.com "Symantec is arming customers with tools that can be rapidly deployed to combat the major challenges inherent in dynamic, high-growth data centers," said Bob Laliberte, storage analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Mimosa NearPoint module automates email retention, data classification" SearchStorage.com The RCO module "allows you to actively manage the archive based on simple query technology," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Symantec adds change management to SRM application" SearchStorage.com "It still seems SRM software isn't viewed as a must-have," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC Seeks to Make Data More Valuable" Enterprise Storage Forum "The need for data analytics doesn't go away in bad economic times," said Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Eight data migration tips" SearchStorage.com Besides the technical challenges involved in each data migration, it's also important to clearly understand the business objectives for the migration, says Terri McClure, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, MA. Click the link to read more. "HP targets virtual desktop market" eChannelLine.com "HP recognizes the challenges that lie ahead from IT cultural resistance. The company is developing technology that simplifies adoption without compromising the end user experience," stated Mark Bowker, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Data backup security tutorial" SearchDataBackup.com Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, Milford, Mass., says tape encryption today is mostly done in appliances, with Decru Inc. (a division of NetApp Inc.) boasting one of the most substantial customer lists. Click the link to read more. "Lack of Controls, IT Budget Hurting Database Security Efforts" eWeek.com When it comes to that, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik said senior managers need to be educated on the specific vulnerabilities and security needs associated with databases. Click the link to read more. "Caringo improves file handling in CAStor to complement archiving" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure added: "It is hard for a small company like Caringo, no matter how good the product, to get traction against a behemoth like EMC in a small captive market. So expanding the addressable market is a necessary move." Click the link to read more. "BridgeHead, IBM launch medical archiving upgrades" SearchStorage.com "Having a central archive, separate from the PACS applications, is critical because it allows the data to be managed and accessed in one place," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft to embed data classification, strengthen ties with DLP" SearchSecurity.com DLP tools have also been notoriously sluggish to use, but they have been getting better, said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. Click the link to read more. Holiday Greetings from ESG All of us at the Enterprise Strategy Group would like to extend our very best wishes for a happy holiday season to all of you – our colleagues, families and friends. We’d like to take a moment to acknowledge our pride in all that we’ve been able to accomplish together over the course of the last year and offer our hope that the coming year continues to bring you health, happiness and prosperity. "Intel, Hitachi Make a Splash in Solid State Storage" Enterprise Storage Forum "The cooperation of these two players shows they understand that success with SSDs is likely to be about a lot more than the SSD hardware itself," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "CommVault expands channel program" eChannelLine.com "It is all about execution when it comes to the channel, and [CommVault is] doing the right things. Now they must execute. I would not say they are a late comer to the channel. [But] it took them a while to understand the value the channel brings to the party," added Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Cloud-Powered SaaS Needs No-Nonsense Backend" On-Demand Enterprise Jon Ottsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, says Viprion “combines state-of-the-art hardware with extremely good software chops. The result is a platform that can throw a lot of horsepower at a lot of application delivery tasks while remaining flexible to accommodate dynamically changing needs on a moment’s notice.” Click the link to read more. "Adaptec unveils new HBA supporting SATA and SAS" eChannelLine.com "Adaptec's go to market model [is] different. They aren't selling through OEMs. [Instead], they are selling a component that an integrator uses to make their own system," observed Brian Babineau, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. Jon Oltsik's Video Blog Part II How will the Economic Meltdown Alter IT Spending? Part 2: Technology Spending and IT Vendor Strategy "Russian Kaspersky Lab offers antivirus protection in U.S." USA Today "It's the tender, loving care model," says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "iQstor bulks up its rack-mounted SAN storage system" SearchStorage.com Brian Babineau, an Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst, said the iQ5200 is "the highest-density array out there" for rack-mount systems. Click the link to read more. "Online backup services gain traction" InfoStor “Small businesses represent the low-hanging fruit for service providers. They are already budget constrained in terms of capital expenditures, and in this economy it’s going to get even harder for them,” says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "ESG Insights: What's next for NAS?" InfoStor The information we store today is very different from the information we stored 30 years ago. In the past few years, every electronic device has become a content capture and sharing device. The Web has changed everything, and new ways of using the Web, considered Web 2.0 applications, have driven a new information economy. Click here to read more of this article by ESG Analyst Terri McClure. "Struggling Sun faces difficult choices about future" NetworkWorldAsia Other analysts have questioned whether potential acquirers such as IBM or HP would even want to buy Sun. It's hard to think of a vendor that would shell out cash for Sun's servers, storage and open source software businesses all in one fell swoop, says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Symantec Joins the Burgeoning Cloud-Development Crowd" eWeek.com "With the launch of Veritas Operations Services, Symantec is delivering a valuable cloud service offering to its data center customers," said Bob Laliberte, storage analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Blade storage vendor rolls out object-based clustered storage" SearchStorage.com "Atmos is designed for a globally distributed massive architecture, and EMC has the support infrastructure in place to back it up," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure. Click the link to read more. "Users urged to test storage devices for better data protection" SearchStorage.com Brian Garrett, Enterprise Strategy Group lab technical director, provided recommendations for testing and tuning storage systems. Click the link to read more. Jon Oltsik's Video Blog: How will the Economic Meltdown Alter IT Spending? Part 1: IT Trends and Priorities "Boosting Email and Web Security: Unified Messaging Platform" eSecurityPlanet Economic pressures and budget crunches are hard enough to deal with. Add to that scenario new spam and malware threats of epic proportions and the IT security world is facing the perfect storm. Click the link to read more of this article by ESG Senior Analyst Charlotte Dunlap. "Symantec launches SaaS-based installation compatibility software tools" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said that the operations services could solve a big problem for customers trying to use software to manage growing environments. Click the link to read more. "Applying ITIL best practices to storage explained" SearchStorage.com "People are so busy fighting day-to-day fires that it's hard to make the investment," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "NetApp partners with software vendors to integrate data protection tools" SearchDataBackup.com "Each archiving application is a little bit different," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Storage Startup Goes All Out With SSD" InternetNews.com High-end disk-based systems still carry price tags in the neighborhood of $4 to $5 per gigabyte, while Violin said its SSD price is about $50 to $60 a gigabyte of data, Brian Babineau, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "EMC unveils cloud storage platform" InfoStor Other vendors that offer high-bandwidth, high-performance, scale-out systems for file sharing and file serving environments beg to differ, but Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure says there is some truth to EMC's statement. Click the link to read more. "Brocade HBAs move into storage shops" SearchStorage.com "We'll be waiting to see when the major vendors come out with their certifications," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte. Click the link to read more. "Advances in Network Storage Access Offer New Options" Byte and Switch "They don't want [them] because they don't have FC investments,” said Terri McClure, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) . Click the link to read more. "Dell inks de-dupe deal with Quantum, EMC" InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse says Dell's decision to standardize on Quantum's de-dupe and replication technology is a win for Quantum, as the technology will likely end up in use across Dell's entire storage portfolio, including its EqualLogic iSCSI SANs. Click the link to read more. "Startup offers compliant data archive migration software" SearchStorage.com However, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau, these offerings are generally not focused on migrating data from one third-party vendor's archive to another while retaining chain of custody. "Fans and skeptics argue on Fibre Channel over Ethernet" "I don't get it," retorted Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Why do we need it? If you want to connect a new server to Fibre Channel, put an HBA in. Why do you need a new card? The server will already have Ethernet." Click the link to read more. "Quantum Expands Management Tool's De-duplication Role" PCWorld Brian Garrett, technical director of ESG Labs, recently tested the new Vision software. "I found tools such as the de-duplication trend analysis to be an excellent example of Vision's rich capabilities. It should bring significant value to customers grappling with the challenges associated with effective management of their data protection resources," he said. Click the link to read more. ESG Hits 100th Lab Validation Report Milestone Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) announced today that it has achieved a major milestone with the publication of ESG Lab’s 100th Lab Validation Report. The ESG Testing and Analysis Service provides objective, third-party verification of a product’s capabilities and provides insight into why—and how—these capabilities will matter to customers. Click the link to read more. "Continuous Data Protection grows up" SearchStorage.com “Software-based CDP has enabled small- and medium-sized businesses to deploy data protection solutions that could previously only be afforded by larger firms,” says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Storage Bin 2.0 the Color of Money" SearchStorage.com If your actions will help meet the company's overall green objectives of making more money faster, you'll probably find your status growing along with your budget. Click the link to read more of this article by Steve Duplessie, ESG Founder and Senior Analyst. "Off-Cycle Microsoft Patch Targets Worm-Like Windows Bug" ENT News "Based on the number of Windows systems that are potentially exposed to a massive attack, it was in Microsoft's best interest to just go ahead and patch it," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based IT research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Is your disaster recovery model valid?" SearchCIO.com "The environments are getting more and more complex. It's a lot trickier to ensure that every application will come back up the way you want it to," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at The Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Secure IRM strategy" itp.net "The combination of these products allows Symantec to deliver a cohesive strategy to organisations looking to address the challenges of securing and managing their unstructured information," says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "CommVault, McAfee in virtual merger to chase Symantec" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse pointed out that security and storage have historically been tied together in the wider market, not just by Symantec/Veritas, but by EMC RSA and CA, which acquired Cheyenne Software in 1996. Click the link to read more. "Dell embeds CommVault backup in product" eChannelLine.com This is a big deal for CommVault, stated Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "It's time to shred your data" ComputerWorld According to research from Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford, Mass., the average required retention period for files, e-mails and databases is on the rise. Most companies retain such data for four to 10 years, says Brian Babineau, an analyst at ESG. Click the link to read more. "Storage industry braces for 2009 slowdown in storage spending" SearchStorage.com "Venture capitalists are going to be very tight with their portfolios and where they invest," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "HDS accelerates mid-market push" Computing.co.uk Mark Peters, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, agreed by saying: “Despite the fact that mid-sized businesses and operations have precisely the same challenges as larger ones, all too often the storage industry has met their needs for reduced scale and increased affordability with a significantly compromised feature set.” Click the link to read more. "A Wave of Storage Products Hits Dallas" Byte and Switch "The combination of encryption and key management provides the most secure way for companies to protect stored data across their entire organization as regulatory compliance and privacy requirement become more stringent," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik in a statement. Click the link to read more. "EMC blesses Emulex FCoE adapters" NetworkWorld FCoE should allow enterprises to move away from having their servers connected to storage via one type of network and to the LAN by another. Some large data centers also have Infiniband to tie together clusters. FCoE can take the place of all three, reducing the need for specialized staff, said analyst Bob Laliberte of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. Enterprise Strategy Group Launches Chinese Website Enterprise Strategy Group today announced the launch of its Chinese website, ESG-Sino.com. This new site will provide greater access to ESG research, analysis, and consulting services for clients operating in the Chinese market. Click the link to go to www.esg-sino.com "Storage users weather the Wall Street blues" SearchStorage.com "Companies with good credit should not be impacted. They can borrow money to continue funding capital purchases," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Xyratex launches 8 Gbps RAID controller" SearchStorage.com "There aren't many 8 Gbps Fibre Channel integrations out there, certainly nothing from any of the big boys," said Mark Peters, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Symantec melds DLP, archiving into information risk management" SearchSecurity.com "You could say that this is just three different products they are packaging together, but companies are starting to buy in this way," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. Click the link to read more. "Double-Take releases emBoot's iSCSI boot from SAN" SearchStorage.com "That one aspect of what they're doing sounds like VDI, but it doesn't require a connection broker or any type of virtualization -- it's still a thick client, but just boots off the SAN," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse. Click the link to read more. "IT industry will buck downturn, say analysts" TechWorld The credit problem, resulting from banks being unwilling to add more loans to their current debt loads, is "the biggest threat from a buyer's standpoint," said Brian Babineau, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Nexsan sets out to fuel CAS as a service" SearchStorage.com Eliminating object limits helps service providers, according to Terri McClure, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, "because it means the system can scale and still be managed as a single entity, rather than installing a new system every time the object limit is hit." Click the link to read more. "F5 Networks adds 10 GigE to ARX file virtualization product" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure said adding 10 GigE ports to a smaller box than the top-of-the-line ARX6000 makes sense, since the offering will probably appeal most to companies needing throughput for smaller numbers of large multimedia files. Click the link to read more. "EMC pitches green solutions to RP firms" Manila Bulletin Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said, "With this new CLARiiON, EMC is continuing to press hard to address some of the most crucial cost and management challenges faced by storage and IT managers." Click the link to read more. "PC Data Breaches: Criminals Helping Criminals" Datamation Data breaches are now a regular occurrence, and the grim fact remains that we will see more in the coming year. PC users too often take a devil-may-care approach to their Internet habits, and a closer peek into the increasingly sophisticated online criminal underground makes some wonder if they should just unplug from the grid. Click the link to read more of this article by Charlotte Dunlap, ESG Senior Analyst . "Wrangling Virtual Machine Sprawl" ServerWatch "Most companies I speak with don't plan for enough storage simply because when they start the virtualization projects, they don't think about rapid adoption or disaster recovery, and they haven't even begun thinking about desktop virtualization," said Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Data De-duplication for Disaster Recovery" Inc Technology “For smaller companies that don’t have a lot of IT resources to handle data recovery, they want to make the backup process as simple as possible," says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, of Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "LiveOffice provides email service without costly data archiving" SearchSMBStorage.com "The challenge for LiveOffice will be to make this known to people and to provision servers very quickly," said analyst Brian Babineau, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "A pro's tips on ATM fraud" IDG News Service It's fairly rare for a consumer to be a victim of skimming, but Chao's tips indicate consumers are probably safer if they use ATMs at their own banks or financial institutions, said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Charlotte Dunlap. Click the link to read more. "NEC introduces second gen grid" eChannelLine.com "It has huge credibility technically," stated Mark Peters, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, noting how NEC does some "very advanced OEM deals" with vendors. Click the link to read more. "SNIA promoting SSD" eChannelLine.com There is definitely a need for users to be looking for more efficient ways of running their storage systems, stated Mark Peter, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Can Storage Fabrics Offer Security?" InternetNews.com "Organizations need a broader deployment of encryption technologies across data centers in order to protect data confidentiality and privacy," said Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Jon Oltsik. Click the link to read more. "EMC, HP Take Aim at Oracle" Enterprise Storage Forum "This is a way to prioritize what has to be stored and customize the storage effort and good stuff in that way," said Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Network disaster recovery and the WAN" SearchStorage.com "The bandwidth required for DR dwarfs any communications for pure networking," said Bob Laliberte, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Filtering Viruses Through The Cloud" Forbes Jon Oltsik, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, points out that Trend Micro was the first to announce the technology, but balks at picking which company's approach is most effective. "From a technology perspective, they're all pretty close," he says. Click the link to read more. "Dell unveils new virtualisation products" ComputerWorld "Dell is still very suited for that customer looking to open up the box when it comes in the door and have virtualisation," says Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Lanxoma Software Deters Insider Threats" Michigan Technology News "We are all becoming increasingly aware of the potential damages that can be caused by insider threats There are stories in the media almost on a weekly basis and so there is a growing need for enterprises to adopt better technologies, such as Lanxoma, to protect the core of the network," said Charlotte Dunlap, senior analyst, information security, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Virtual Servers Challenge Storage Managers" Byte and Switch "As users load more virtual machines, run more applications, and serve more users on each physical server, monitoring storage usage levels and planning capacity are crucial, said Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Staples pins growth plan on IT service" Mass High Tech Expanding to data backup may be just the tip of the iceberg for services Staples can use to solidify its standing with SMBs, said Lauren Whitehouse, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. Click the link to read more. "Data center technologies cause concern despite benefits" NetworkWorldAsia "As virtualization technologies continue to be deployed in larger and more complex production environments, greater emphasis will be placed on day-to-day management needs of these environments," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "StorServer rolls out virtualized appliance" eChannelLine Virtual appliances can accelerate application distribution in virtual server environments, stated Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "StorServer rolls out virtualized appliance" eChannelLine Virtual appliances can accelerate application distribution in virtual server environments, stated Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft seeks secure software development" Calibre Macro World With its moves this week, Microsoft wants to externalize what it has learned and alleviate the problem of bad code development, said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "VMware unveils cloud computing vision with new Virtual Datacenter OS" SearchServerVirtualization.com Most of the technologies behind these scenarios are already in place today, said Mark Bowker, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, and ultimately the vision is one of a "fluid data center with built-in dynamism, automation and policies all built around this idea of cloud services." Click the link to read more. "VMware road map emphasizes manageability" InfoWorld Just as with previous VMware products, VDC-OS will not manage physical hardware that has not been virtualized. Even though rival Microsoft's System Center can manage both physical and virtual systems, VMware has decided that customers can use software like IBM Tivoli or HP OpenView to manage purely physical servers and storage, says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker. Click the link to read more. "IBM reworks storage strategy" Reuters "IBM is saying let's talk about general business requirements first, then will go the technology bag of tricks and figure out what the customers need," said Mary Turner, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "File virtualization shops going strong, but market uncertain" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure is more optimistic about the prospects of file virtualization. Click the link to read more. "IBM XIV Storage System debate heats up" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Steve Duplessie suggested in a blog post that IBM "get into bed as deep as they can" with Ibrix for a file system that can turn XIV into a Web 2.0 system. Click the link to read more. "Boon Time for Storage Players" InternetNews.com "Information growth will not subside, but capital budgets will," Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "NetApp unveils 8GFC, SSDroadmaps" SearchStorage.com According to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters, "it is far better for vendors that aspire to offer an end-to-end capability to have a product range that has some potential for perceived overlap rather than one which suggests even a whiff of a 'gap.'" Click the link to read more. "A deal to help drive Fibre Channel" Network World Asia The alternative is iSCSI, (Internet Small Computer System Interface) which some smaller enterprises have adopted because it can be used with conventional Ethernet switches and without in-house Fibre Channel expertise, said Bob Laliberte of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC connects with Lenovo to ship Mozy online data backup software" SearchDataBackup.com "Winning a big vendor like this is big for giving Mozy exposure and expanding its business," said analyst Lauren Whitehouse, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP fronts EVA with PolyServe clustered NAS" SearchStorage.com "I'm pleased to see this progress," said analyst Mark Peters, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Everybody in the market should be heading this way right now." Click the link to read more. "Study finds SaaS gaining traction at midsize firms" SearchSecurity.com The increasing interest in SaaS is driving security vendors, particularly those in the secure messaging market, to offer on-demand services, said Charlotte Dunlap, information security senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Getting to grips with storage virtualisation" ComputerWorld On the flip side, virtualising servers without virtualising storage is problematic. It doesn't make sense to have multiple virtual servers on a physical machine that aren't able to share data, says Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "Dell Consumer Investments Hinder Quarterly Earnings" eWeek.com Dell stockholders and investors probably shouldn't worry too much about the Aug. 28 report, said analyst Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. Enterprise Strategy Group Expands to China ESG-Sino will provide analytical, research, and strategic consulting services to global and local clients in China Milford, MA – August 28, 2008 – Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a market-leading information technology research, analysis, and consulting firm, today announced its plans to expand its operation to the China market. ESG-Sino, based in Beijing and Wuhan, will enable ESG to include China in its global research and analysis activities, and provide international services to Chinese IT technology developers, manufacturers, and service providers. "Kazeon boosts data classification with e-discovery features" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said concerns about data growth, as well as an increasing emphasis on compliance, will make this product appealing. "Sun claims open storage progress" SearchStorage.com "Sun is seeing some success in university and high-performance computing (HPC) environments where customers are using Thumper and Lustre to build and integrate their own massively scalable NAS farms," said analyst Terri McClure, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "New IBM rules seek to avoid channel conflict" SearchITChannel.com A senior channel analyst with Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, Paul Myerson said formal rules are becoming more common. Click the link to read more. "Sun for sale? Dropping profits, stock price fuel speculation" Linux World "In 12 months, Sun will not be the same company it is now," predicts Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. New ESG Research Shows Medium-Size Businesses Prioritize Virtualization, Information Management, and Security in 2009 “Business requirements, budget pressures, and rapid growth in corporate data volumes are forcing medium-size organizations to take a serious look at sophisticated IT infrastructure solutions,” explains ESG analyst Mary Johnston Turner. Click the link to read more. "Panasas overhauls parallel clustered NAS platform, eyes enterprise" SearchStorage.com Panasas will earn some customers' confidence with the new pNFS because of its managerial pedigree, said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Terri McClure. Click the link to read more. "Nexsan moves into NAS market with gateway" SearchStorage.com Nexsan has quietly penetrated the enterprise with cheap and deep storage based on low prices and reliability, according to Mark Peters, an analyst with market research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "The pros and cons of file-level vs. block-level data deduplication" SearchDataBackup.com Some deduplication approaches operate at the file level, while others go deeper to examine data at a sub-file, or block, level. This Data Backup Tip by Lauren Whitehouse, ESG Analyst, addresses the differences between the two processes. Click the link to read more. "MBTA sues to prevent talk – security by obscurity at its best" The Tech Herald "We have to be careful about trying to over-govern such activities, such as issuing the restraint order, or these activities will go underground, and the security industry and customers will no longer benefit from individuals' findings and methods." – Charlotte Dunlap, Senior Analyst, Information Security at ESG Click the link to read more. "NetApp's enterprise push needs some more pull, say analysts" SearchStorage.com Brian Babineau, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said that increased competition is making it tougher for NetApp to penetrate large shops. Click the link to read more. "Researchers develop cloud-based antivirus" SearchSecurity.com "Cloud computing is the newest differentiator for threat protection technology," said Charlotte Dunlap, information security senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. Click the link to read more. "Virtualization Power Savings: Virtual Iron Debuts New Twist" CIO Server virtualization has been pretty successful at reducing the number of servers a company needs and there's no reason the same principle can't be extended to reducing the amount of power those machines use, according to analyst Mark Bowker of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Juniper Intros New Network and Security Manager Solution" TMCnet Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Information Security division of Enterprise Strategy Group, pointed out that IT organizations support high performance businesses that demand cost effective, comprehensive solutions. Click the link to read more. "Google's enterprise search device grows up" Calibre Macro World With this new GB-7007 model, Google extends that strategy by removing the need to cluster the Search Appliance unless a company needs to index more than 10 million documents, said Brian Babineau, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Foundry-Brocade merger gets thumbs-up" ComputerWorld Analyst Bob Laliberte, of the Enterprise Strategy Group, said in an interview with Network World that Brocade has “got this vast background of storage networking capabilities — what they didn’t have was a lot of core IP networking. Click the link to read more. "iSCSI, flash storage highlight overhaul of EMC's mid-range Clariion system" NetworkWorld CX4, the first overhaul of the Clariion line since May 2006, is significant in part because it "acknowledges that iSCSI is here to stay," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "Data explosion forcing IT to seek new backup tools" ComputerWorld Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at the Milford, Mass.-based analyst firm, noted that more and more IT managers are painfully realizing that their outdated or poorly-performing backup tools can't handle shrinking backup windows and the complex management needs of their ever-growing data stores. Click the link to read more. Steve Duplessie on this month's cover of SNS Europe Check out his article, "Considering connectivity...," where he discusses the business value that device connectivity can provide in terms of "human connectivity" in today's increasingly shrinking world--and why European IT organizations are leading the pack. Click the link to read more. "Double-Take acquires emBoot for $9.6M" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group's Lauren Whitehouse said she doesn't think all the cards are on the table yet. "Double-Take sees the opportunity to change now, rather than changing later to respond to shifts in the market," she said. Click the link to read more. "IBM Follows Through on Data Protection for SMBs" InternetNews.com FastBack, which IBM acquired earlier this year, also represents a second try on the technology, Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "The Answer to Your Backup Needs is Grid-Based" GRIDtoday According to ESG analyst Claude Bouffard, “Organizations struggling with the cost, complexity, and risk associated with tape backups would be wise to consider the bottom-line savings that can be achieved with ExaGrid: faster backups, quicker and more reliable restores, lower risk, lower expenses … and last, but not least, a greener solution with optimized power and cooling.” Click the link to read more. "Quantum Expands Management Tool Lineup" Image and Data Manager “Quantum's Vision software […] should bring significant value to customers grappling with the challenges associated with effective management of their data protection resources,” said Brian Garrett, technical director of ESG Lab. Click the link to read more. "When Hard Drives Hit The Wall" Processor Analyst Brian Garrett, technical director for the Enterprise Strategy Group Lab, explains that a sudden change in temperature, such as when a faulty air conditioner is fixed after a hot weekend and quickly cools the data center, can also result in drive failures. "Brocade's Foundry buy will boost Fibre Channel over Ethernet" Network World Asia "They've got this vast background of storage networking capabilities," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte says of Brocade. Click the link to read more. "EMC 'sitting on Fort Knox' sparks acquisition talk" SearchStorage.com "They may be looking for where they can bring Smarts," said ESG analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Verari Systems Announces Blade-Based Solution that Enhances VMware Virtualization Power Efficiency" Sys Con Media “The practical benefits of well-executed VMware installations have received much coverage and include lower capital and operating expenses, improved floor space efficiency and contributing to the demand to be ‘greener’ that is so prevalent these days,” said Mark Peters, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Asempra Beefs Up Business Continuity" Byte and Switch “Quick recovery time has been the secret sauce in Asempra’s product,” notes Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Angry Employee Disables San Francisco Network" Infosecurity US Security vendors are nowadays providing more security technology that clamps down on employees in general, such as data loss prevention, which prevents end users from stealing an employer's intellectual property, said Charlotte Dunlap a senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "OnStor purrs at high-end enterprise NAS space with Cougar gateway" SearchStorage.com Even if OnStor beats NetApp's GX integration, that doesn't necessarily mean that OnStor has control of the market, according to ESG analyst Terri McClure. Click the link to read more. "EMC Links Cloud Storage, Hard Drives" InternetNews.com ESG analyst Lauren Whitehouse said such products offer better "peace of mind" for small enterprises. Click the link to read more. "Harris: A10 Networks drawing investors" Mercury News It's like a cop on the information superhighway who escorts vital digital traffic into the carpool lane - and accelerates it, said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik. Click the link to read more. "EMC system backs up data at home or online" The Boston Globe Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, said the EMC system offers better security than relying only on an external drive for backup. Click the link to read more. "Paragon looking to woo partners from rivals" eChannelLine Paragon is a well-established profitable company (200 employees, 150 solutions, worldwide presence) with two divisions -- mobility applications and storage management, explained Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Tape Gets Some Respect From IT Giants" InternetNews.com "Those who say tape is dead or dying are the uneducated," Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Identity Engines Releases Authenticated Network Architecture" TMCnet "The deployment of authenticated networks has been slower than the network industry originally anticipated," commented Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Unintentional Misuse Still Tops Email Risk" Image and Data Manager “Enterprises continue to focus solely on education programs to change their employees’ casual attitude and behaviour surrounding email,” said Brian Babineau, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Sun expands storage range" TechWorld.com "For the (general enterprise) market, they don't want to internally engineer a solution, they want a bundle," said Terri McClure, of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Introduction to 10 Gigabit Ethernet" SearchNetworking.com As data centers are consolidated, the demand on each data center's core network increases, according to Bob Laliberte, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, an industry analyst firm. Click the link to read more. "VMware appoints Paul Maritz as new President and CEO" eChannelLine.com Mark Bowker, Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, credited Greene with bringing VMware to an "amazing" place in the market, driving innovation, creating many jobs and spearheading environmental initiatives, but said that the recent and sudden increase in competition in the marketplace was likely a factor VMware's decision to bring in Maritz. Click the link to read more. "Big Five IT Vendors Announce Focus on Security" InfoSecurity The move was welcomed by Charlotte Dunlap, senior information security analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, who told Infosecurity: “There's a great need for better collaboration between industry leaders as a way to combat mounting Internet threats coming from more sophisticated criminals and targeted attacks. Click the link to read more. "Experts weigh in on industry security consortium" SearchSecurity.com Charlotte Dunlap, senior information security analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said ICASI sounds like a sorely needed alliance between major infrastructure providers. Click the link to read more. "DataDirect: A Little-Known Hollywood Story" Investor's Business Daily The firm's products fit a rising need, says Steve Duplessie, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Q-layer Introduces the Agile Data Center for Cloud Computing" Sys-Con Media "Q-layer's Virtual Private Data Center concept establishes a new level of flexibility for data center operations," said Mark Bowker, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Tek-Tools Enhances IT Resource Management Software to Deliver End-to-End Visibility of Virtualization IT Assets" SOAWorld Magazine “The never-ending challenge to every IT organization is to support business applications with infrastructure that ensures little to no down time,” said Bob Laliberte, Enterprise Strategy Group Analyst. Click the link to read more. "Low flash storage prices get enterprise attention" Network World Asia Mark Peters, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, compares a spinning hard drive to your hand hovering over a checkerboard. Click the link to read more. "Sun Joins Role-Based Provisioning Fray" InternetNews.com "I think the game is changing for identity management, and Sun is reacting to those changes," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst John Oltsik told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "iStor builds world's fastest SME iSCSI array" Blocks and Files Mark Peters, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst, says: "Although 1GbE is the customary network interface today, and well established in most SMB environments, the mass-adoption of 10GbE is close to – or maybe at – a tipping-point." Click the link to read more. "HP brings new data dedup technology to market" eChannelLine.com "In the VLS product, they've implemented de-dupe as a post-process, which offers the benefit of writing and recovery at disk speeds," says Lauren Whitehouse, ESG Analyst. Click the link to read more. "Data Domain, Mimosa add data compliance capabilities" Storage Magazine Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said that organizations will archive more than 200,000 PB of files, archives and emails in the next five years. Click the link to read more. ESG Expands Analyst Practice “Charlotte Dunlap is a well-known and respected security analyst,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst and Practice Leader, ESG. Click the link to read more. "BMC buys finance management software company" ComputerWorldUK "This is all stuff that for the most part BMC doesn't have, or if they do have it, it's not that strong," said Mary Johnston Turner, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP software gains automation features, tighter integration" ComputerWorld "Our research shows that ITIL V3 adoption is taking place very slowly and many organizations face cultural challenges in implementing collaborative planning and release processes," says Mary Johnston Turner, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. ESG Named One of World’s Top Ten Global Analyst Firms “We are pleased, of course, to have ESG recognized as one of the top ten industry analyst firms on the planet,” said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst. Click the link to read more. "Magic Storage: Cheap and Simple" InternetNews.com "This is all about smaller and cheaper," Mark Peters, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Double-Take Announces Product Line for Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization" Sys-Con Media "Organizations adopting Hyper-V for their virtual infrastructure will require data protection solutions to ensure the same business resilience as in their physical environments. Double-Take Software’s cost-effective recovery platform reduces downtime and data loss, ensuring ready access to data," stated Lauren Whitehouse, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Five hot -- and cool -- storage technologies" "The long and short of it is, to use current parlance, they're very green and very fast," says Mark Peters, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "How To Handle E-Mail Deluge" Forbes According to Brian Babineau, senior analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group, 65% of organizations take such a "mailbox quota" approach to managing the load and place size limits on employee mailboxes. Click the link to read more. "Advisors Ponder When To Trash Emails" Financial Advisor Companies, specifically people in corporate records offices, worry that by deleting the data they lose documents they might need to defend themselves in future litigation, says Brian Babineau, an email archiving analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Brocade extends data center performance with advanced server-to-storage network" India Infoline “The use of server virtualization for optimized asset utilization and cost-effective disaster recovery is driving the need for more dynamic movement of data and applications across different physical server environments,” said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) Analyst Bob Laliberte. Click the link to read more. "Symantec Goes Virtual With Servers, Storage" InternetNews.com The challenge is the lack of management tools, said Bob Laliberte, an analyst, with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Atempo supports mobile computing backup" eChannelLine Atempo is a data management company that started in the backup space and through innovation and acquisition has expanded its portfolio to include CDP and archiving as it targets such markets as media entertainment, financial services, government/education and legal, stated Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Where should you encrypt your data?" SearchDataBackup.com Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, information security at the Enterprise Strategy Group, Milford, Mass., says tape encryption today is mostly done in appliances, with Decru Inc. (a division of NetApp Inc.) boasting one of the most substantial customer lists. Click the link to read more. "Lessons Learned When Data Tapes Go Missing" InternetNews.com "The law of averages states that, at some point, a tape will be lost because so many are being transferred," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EqualLogic Gives Dell a Boost" TMCnet Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters said iSCSI growth in general is being driven by server virtualization. Click the link to read more. "How server virtualization affects storage" InfoStor An ESG Research survey of virtual server users reveals some interesting storage technology and implementation trends. Click the link to read more. "HDS re-brands, beefs up Storage Command" eChannelLine For Mark Peters, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, the devil will be in the details in Storage Command. Click the link to read more. "IBM Puts Data Archive on Center Stage" InternetNews.com "The center is unique in the fact that it focuses solely on the process of archiving further segregating it from traditional backup," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "VMware to Buy B-hive" InternetNews.com "It's interesting to see VMware aligning itself closer to what Citrix does," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "IBM, Iron Mountain Unite on Record Management" InternetNews.com Managing electronic records is a significant problem, but when combined with historic and new paper records, document management becomes an extremely challenging job, explained Brian Babineau, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Application Acceleration Looks to Go Virtual" InternetNews.com That's going to be the beginning of a trend, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Verari Systems and Xsigo Systems Announce Integrated Virtualization Solution" SYS-CON “Blade systems are an ideal complement for server virtualization,” said Mark Bowker, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. New ESG Blog Check out our latest blogger. In Mark My Words, analyst Mark Peters will share his thoughts and insights on all things worthy of note—both inside and outside the data center. Musings will range from green IT and storage systems to categories completely unrelated to technology—all viewed from Mark’s unique vantage point as an ESG analyst. Click the link to see what’s on Mark’s mind and while you’re there, be sure to check in on ESG’s other bloggers. "Data Glut" Asbury Park Press More than 50 percent of companies can't tolerate more than four hours of downtime without it hurting their business, said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Is Storage Recession-Proof?" Enterprise Storage Forum Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said an accelerated depreciation clause in the recent economic stimulus package has also helped boost hardware spending by lowering future depreciation expenses and thus boosting future profits. Click the link to read more. "Double-Take eases virtual server migration" NetworkWorld "Performing P2V- or V2V-based replication with Double-Take and the new Virtual Recovery Assistant can deliver significant improvements over tape-based recoveries, especially lowering recovery time objectives," said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Brocade and EMC join forces to develop encryption and key management solutions" CTR “Fabric-based encryption can help reduce the complexity of storage encryption,” said Enterprise Strategy Group Senior Analyst Jon Oltsik. Click the link to read more. "EMC's Forecast: Cloud Storage and Flash Drives" PC World The potential of flash and cloud storage "are the two themes that are starting to resonate as far as what's next," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "MokaFive Promises Easier Virtualization Control" InternetNews.com The MokaFive Virtual Desktop Solution could prove useful to smaller companies, which could run desktops in the cloud and outsource their helpdesks, but "we're pretty far from that right now," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker. Click the link to read more. "Playing hardball" The Boston Globe "They are executing on all cylinders right now," says Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford. Click the link to read more. "EMC adds de-duplication to disk libraries" InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Lauren Whitehouse says this level of flexibility gives EMC the ability to satisfy multiple use cases for the application of the technology, but she says the question of performance is a tricky one. Click the link to read more. "VMware Shores up its Position" InternetNews.com "It was a VMware-only game for quite a long time, but now Citrix has significantly upped their game," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker. Click the link to read more. "Silver Peak Scales Up WAN Optimizers" Byte and Switch "This isn't for an SMB; this is for those large data centers that have huge bandwidth concerns between their data centers," says Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Three-Layer Encryption Method Awarded Patent" Byte and Switch Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for information security at the Enterprise Strategy Group, says the Tricryption technology approach could provide a more cohesive way to manage encrypted data replication. Click the link to read more. "CommVault eyes data dedupe, records management and SaaS" SearchStorage.com Aaccording to analyst Brian Babineau, Enterprise Strategy Group, "There are three catalysts for backup software right now: backup to disk, VMware, and Windows [Server 2008] refresh." Click the link to read more. "Brocade Unveils 8-Gig Switches, HBAs" Enterprise Storage Forum "The use of server virtualization for optimized asset utilization and cost-effective disaster recovery is driving the need for more dynamic movement of data and applications across different physical server environments," stated Enterprise Strategy Group Analyst Bob Laliberte. Click the link to read more. "VMware Enters Replication Arena" InternetNews.com "Once you go to a virtual environment, you have to look at the VM and figure out if you back that up the same way you do your physical system," Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Brocade Extends Data Center Performance With Virtualization Support" Sys-Con "The use of server virtualization for optimized asset utilization and cost-effective disaster recovery is driving the need for more dynamic movement of data and applications across different physical server environments," said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) Analyst Bob Laliberte. Click the link to read more. Data Domain boosts de-duplication performance InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Heidi Biggar says there is an important difference between single-stream performance and aggregate performance, especially when protecting large databases that can't be broken into pieces to back up. Click the link to read more. "HP-EDS Merger to Challenge IBM in IT Services" eWeek "If HP wasn't considered much of an outsource-services-type company before, it's really one now," Brian Babineau, an analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "Tracking Storage Usage in Virtual Environments Still a Challenge" Byte and Switch "Make sure you know what your virtualization supplier has first, before buying any third-party products," says Mark Bowker of the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "The State of Continuous Data Protection" SearchStorage.com Australia "CDP is effective as a function, but it is not likely to replace other backup tools. It is really best as a feature in other backup products," says Lauren Whitehouse, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP Brings Storage, Servers Into One Rack" CIO Managing many terabytes of storage is far different from taking care of a few hundred gigabytes on a PC, said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "Hacker marketplace to help build 0day appliance" By integrating its unique research into a single device, Oneshield is doing the same thing as many larger security companies, said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Mimosa adds file archiving to NearPoint" SearchStorage.com "Mimosa is certainly a step behind other vendors in offering file archiving, but they also have the advantage of seeing the limitations of the incumbents," said analyst Brian Babineau, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Tech Heavies Push For Datacenter Standards" InternetNews.com "They may play lip service to the cause, but they won't really change their stripes," Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "EMC Mozy targets Mac backup" SearchDataBackup.com EMC will expand Mozy's Mac capabilities but is not alone in the Mac SaaS backup space, according to analyst Lauren Whitehouse, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Automated virtual machine lifecycle" NetworkTimes "A recent ESG survey of current and planned virtual server adopters, showed that current users expect that the number of their virtual machines will grow by 173% over the next two years," said Mark Bowker, industry analyst at ESG. Click the link to read more. "Matisse Networks New vMETRO for Metro Network Virtualization and Scaling of IT Infrastructure" TMCnet “We are on the brink of advancing from the current era of virtualizing individual servers to true datacenter automation,” said Mark Bowker, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Moonwalk Chases CAS With Caringo" Byte and Switch “Centera has got 200-plus partners, some of which do file system archiving, which is similar to this [data migration partnership],” says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau, warning that Moonwalk and Caringo have their work cut out. Click the link to read more. "HBAs explained" SearchStorage.com "The HBA is an integral part of the SAN environment," says Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Future data centre building blocks lack mortar" SearchStorage Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), agrees that DCX and Nexus are a ways from crossing paths. Click the link to read more. "‘iWikiCloudStorage 2.0’ or . . .? " InfoStor This article, by ESG Analyst Mark Peters, addresses the next wave of storage and what it means for organizations. Click the link to read more. "CDP moves into the maturity phase" InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Lauren Whitehouse explains. “If an application or database is interrupted before all transactions have successfully been written to disk, then recovery of data from this crash-consistent image will take longer. When all transactions are written to disk before shutting down, recovery is from transaction-consistent images." Click the link to read more. "Midmarket Gearing Up for WAN Compression" eWeek Although the trend may have started in larger organizations with remote offices or branch offices, it's definitely catching on in the midmarket, where companies have similar issues, said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Storage Security Standards Heat Up" Enterprise Storage Forum "AES-256 is an established and widely used standard while the others are works in progress," said Jon Oltsik, information security analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Data Explosion Drives Growth For EMC" InternetNews.com "It was an extremely well-executed quarter," Brian Babineau, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Emulex unleashes Fibre Channel over Ethernet" eChannelLine Without running separate NIC and HBA cards for Ethernet and Fibre Channel respectively as is the case now in the data center, there are cost savings from a cabling perspective, explains Bob Laliberte, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "IBM acquires Diligent for de-duplication" InfoStor "There is a focus at IBM that wasn't there six or 12 months ago," says Heidi Biggar, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Deduplication Gets More Face Time" InternetNews.com Enterprise Strategy Group research analyst Heidi Biggar goes as far as stating that such tools "aren't just 'nice-to-haves,' they are becoming 'must haves.'" Click the link to read more. "CRM services partners Salesforce.com and Google target Microsoft" SearchITChannel.com The Software as a Service (SaaS) approach championed by Google and Salesforce.com represents a "cultural shift" in the enterprise market and brings some "unique challenges" to the channel, said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Google's New Pricing Approach For Cloud Storage" InternetNews.com "Google's offering is not unique from the standpoint of message archiving and discovery as there are many other service providers that have had these capabilities for while," Brian Babineau, senior analyst in the ESG told InternetNews.com. Click the link to read more. "Autonomy Zantaz automates file classification, data deletion" SearchStorage Brian Babineau, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst, agreed. "Storage folks need to understand that it's about using the information, not just storing it effectively," he said. Click the link to read more. "HP Introduces Security Products to Maximize Data Protection and Minimize Risk for Businesses" The FINANCIAL “Companies of all sizes are grappling with how to handle increased business risks associated with data center sprawl, network attacks and new regulatory pressures,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst of Information Security at analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Juniper, Microsoft to be among RSA Conference newsmakers" NetworkWorld Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, says “a few others, TippingPoint, Internet Security Systems [now part of IBM] and McAfee,” have gear to compete at those speeds. Click the link to read more. "Can EMC Romance SMBs?" InternetNews.com "The companies are already partnering, so the next step would be to incorporate the [EMC] Mozy solution in that mix and engage Iomega customers with either an online backup strategy or a complement to the Lifeline solution with 'cloud' storage," said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC weds IT and security in new physical security solutions" eChannelLine The marriage of IT and security is still at the preliminary stage, commented Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "ITIL, automation provide recipe for datacenter management" InfoWorld "Effective IT management in today's complex data centers requires timely, accurate views of how servers , storage , networks, software and end-user systems are interacting," writes Mary Johnston Turner, senior market research analyst and primary author of the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) report "2008 IT Service & Infrastructure Management Survey." Click the link to read more. "HP Acquires E-discovery Software Firm" eWeek SharePoint, a relatively new Microsoft product, is gaining market share by leaps and bounds, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Primary databases bloated: analyst firm" ComputerWorld "What that says to me is we're just keeping more and more information inside these databases that we don't need, or have to keep for compliance or something else," says Brian Babineau, one of the ESG analysts who worked on the report. Click the link to read more. "Brocade offers user friendly file manager" eChannelLine Currently, the sharing of information electronically across an organization can be time-consuming and frustrating, reported Bob Laliberte, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "How to Secure VOIP" eWeek The first step, said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for information security at Enterprise Strategy Group, is to harden management servers by turning off any unnecessary services and making sure that administrator passwords aren't obvious. Click the link to read more. "Report: Cost-Conscious Still Cling to Dusty Storage Tech" eWeek What’s keeping older backup technologies ensconced is that they’re easy to implement, and, quite simply, businesses have already shelled out the money for them, said ESG analyst Lauren Whitehouse. Click the link to read more. New ESG Research Identifies IT Service Management Automation and Best Practices as Essential in Today’s Complex Data Centers Report shows it is “virtually impossible” to effectively manage virtualized data centers without help from automated management tools. Click the link to read more. "Citrix XenServer now embedded on HP servers" eChannelLine What excites Mark Bowker, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, is the user- friendly aspect of the Citrix-XenServer sitting on top of a HP ProLiant server. Click the link to read more. "Symantec puts out Windows package" Viet Nam News Windows is the most pervasive business platform in the market today. For many organisations, reliance on this technology is now a crucial means of supporting business objectives," said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Hewlett-Packard tries new storage automation focus" SearchStorage.com The software will likely make it easier for HP products to solve interdisciplinary problems in IT, such as rolling out server virtualisation, according to Enterprise Strategy Group market research analyst Mary Turner. Click the link to read more. "Wells Fargo Banks on Online Storage" InternetNews.com Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, expects most nonstorage organizations to take an OEM approach as storage isn't a core focus. Click the link to read more. "Bell Micro signs up Micron" eChannelLine Everyone is seriously examining the technology, stated Mark Peters, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC bumps up bid for Iomega" The Boston Globe Tony Prigmore, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, said EMC's bid for Iomega is part of a long-standing plan to make EMC a significant supplier of storage gear to small businesses and consumers. Click the link to read more. "Juniper Networks Integrates Best-in-Class Security Services Into JUNOS Software" Al Bawaba “Enterprise infrastructures are often inundated by multiple, inconsistent versions and releases of network operating systems, which can result in unpredictable security and performance as new features are enabled on the network,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Primary databases getting bloated" InfoWorld "What that says to me is we're just keeping more and more information inside these databases that we don't need, or have to keep for compliance or something else," said Brian Babineau, one of the ESG analysts who worked on the report. Click the link to read more. "HP airs datacenter makeover plan" InfoWorld "All of the major vendors are pushing the simplification of IT for their customers," says Mary Turner, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Juniper Wraps Security Services Into JUNOS" ChannelWeb According to Jon Olstik, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, a single-source operating system can translate to lower management and maintenance costs for both VARs and end customers. Click the link to read more. "Saving Energy in the Server Room" PC Magazine Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, says some alternative energy sources for data centers, such as wind-powered turbines, are carbon-negative (meaning their environmental impact is less than some of the current power-generator options) when the energy required to manufacture them is factored in. Click the link to read more. "Crossbeam Systems of Boxborough has worldwide appeal" The Boston Globe "Crossbeam marries a high-speed platform with the best security software, giving customers a number of options - like a food court," said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst with Milford-based Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC chases Iomega for consumer storage" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said Iomega is the choicest prospect for EMC as it continues its move into the consumer market. Click the link to read more. "Embotics Educates Readers on Virtualization Technology and Maintaining Control of their IT Infrastructures" SOA World “IT organizations must concentrate on the planning, control, inspection and enforcement of virtual machines for conducting best practices in managing and automating processes,” said Mark Bowker, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "NetApp says flagging economy could boost its sales" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau agrees with NetApp's claim that data center consolidation will prompt customers to look at more vendors, potentially opening the door for NetApp. Click the link to read more. "Iomega turns down $178m bid from EMC" The Boston Globe "Clearly EMC has placed a whole bunch of bets that allow them to move into the consumer and small business segment," said Tony Prigmore, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford. Click the link to read more. "Are storage vendor promises of greater power efficiency mainly hype?" eChannelLine.com Nevertheless, stated Brian Garrett, an analyst and technical director at the Enterprise Strategy Group which regularly tests out the latest storage products, "there is a kernel of truth" in the assertions made by Vellante. Click the link to read more. "Riverbed customers cry foul over AutoCAD incompatibility" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said the outcome in this case could set an important precedent. Click the link to read more. "Exanet Announces ExaStore '08" Byte and Switch Organizations must find better ways to manage, protect and store their file data, says Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "BlueArc Doubles Titan Storage to Four Petabytes" Bio-IT World “The key to much of the Titan 3000’s ability is the parallel architecture that BlueArc has employed from day one,” says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters. Click the link to read more. "HP slots new disk array into EVA line" SearchStorage.com "We spend a huge amount of time talking about startups with neat technology," said Mark Peters, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. "It would be nice to see HP selling standalone storage outside the HP base." Click the link to read more. "Neterion 10GB Ethernet Adapters May Cure Big Virtualization Headache: I/O Bottlenecks" CIO "It's about running multiple bandwidth-intensive applications as a virtual machine on a single physical server," says Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "IT risk myths uncovered" CRN Australia “It is encouraging to see Symantec’s report highlight that organisations are recognising the criticality of managing IT risk in areas such as availability and performance in addition to security,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC links local and remote data protection" SearchStorage.com "CDP has been most successful when deployed as a feature of an accepted data protection technology, such as backup or replication," said Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC Gets Personal" "The most important part of this is that EMC is placing another bet in a segment of the market that will provide both revenue growth and strategic diversification," said Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Tony Prigmore. Click the link to read more. "Reports say SaaS email archives not ready for prime time" SearchStorage.com "I'd say I agree with [the reports] about 80%," said Brian Babineau, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. Click the link to read more. "NetApp expands distribution coverage for StoreVault" eChannelLine.com Right now, StoreVault represents "statistically" an insignificant portion of NetApp's revenues but the vendor aims to change that, stated Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Data Domain cuts the cost of de-duplication" Computerworld De-duplication has mainly been seen as a data center technology, thanks to the amount of storage and processing involved. Smaller devices such as the DD120 could allow the technology to be applied much more widely, said Steve Duplessie, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. Click the link to read more. "Storage changes: Band-Aids and plastic surgery" InfoStor This article by Mark Peters, ESG Analyst, reviews the changes that have taken place in the storage world over the past year and provides insight into what may be to come. Click the link to read more. "Digital Archiving Circa 2008: Addressing Long-Term Data Storage and Preservation Requirements" Broadcast Newsroom ESG Analyst Heidi Biggar addresses the digital content explosion and its effect on businesses. Click the link to read more. "VMware, LeftHand offer iSCSI SAN as virtual machine" SearchStorage.com "VMware is showing it means to take the value of the hypervisor well beyond server virtualization with this release," said Mark Bowker, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. Click the link to read more. New ESG Research ESG's most recent research report, "Data Protection Market Trends," is based on a survey of 398 North American IT decision makers regarding their organizations’ current and planned uses of data protection processes and technology. Examples of data protection processes and technologies include backup and recovery, data replication, snapshots and continuous data protection (CDP). For more information on the contents and findings of this report, please click the link to download the executive summary. "NetApp targets storage for virtualized servers" eChannelLine "Customers are clearly transforming their data centers today or are in process of transforming them into these highly virtualized states of server resources and storage resources," commented Bob Laliberte, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Virtualization - Asigra Televaulting Delivers 'Unobtrusive Virtual Server Data Protection' " SOAWorld “Reducing capital and operational costs, better utilizing resources and creating cost-effective disaster recovery strategies are just a few of the reasons why companies—both small and large—are deploying server virtualization,” said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Digital crisis: Motion pictures may fade to black" Computerworld According to Brian Babineau, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. (ESG), the two basic choices for digital movie archive media -- tape or disk -- differ in advantages and disadvantages. Click the link to read more. Latest ESG Blog We’re happy to welcome Heidi Biggar back into the ESG Blogs community. In her newly retitled blog, Driven to Tiers, Heidi will cover the latest news and trends related to data protection and digital archiving -- all from her vantage point as an ESG analyst. "Hitachi unveils new data migration services" TradeArabia “ESG has found that a large number of end users experience major problems when implementing data migrations including extended or unexpected downtime, data loss and application performance issues,” said Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "WAN Acceleration & WAFS Take New Turn" Byte and Switch With the likes of Facebook and YouTube now part of daily life, there is a growing need for technologies that can speed up applications over the WAN, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker. Click the link to read more. "Teneros Exchanges E-Mail Protection for Cash" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said Teneros' software performs an object-level replication of the Exchange database, making sure that corruptions are not replicated. Click the link to read more. "2008: The Year of the Storage Vendor" Computer Technology Review According to Bob Laliberte, storage analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), “Disk prices are definitely dropping year over year, and overall disk purchases are continuing to rise.” Click the link to read more. "IT risk moves higher on security radar, report finds" SearchCIO.com Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at The Enterprise Strategy Group Inc., in Milford Mass., said the study points out that expectations have not caught up with reality. Click the link to read more. "With Cisco's Nexus switch, the network now rules the data centre" SearchNetworking.com "This switch provides a much higher level of throughput, which is becoming increasingly... important in highly virtualised environments for both LAN and storage connectivity," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Brocade Unveils the Brocade DCX Backbone for Evolving Data Center Networks" Al-Bawaba - Jordan "The virtual server phenomenon has been awesome to watch. Massive consolidation, efficiency improvements and fluidity are all now possible – assuming that the rest of the infrastructure can support it,” said Enterprise Strategy Group Founder and Senior Analyst Steve Duplessie. Click the link to read more. "Turner Broadcasting turns to newcomer Omneon for grid storage" SearchStorage.com Still, according to Brian Garrett, technical director of Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) Lab, "There's a really good chance big companies will have a run for their money" when they release systems into this market. Click the link to read more. "Storage Bridge Bay Working Group released SBB 2.0 Specification" Computer Technology Review “I'm happy to see the SBB initiative progressing,” said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Hitachi Virtualizes New Data Migration Services" eWeek.com "Data migrations are never easy, no matter how big the data set is or how prepared a customer is," Brian Babineau, storage analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "For the First Time, VMware Takes a Shot" eWeek.com Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK that the timing was particularly unlucky for the quarterly VMware earnings call. Click the link to read more. "Cisco to Sell Faster Switch for Flood of Remote Data" The New York Times “I expect that Cisco will do well as compared to other network vendors that have not made the same investments into the data center,” said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group research firm, who was given an advance briefing on the new product. Click the link to read more. "Storage Bridge Bay Working Group Issues 2.0 Specification" Earthtimes.org "I'm happy to see the SBB initiative progressing," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "CommVault offers storage SaaS for data backup monitoring" SearchStorage.com "Six dollars a month per client as opposed to the cost of an employee, especially on nights, weekends and holidays. . .if you think about what you'd have to pay staff to work on those days, seems like it's pretty affordable," said Lauren Whitehouse, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. Click the link to read more. "ZDNet Video Whiteboard: Database Protection & Disaster Recovery" ZDNet.com This "At the Whiteboard" video from ZDNet features Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Brian Babineau, who discusses the differences between the "storage approach" to protecting information assets to the "database approach." Click the link to read more. "FalconStor clusters VTL data deduplication" SearchStorage.com Clustering could also lead to higher data deduplication ratios by spreading the process across nodes instead of doing it on a per node basis, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Heidi Biggar. Click the link to read more. Two New ESG Blogs Check out what ESG analysts Brian Babineau and Mark Bowker are thinking in their new blogs. In IT BULLETins, Brian sounds off on technology in bite-sized, easily digested bullet points. In LIquefying IT, Mark covers the ever changing world of IT virtualization. They join Steve Duplessie's and Jon Oltsik's blogs, already in progress. "How green is your data center?" InfoStor According to Mark Peters, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group who focuses on green issues, storage typically accounts for approximately 35% of an IT infrastructure’s overall power/ cooling consumption. Click the link to read more. "FalconStor Dives Into De-Dupe" Byte and Switch "This is an opportunity for them to re-launch their data-de-dupe capabilities," says Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Heidi Biggar. Click the link to read more. "EMC enters backup fray" Computer Business Review Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said that MozyEnterprise is not as sophisticated as many other online backup services, and for example does not support non-Windows servers, or Oracle and SAP applications. Click the link to read more. "How to choose a DR service provider" SearchCIO.com Australia Costs vary widely depending on what you're after: disaster recovery or business continuity. "If it's business continuity, then it involves more than backup tapes," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC to sell flash drives" Austrailian IT "Most likely this will create a giant gap against IBM and Hitachi," said Steve Duplessie, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "ESG Lab looks ahead to 2008" Tekrati Hands-on product test labs are common among CE industry analysts, but have become rare among enterprise IT industry analysts. I asked Brian Garrett, who heads the ESG Lab, for a quick introduction and update for Tekrati readers. Click the link to read more. "Disaster recovery shortcomings addressed by Continuity Software" SearchDataCenter.com to Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, RecoverGuard v 2.0 is unique compared with other disaster recovery software offerings. Click the link to read more. "Fortisphere Takes Aims at Virtualization 'Sprawl'" CIO India Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said one strength of Fortisphere is its ability to manage virtual machines across multiple hypervisors -- VMware, Citrix's XenServer and Microsoft's Hyper-V. Click the link to read more. "HP offers entry-level medical archiving solution" eChannelLine.com "MAS has had limited visibility in the market place and now my expectation is that they are going to increase their awareness and step on the gas from a product refresh standpoint," stated Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP gives medical archiving system a facelift" SearchStorage.com Medical archive managers have been clamoring for tighter integration between data archiving systems and PACS applications, and the new partnerships show HP's listening, according to Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Brian Babineau. Click the link to read more. "Microsoft takes the FAST track into enterprise search" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Brian Babineau said the acquisition is probably saving financially troubled FAST. Click the link to read more. "Dell, EMC Unveil Own Versions of Same Entry-Level Array" eWeek.com "In this case, the EMC features are a bit richer and more mature, thus better for slightly larger data centers," Brian Garrett, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "VMware's Storage Ambitions" Enterprise Storage Forum "There's no question that VMware is driving network storage adoption," said Mark Bowker, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Server virtualization is a clear driver for network storage." Click the link to read more. "Hardware-based encryption gains most innovation of '07" SearchSecurity.com "By end of 2008, we'll see a fair amount of variety of offerings," said Jon Oltsik, senior information security analyst for the Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "NetApp Spends Dinero on Onaro" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said the move is a good one for customers of NetApp's fast-growing software business. Click the link to read more. "DataCore adds disaster recovery to virtual iSCSI SAN" SearchStorage.com "Many of those NAS systems also have features like replication built in," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker, and can also be bought on the cheap. Click the link to read more. "IBM grabs grid storage startup XIV" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Steve Duplessie said XIV's systems are similar to Isilon Systems Inc.'s clustered architecture, but handle block storage, while Isilon is limited to files. Click the link to read more. "Sepaton launches enterprise VTL" InfoStor “This announcement is really all about speeds and feeds,” says Heidi Biggar, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). “Sepaton is making sure it stays ahead of capacity and performance requirements.” Click the link to read more. "EMC introduces Invista 2.0" eChannelLine.com A mixed response regarding Invista came from Tony Asaro, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Onaro Puts Storage at VMs' Service" Enterprise Storage Forum Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said server and storage virtualization "create additional complexity by driving rapid growth of connectivity to networked storage." Click the link to read more. "Kazeon upgrades data classification software" SearchStorage.com According to ESG analyst Brian Babineau, Kazeon should support more applications the way it's supporting Exchange. Click the link to read more. "IBM buys managed backup service" eChannelLine.com Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, told eChannelline that IBM's purchase of Arsenal and a focus on large enterprises with new managed backup services is a response to an end user desire to plug a vulnerable hole in their operations. Click the link to read more. "Packeteer's Vision for Future of Application Acceleration" eWeek.com Most competitors in the WAN optimization market provide little in the way of monitoring, measurement and control over how applications use the WAN, said Brian Garrett, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Trend Micro enters data loss prevention (DLP) market" SearchSecurity.com "The endpoint security guys are beefing up their clients; everyone is looking at DLP as a thing to add to endpoint security," said Jon Oltsik, senior security analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Being aware of energy consumption is critical to storage growth and cost containment" SearchStorage.com "There are regulations out there about the recyclability of equipment," says Mark Peters, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Solid state drives: Coming to a data center near you" ComputerWorld Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. analyst Mark D. Peters explains that solid-state technology has been on the radar for years, but has not been a "slam-dunk" in terms of price and performance for corporate managers. Click the link to read more. "With data breach costs soaring, companies should review data sharing policies" SearchSecurity.com With the costs of data breach soaring, companies shouldn't ignore how intellectual property data is categorized, secured and shared with partners, said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Hardware Vendors Continue to Sign Agreements with Virtualization Vendors" InfoWorld "End users are asking for a choice in server virtualization solutions as they look to refresh and 'virtualize' their data centers at multiple tiers including servers, network, and storage," said Mark Bowker, Analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Fujitsu turns to Tech Data in storage channel play" eChannelLine.com This is music to the ears of Tony Asaro, senior analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Symantec Foundation IT Risk Assessment launched in the Middle East" CPILive.net “Businesses today are dealing with an increasing amount of pressure to understand all of their own unique IT risks that could impact their infrastructure, threaten their core business or jeopardize compliance,” said John Oltsik, Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC adds CDP, de-dupe to NetWorker" InfoStor Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, says that most vendors are heading down a path of integrating next-generation technologies into a single software package. Click the link to read more. "Is going ‘green’ black and white?" by Mark Peters for InfoStor What does “green” mean in the storage world? Not surprisingly, the vendor community has been quick to spot a good wave and has grabbed its collective green surfboard-with enthusiasm. Click the link to read more. "8-Gig Fibre Channel Arrives ... Slowly" internetnews.com Virtualization's popularity is feeding a phenomenon called "fan out," or more servers connecting through the same port on a switch, explained Brian Garrett, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Index Engines Intros Direct Tape Extraction" Byte and Switch "Index Engines has essentially reversed how organizations look for data on backup tapes for electronic discovery purposes," states analyst Brian Babineau of the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Hitachi extends thin provisioning to heterogeneous arrays" InfoStor Tony Asaro, a senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), says enabling thin provisioning on externally virtualized storage lets IT leverage intelligent functionality heterogeneously. Click the link to read more. "IBM Beefs Up Storage Offerings" CNNMoney.com VMware isn't a big threat in storage virtualization, at least not yet, says Brian Garrett, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Sepaton launches enterprise VTL" InfoStor "This announcement is really all about speeds and feeds," says Heidi Biggar, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Sepaton is making sure it stays ahead of capacity and performance requirements." Click the link to read more. "Double-Take spruces up remote replication software" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Lauren Whitehouse said Double-Take has been consistent in its approach to product development, concentrating on Windows and replication to distinguish itself from backup vendors. Click the link to read more. "Dell Sees Growth in Storage" eWeek.com "This [news], more than anything else, is a strong validation of iSCSI as the wave of the future," Tony Asaro, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWeek. Click the link to read more. "Oracle Challenges VMware With Virtualization Play" TechNewsWorld The move into virtualization software is one Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Bowker wouldn't be surprised to see other companies, such as IBM and HP, duplicate. Click the link to read more. "Put storage in the driving seat" vnunet.com Steve Duplessie, senior analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group, said: “Companies know that a problem in IT is never solved without a new one being created. They also think that change is the root of all evil - stop the fear and start embracing virtualisation.” Click the link to read more. "Sepaton VTL scales to 1.2 PB" SearchStorage.com "The way these platforms scale is a differentiator," said Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Heidi Biggar. Click the link to read more. "EqualLogic buy boosts Dell role in region" The Boston Globe That sales channel could give Dell access to small and medium-size businesses, a critical market that has been difficult to penetrate, said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, a research firm in Milford. Click the link to read more. "What's the (next) deal with the DLP business?" InfoWorld Jon Oltsik, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, remains unconvinced that a large number of DLP acquisitions will be forthcoming. Click the link to read more. "Is Dell's EqualLogic storage play sound business?" eChannelLine.com Dell generates about $3 billion in the storage business which includes its own PowerVault line, as well as the reselling of EMC products, such as the Clariion and Symmetrix, estimated Tony Asaro, a senior storage analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Is Dell Creating Its Own New Storage Market?" eWeek.com "This [news], more than anything else, is a strong validation of iSCSI as the wave of the future," Tony Asaro, principal analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "HDS disk array can now thin-provision other external storage systems" SearchStorage.com "The 3PARs of the world can tell you that HDS is really complicated, and their product isn't, and that's true," said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) senior analyst Tony Asaro. Click the link to read more. "Explore new choices with EMC next generation backup" ComputerWeekly.com This videocast with Paul Myerson, analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group and Paul Danahy, senior director of backup and archiving strategy at EMC, explores new approaches to solve today's backup and recovery challenges. Click the link to read more. "Is storage becoming IT's Hummer?" The Register That's because consolidation will cut servers' share of data centre power consumption and propel storage to pole position in IT's energy greed league, claimed Enterprise Strategy Group founder Steve Duplessie in his keynote presentation to SNW Europe in Frankfurt. Click the link to read more. "Iron Mountain acquires Stratify for $158M" SearchStorage.com There is some evidence that large companies are moving away from Iron Mountain for security reasons, though analyst Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) said the Stratify acquisition could make staying with Iron Mountain more persuasive on that front. Click the link to read more. Storage Considerations in a Green IT Strategy Tony Prigmore's presentation at Storage Networking World Europe 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany. "HP Joins the Key Management, Encryption Club" eWeek.com HP's "holistic approach" to addressing enterprisewide security is evident in Secure Key Manager, said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Details emerge on TJX breach" The Boston Globe If his opinions are true, then TJX was an open bank vault with the money exposed," said Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford. Click the link to read more. "IBM acquires SRM player NovusCG" SearchStorage.com "The people they're getting from Novus bring deep knowledge of storage that's in excellent position to be a shot in the arm to both IBM's storage R&D and its field support," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. New ESG Research Finds Large Organizations Experiencing Explosive Growth in Log Data Collection, Analysis, and Storage Milford, MA –- October 23, 2007 -- The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading information technology (IT) analyst firm focused on information storage, security and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, Security Management Matures, a unique research study that examines the security management policies, procedures, and technologies at large organizations. ESG undertook this research project to assess how large organizations are managing security threats and to determine how security management practices complement regulatory compliance and IT operations efforts. "Brocade prepares Backbone for its data center fabric" SearchStorage.com "Eventually, as virtualization techniques proliferate, the compute and storage layers become utility layers that need to be connected -- no big surprise there," said Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Bob Laliberte. Click the link to read more. "Riverbed adds disaster recovery features to WAFS" SearchStorage.com Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Jon Oltsik said there may be a slowdown at a certain point in the process, "but because architecturally their purpose is to process WAN data at LAN speeds, you're still going to probably see that 'end to end' performance stay the same -- and the latency still beats having to retrieve files across the WAN [without optimization]." Click the link to read more. "IT’s new ‘dirty little secret’ " by Heidi Biggar for InfoStor About five years ago, I wrote an article in this magazine exposing one of IT’s now- infamous dirty little secrets. Backup and recovery, as it was done then, was grossly inefficient, and IT was fully aware of it. Click the link to read more. "Fujitsu Joins the SMB Storage Parade" eWeek.com The market is receptive to eco-friendly IT solutions that drive down ownership costs through reduced power consumption, said Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Vendors not helping move to storage networks" vnunet.com "Storage vendors want you to implement a storage network, and enabling you to move from a non-networked environment should be a no-brainer," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Unified recovery on the way?" SearchStorage.com "Not all IT organisations have thought about things this way, and obviously not all the vendors have responded," says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Intellectual property lawsuits dog storage industry" SearchStorage.com "Now's the time for Quantum to take action, because Riverbed has been quite successful," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Seagate promises enterprise encryption" Computer Business Review Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Jon Oltsik said: "Key management is fraught with operational, security, and auditing challenges. But Given the privacy regulations, large organizations will have to head down this path one way or the other 0 using key management products or services.' Click the link to read more. "WysDM pushes backup management onto disk" SearchStorage.com Lauren Whitehouse of the Enterprise Strategy Group said analytical and reporting tools for disk and tape are valuable for determining if storage SLAs are being met. Click the link to read more. "VMware takes on data migration" SearchStorage.com "VMware isn't going to deal with the universe," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Big shops are also more likely than smaller ones to have servers that don't run on the x86 platform, which is currently the only type VMware supports. Click the link to read more. "CA Pulls Parts Together for New Governance Package" eWeek.com "CA has had the parts to this solution for about a year and half," Brian Babineau, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "How Disaster-Tolerant Is Your Company?" NewsFactor.com This article by Bob Laliberte, ESG Analyst, focuses on how establishing a disaster tolerant infrastructure can be a very complex and costly undertaking. Having the ability to recover all mission critical applications, retain all data without any loss and ensure that end users have access to these applications is extremely difficult. Fortunately, technology has advanced and costs have come down. Click the link to read more. "How Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Affect Your Storage Plans" Computerworld “IT has to be a part of most of these matters because, regardless of whether it’s sexual harassment or slip-and-fall, it all involves some level of electronic information,” says Brian Babineau, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. Click the link to read more. "VMware overhauls ESX hypervisor" SearchServer Virtualization.com NPIV also promises to be a boon to storage resource management (SRM) vendors, because it gives them better visibility into individual virtual machines (VMs), said Mark Bowker, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Dot Hill plots iSCSI, RAID 6 and midrange SANs" SearchStorage.com "Dot Hill can say, 'Here's a turnkey thing, we've tested it, supported it and we've done all the things we've done well,' said analyst Tony Asaro of the Enterprise Strategy group. Click the link to read more. "Embotics 'Commander'-ing the market" Ottawa Business Journal "Embotics has a real good story with the right kind of method, since they offer security and identification of VMs throughout the entire life cycle of the server. Nobody else has all those pieces," says Mark Bowker of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Storage and Data Center Automation Begin to Converge" Enterprise Storage Forum "As infrastructure gets complicated, leveraging software to automate storage processes makes for tremendous efficiencies," said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. ESG TechTarget Channel Video Interview In this videocast, Paul Myerson, Senior Analyst from The Enterprise Strategy group, answers key questions regarding the channel's value in the market and discusses alternatives for IT and the Channel. Click the link to learn more. "Going Green In The Data Center" Processor “Most if not all of the server and storage vendors are focused on being more power- and cooling-efficient,” says Mark Peters, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. “Therefore, implementing products that are designed to be more power- and cooling-efficient is certainly a start.” Click the link to read more. "HP steps up information management push" vnunet.com Brian Babineau, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, said corporate spending on e-discovery capabilities was set to increase, adding that growing legal risks meant firms had "little choice but to invest in the right technologies to deliver the necessary data quickly and easily". Click the link to read more. "HDS makes bold move into MAID storage" SearchStorage.com "We've been doing research in the market consistently now for years that's showing 60% to 80% of data on storage systems is fixed or dormant content," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Adaptec targets SMB with iSCSI box" eChannelLine.com "The 700i Snap Server is the first dedicated iSCSI array in the Snap Server line," commented Tony Palmer, ESG Lab engineer at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC rumored to buy backup service provider" SearchStorage.com "[Berkeley's CEO and founder] Josh Coates has a history of building out massively parallel storage systems, and that's what's allowed him to build out the Mozy service," said Bob Laliberte, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "EMC Avamar extends de-dupe" eChannelLine.com Industry analyst Lauren Whitehouse suggested that the Avamar Data Store represents a proactive decision by EMC to come out with an easily installable product in face of a competitive and similar offering from Data Domain. Click the link to read more. "Brocade regroups for virtualization battle with Cisco" SearchStorage.com "I think they're a little bit too enthusiastic in that area," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), estimating the market at closer to the $200 million range. Click the link to read more. "Holographic data storage pushes into the third dimension" SearchStorage.com "Disks are very impervious to the elements," says Brian Garrett, at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "I've seen demonstrations where they dip the platters into something boiling and freeze them and roll them around in the mud, clean them up and they're still usable." Click the link to read more. "NEC Unveils 'Radical' Unified Storage System" eWeek.com NEC HYDRAstor really is a next-generation storage system for both disk backup and archiving, said Heidi Biggar, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Law firm finds tape unreliable, switches to disk" SearchSMB.com Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) in Milford, Mass., co-presented a session on best practices in data backup and recovery with Curry and Richard Heitman, vice president of product management at EVault. Click the link to read more. "NEC ships system for backup, archive" InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Heidi Biggar says the concept of a single platform for all types of secondary or persistent data—data that is rarely if ever changed—is nothing new, but NEC's architectural approach to the concept is unique. Click the link to read more. "Storage startups find best audience in smaller users" SearchStorage.com The newness of the startups can be a risk, according to Brian Babineau, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), because a small company stands a bigger chance of going out of business, and also because the small companies that make it don't stay small for long. Click the link to read more. "EMC's VMware faces fight for market control" Worcester Business Journal Mark Bowker, an analyst at Milford-based IT and technology analysis firm Enterprise Strategy Group, said that even now, without a fully developed virtualization software product on the market, between 20 and 25 percent of his customers are still using Microsoft's basic software, or are waiting for a full product launch, expected toward the middle or end of next year. Click the link to read more. "ESG Insight: IT's new 'dirty little secret' " InfoStor.com About five years ago, I wrote an article in the print version of InfoStor exposing one of IT's now-infamous dirty little secrets. Backup and recovery, as it was done then, was grossly inefficient, and IT was fully aware of it. Click the link to read more. "Symantec acquisitions cooling off, channel consolidation heating up" SearchITChannel.com "Channel partner consolidation should continue to be aggressive for the foreseeable future," according to channel analyst Paul Myerson at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Secure storage on the way" SearchStorage.com "Vendors are looking for any hook into the security space, and this spec hands them the building blocks," says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Sun to acquire Lustre clustered file system" SearchStorage.com "It does look like it's a hedge," said Steve Duplessie, founder and analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "It certainly doesn't inspire confidence [in Sun's case]." "This is a heavy-duty file system that's high performing and scales tremendously," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst for ESG. "A lot of people are using it, but it's been relegated to niche HPC environments so far. If Sun can productize it, it will work well, though historically they haven't always been good at that." Click the link to read more. "HP Upgrades Entry-Level Storage Product" eWeek.com Introducing a successor to the XP10000 is a good idea for both HP's customer base and the Palo Alto, Calif., company itself, said Tony Asaro, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "NetApp, HDS tout scaled-down disk arrays" SearchStorage.com According to Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the price of around $60,000 for a controller without disk or software licenses places the product out of the reach of most midmarket companies. Click the link to read more. "VMware launches ESX Lite" Techworld “Growing awareness of the business consequences of datacentre outages and regulations including SOX and HIPPA that mandate disaster recovery are helping to raise awareness of the importance and preparation required to ensure successful recovery. Server virtualisation solutions are actually enabling faster and more reliable disaster recovery,” said Mark Bowker, analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "EMC Launches Deduplication, Backup for VMware Machines" eWeek.com "EMC combines two of the hottest technologies in the market today by delivering the first deduplication backup and recovery software fully supported on a VMware server host," said Lauren Whitehouse, storage analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Entitlement program gives Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition users free upgrade" SearchITChannel.com "I don't really understand the endpoint protection marketing announcement," agreed Paul Myerson, channel analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, also via email. "My gut tells me it is a way for Symantec to reduce 'no buy' decisions in September, while trying to maintain a loyal customer base." Click the link to read more. "NetApp files suit against Sun over ZFS" SearchStorage.com "This does have doomsday ramifications for Sun, potentially," especially since Sun has been making ZFS the heart of its disk storage business and touting its plans to make the software open source, according to Steve Duplessie, founder and analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "EMC repackages Avamar data deduplication" SearchStorage.com "Being able to run dedupe inside a virtual machine, in addition to deduping virtual machines [themselves], makes Avamar unique in the industry at this point," said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Sun Gets Diligent About Backup" Enterprise Storage Forum "This is another big win for Diligent," said Heidi Biggar, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Replacing the Tape" Worcester Telegram Heidi R. Biggar, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, said as companies move to virtual tape libraries, SEPATON and others are making it easier to manage the data and use it right from the virtual tape library. Click the link to read more. "Intronis Improves Online Backup" Byte and Switch "There's a lot more interest in online backup," says Lauren Whitehouse of the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "CommVault recruiting public sector VARs" eChannelLine.com This is a challenging market that takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to sell on one's own, commented Paul Myerson, senior channel specialist at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Dell Consumer Investments Hinder Quarterly Earnings" eWeek.com Dell stockholders and investors probably shouldn't worry too much about the Aug. 28 report, said analyst Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Moonwalk Enters Backup Arena" Byte and Switch "In most organizations the recovery of unstructured content is a tedious process that involves retrieving data from storage media through a backup application," states analyst Lauren Whitehouse of the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Report: Chinese Company Interested in Buying Seagate" eWeek.com Brian Babineau, an IT analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., told eWEEK that it is ignorant if we do not believe that other non-U.S. based countries may be better at producing certain technology products that domestic businesses. Click the link to read more. "NetApp offers any-to-any replication" InfoStor.com Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Tony Asaro says NetApp’s ReplicatorX announcement is all about offering more options to customers and that taking the product to the streets in a number of different flavors may open the door to customer environments NetApp has so far been unable to penetrate. Click the link to read more. "Backup reporting expands to add capacity planning" SearchStorage.com This leads to the fundamental Catch-22 of third-party reporting tools, according to Bob Laliberte, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Quantum to debut de-dupe options" InfoStor.com However, Heidi Biggar, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), says there’s a slight difference between true inline data de-duplication and what Quantum is offering on the DXi7500. Click the link to read more. "Deduplication Provider Diligent Gets Big VC Boost" eWeek.com Storage analyst Heidi Biggar of Enterprise Strategy Group told eWEEK that "this is great news for Diligent and is further testament to the strength of the company, its strategic partnerships, and its technology (both data de-duplication and VTL). The funding should help carry them to the next level." Click the link to read more. "3PAR, EqualLogic file for IPOs" SearchStorage.com According to Tony Asaro, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the struggles of another emerging storage player, Isilon Systems, following its IPO late last year could also influence the outlook for 3PAR and EqualLogic, since the companies are in the same high-tech category. Click the link to read more. "Diligent adds VC funds as tape-storage grows" Mass High Tech Such products, most popular with large enterprises because of their ability to save storage space and, thus, costs, is considered an emerging market that has reached 15 percent adoption, said Tony Asaro, senior analyst for the Milford Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "VMware rockets as market tumbles" The Boston Globe "Over time, this will be a positive thing for EMC's value," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Investors will start to value the company as parts of a whole. And when they segregate the VMware part, they'll see EMC is undervalued." Click the link to read more. "Bullish IPO hopes for VMware" San Jose Mercury News Analysts say VMware's shares should soar to a significantly higher value than the opening price. "This could be in the $34-to-$35 range at the end of the trading day," said Brian Babineau, a Silicon Valley-based analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. Increasing Business Partner Productivity - Vendor Webcast In this webinar, ESG Senior Channel Analyst Paul Myerson covers the most important facets of a successful vendor/solution provider relationship. Click the link to view the webcast. "Novell buys endpoint security firm Senforce" InfoWorld Further integrating security into its endpoint management offerings by pulling Senforce's tools into the ZENworks line is a no-brainer said Jon Oltsik, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Novell, security and Reese's Pieces" CNET News Remember that old Reese's peanut butter cup ad? You got chocolate on my peanut butter. You got peanut butter on my chocolate. The obvious goal is to demonstrate how two distinct things can come together. Click the link to read more. "Volatility shakes up investors" The Boston Globe Among investors and high-tech engineers in California's Silicon Valley, the VMware stock offering has generated "a significant buzz," said Brian Babineau, a senior analyst in Palo Alto for the Enterprise Strategy Group research firm. Click the link to read more. "Protecting Intellectual Property & Assets" Processor A recent report by Jon Oltsik and John McKnight of ESG (the Enterprise Strategy Group) found that companies large and small see “a clear business need for improved intellectual property protection. Click the link to read more. "Emulex, QLogic Unveil 8-Gbit/s FC" Byte and Switch "I think the biggest driver for 8-gig Fibre Channel is the onslaught of virtualization. As people put more applications on one server, they need higher throughput HBAs," says Bob Laliberte of the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "StorNext Raises the Data Management Stakes" Enterprise IT Planet “Thousands of existing customers in the rich media and HPC markets rely on StorNext software for fast access to shared file systems, improved workflow and automated HSM,” says Brian Garrett, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group of Milford, MA. Click the link to read more. "NetApp revenues fall $61M short of forecast" SearchStorage.com "The most shocking aspect of this announcement is the size of the miss -- almost 10%," wrote Brian Babineau, analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group, to SearchStorage.com in an email, although he added that the dismal financial results will probably be "an aberration." Click the link to read more. "VMware tweaks VCB backup option" SearchStorage.com "The convergence of iSCSI and VMware is very compelling in the industry right now," said Mark Bowker, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Symantec upgrades SRM software" InfoStor.com Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte says CommandCentral 5.0's support for virtualized server and storage environments and the new enterprise-wide reporting capabilities are key additions to the software. Click the link to read more. "VMware helps SRM make a comeback" SearchStorage.com "Previously, in order to gather statistics on a server, you could just look from the storage to the HBA," said Bob Laliberte, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Tying SRM support into virtual machines is a way to give back that visibility now that that physical separation no longer exists." Click the link to read more. "F5 Fires Up WAN Optimization" Byte and Switch But Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Jon Oltsik feels that F5's intentions are clear. "The goal is to move this beyond Web traffic and get much more protocol specific," he says. "The more knowledgeable the box is, the more valuable it is." Click the link to read more. "HP's storage initiatives get mixed reviews" eChannelLine.com "(HP is) a top-tier provider of storage ... but they are not the leader and they haven't been, so they're trying to continue to figure out ways to make the market move up the food chain," said Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. "They are trying lots of different ways to provide incentives for resellers to sell HP and make a lot of money doing it." Click the link to read more. "Cisco, Clearwell Team for 'E-Discovery 2.0' Tools" eWeek.com Companies are now responding to legal challenges by adopting E-Discovery 2.0, which uses next-generation technologies to reduce the cost and risks of e-discovery, said senior analyst Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "LeftHand refreshes iSCSI SAN software" SearchStorage.com According to Tony Asaro, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), one area where LeftHand lags behind competition from legacy and emerging competitors alike is in its integration with popular applications, from VMware to Oracle and Exchange. Click the link to read more. "Data deduplication technology of growing interest to SMBs" SearchSMB.com Heidi Biggar, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said the data deduplication technology will reduce the amount of memory cartridges SMBs need to buy for the GoVault 1600. Also, it "improves backup performance since you're only storing changed data. Recovery can also be significantly faster," she said Click the link to read more. Join the ESG Team ESG's site now features a list of current job openings. If you're interested in joining the ESG Team, please browse the listings to read more about available positions. Check back often, as this site will be updated regularly. Click the link to learn more. "VMware VMmark fills virtual benchmark void" SearchServerVirtualization.com Mark Bowker, an analyst who focuses on virtualization at the Milford, Mass-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said the tool will be useful for OEMs in spelling out the overhead of virtual machines. Click the link to read more. "Options abound for tape, disk encryption" InfoStor Not surprisingly, the two areas where data encryption solutions are seeing the most activity of late include protection of data-at-rest on backup tapes and efforts to protect data stored on laptops, according to Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Ibrix Redraws Org Chart" Byte and Switch Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Steve Duplessie believes Ibrix's changes have more to do with future strategy. "It's not that they are in trouble," he says, pointing to users such as Pixar and Disney that use the Ibrix kit. Click the link to read more. "VTL adoption and market trends" by Heidi Biggar for InfoStor It was just about five years ago that the industry first started talking in earnest about open-systems virtual tape libraries (VTLs). Data volumes had grown to the point where even the most sophisticated IT users were having difficulty meeting backup objectives with their existing tape-based environments, and frustrations with tape-based backup had reached an all-time high. Click the link to read more. "Oracle's Less Secretive Approach to Security" PC World The latest quarterly round of patches is part of a concerted effort by Oracle to distance itself from the secretive approach the vendor used to take toward security, says Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Quantum announces GoVault data protection for SMBs" eChannelLine.com "Current backup methods used by small businesses tend to be labor-intensive and can have reliability, performance and capacity issues," said Heidi Biggar, analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group in a statement. Click the link to read more. "Juniper Fills in Branch Office Networking Strategy" eWeek.com As an indication of how well Juniper is executing on its branch office strategy, the new offerings demonstrate that the company has "out-packaged most of the competition," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Google buy shakes up email archiving" SearchStorage.com "Google's been undertaking a big push to figure out how to put corporate Gmail in the enterprise," said Brian Babineau, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Data breaches, compliance drive intellectual property protection" SearchSecurity.com "The CEO is now reading about this stuff and is willing to fund initiatives to better protect data," said Jon Olstik, an ESG analyst. Click the link to read more. "CIOS overconfident about protecting intellectual property" SearchCIO.com Their confidence may be reassuring to their bosses, but Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at ESG, said the answers these decision-makers gave to other questions revealed that the respondents are a little overconfident. Click the link to read more. "CommVault Merges Search and Discovery" eWeek.com Lauren Whitehouse, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., agreed with West. "IBM has been offering their backup and archiving in a unified way for several years, and they do a very good job with that," Whitehouse told eWEEK. "But they don't offer replication in the package." Click the link to read more. "Autonomy Acquires Zantaz for $375 Million" eWeek.com "There's no secret that this is an area ripe [of the IT market] for consolidation," Brian Babineau, storage/compliance analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Google inks channel agreement with Ingram Micro" SearchITChannel.com The agreement is a big step forward, but there's a big difference between signing an agreement and successfully engaging the channel in North America, according to Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "The struggle to protect enterprise data" InfoWorld "The good news is that we are finding that people are recognizing the problem around identifying, protecting, and classifying confidential data and intellectual property, and are willing to dedicate more money to those efforts, but the bad news is that this is still very much a manual process," says Jon Oltsik, the ESG analyst who authored the report. Click the link to read more. "HP revamps EVA with space-saving software" InfoStor Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst Tony Asaro explains that despite the similarities, thin provisioning and DCM are two completely different technologies. Click the link to read more. "In Search of the Right Search Technology for Your Customers" CIO.com “There’s no revenue from better customer service, so it’s hard to fund these projects,” says Brian Babineau, a senior analyst at the consultancy Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP-SPI deal underscores apps security integration" PC World Australia "The game isn't over; there will probably be a few more acquisitions as the securing of applications is becoming a function of applications development, so it's likely that development platforms and tool suites become the home for more of these products and companies," said Jon Oltsik, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Hitachi revamps high-end arrays" InfoStor According to the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), underutilized storage is a major issue facing nearly every storage administrator. “Allocated, but unused, storage leads to a lot of waste. We’ve found that end users are not using 30% to 50% of their capacity,” says ESG senior analyst Tony Asaro. Click the link to read more. "Data breaches can impact bottom-line revenues, says Enterprise Strategy Group" Tekrati "Data breaches originating inside an organization continue to make headlines and wreak havoc on corporate reputation and revenue," said Jon Oltsik, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "HP Aims to Halve Data Center Power Costs" eWeek.com "We did a study in 2006 that found that 55 percent of end users we surveyed left between 30 and 50 percent of their storage capacity stranded," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, an industry analyst firm focused on storage and information management. Click the link to read more. "PC Blades Get a New Look" eWeek Channel Insider "The trend in the market is primarily driven by centralized security and simplified desktop management while maintaining end-user flexibility," Mark Bowker, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group wrote in an e-mail to eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "Head In The Cloud: Security Software Moving Onto Web" Investors.com "The cloud will always be updated, and as long as you have access to the cloud — to the Internet — you'll be protected," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass. Click the link to read more. "Users eye NetBackup update" ComputerWeekly.com "Users have more of a motivation [to upgrade] now, given the integration with disk, data deduplication and snapshots offered by the new version," said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Vendors Vie for Customer Favor with Unified Security Tools" Baseline "Large organizations need to improve security throughout the enterprise, but not at the expense of ridiculously high operating costs," said Jon Oltsik, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Diligent Touts Deduplication" eWeek.com "This announcement shows that Diligent is intent on giving Data Domain some head-to-head competition in the midrange," Heidi Biggar, storage analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "Are You Ready To Sell Managed Storage Services?" Business Solutions Paul Myerson, senior channel analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, says, “Although we don’t have specific market statistics on managed services yet, we see this as an explosive growth opportunity for the right type of VARs.” Click the link to read more. "Virtual tape library vendors zero in on midmarket" SearchStorage.com "In disk-based backup, whether VTL or NAS, you know you need that [data deduplication] technology, but it's not a missed opportunity [for Overland] by any means when you look at actual user deployments, especially if you factor in that Overland has such strong access to the channel," said Heidi Biggar, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Continuity Software tackles DR testing" InfoStor Bob Laliberte, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, says a very high percentage of disaster-recovery implementations have some kind of problem during every test. Click the link to read more. "Xiotech Wants You to Comply" IT Management Brian Babineau, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said CEMS makes compliance easy for end users. "Today, most customers have to buy separate archiving software and hardware to achieve these capabilities," he said. Click the link to read more. "New Symantec Product May Placate Critics" TheStreet.com But selling Hamlet's value won't be easy, says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst with industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Data Robotics Makes Storage Simple" Enterprise Storage Forum Does the company live up to the hype? Tony Asaro, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, thinks so. Click the link to read more. "Packaged Approach to E-Discovery" Byte and Switch "The regulatory and legal aspects [made users] put a different set of glasses on," explains Brian Babineau, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Sclavos's VeriSign departure leaves many questions unanswered" SearchSecurity.com Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said the stock option scandal may have presented a convenient opportunity for the board and Sclavos to move on. Click the link to read more. "Brocade gets into the HBA business" ComputerWeekly.com The impact of this move for users will be twofold, according to Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst Brian Babineau: short term, he said, a third competitor in the HBA market could improve pricing for end users, as well as OEM suppliers and cut down on the number of vendors users have to deal with when deploying a storage area network (SAN). Click the link to read more. "IP Storage Area Networks Take Off" Bio-IT World.com A 2006 survey of 511 IT end-users by the analyst firm the Enterprise Strategy Group found that 17 percent had adopted iSCSI and another 20 percent planned to implement the technology within the next 12 to 24 months. Click the link to read more. "Brocade buffs up WAFS, virtualization" SearchStorage.com "They're providing advanced file serving capabilities for the Windows OS, but they need to add better NFS support," said Tony Asaro, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "HDS adds SAN muscle to archive" SearchStorage.com Tony Asaro, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said the company has added some key features to the product, missing in the earlier version, including replication, security and deduplication, and is positioning it "to be a leader in the next wave," of the CAS market, he said. Click the link to read more. "IBM Makes HPC Storage Play" HPCwire "IBM is a natural fit for the HPC market since they are involved at all different levels including compute platforms and software," said Tony Asaro, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "Symantec, Huawei join forces" IT Business Brian Babineau, a senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., said partnering has become a necessity for North American technology vendors looking to tap into the Chinese market, adding it's difficult to break in any other way. Click the link to read more. "Cisco, EMC partner on SAN encryption" SearchStorage.com "The RSA/EMC partnership is a good start," said Jon Oltsik, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "EMC introduces ControlCenter 6.0" eChannelLine EMC has been fast off the mark to come out with a product to tackle a management issue among the users of its storage products, just six to nine months after virtualization finally started to appear in organizations, said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Click the link to read more. "Gear6 Accelerates Data Intensive Applications" TMCNet According to Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, IT groups often over engineer their environments in order to meet application performance requirements, which may result in greater cost and complexity. Click the link to read more. "HDS refreshes high-end disk array" SearchStorage.com "I think people take these speeds and feeds for granted," said Tony Asaro, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "It takes a Herculean effort to create a faster, more scalable package out of an established system." Click the link to read more. "Security Companies Form Alliance" Dark Reading The formation of the OpenSEA alliance was initiated, coordinated and promoted by Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at industry analyst firm the Enterprise Strategy Group to provide open source networking and security alternatives in order to accelerate technology adoption and enhance network security. Click the link to read more. "Understanding enterprise search" ZDNet Video For businesses, conventional search engines often deliver too many results or irrelevant information. Brian Babineau of Enterprise Strategy Group explains why enterprise search is a more dynamic approach to accessing corporate data. Click the link to view the video. "NEC Makes Inroads on U.S. Market with New Storage Arrays" eWeek.com "This is a big deal for NEC," Heidi Biggar, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. "Many [people] would be surprised to know that NEC has an installed base of some 1,000 storage systems in North America and Europe. With the announcement of the D-Series, NEC has made its intents clear: to build both brand awareness and market presence—particularly in U.S. markets." Click the link to read more. "Data Domain doubles VTL performance" InfoStor Heidi Biggar, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, says the debate over inline versus post-process de-duplication has taken on a life of its own. Click the link to read more. "Data Domain Touts 'Industry's Most Scalable' Controller" eWeek.com Data Domains' DD580 is another case of storage server controllers getting bigger, faster and better, Heidi Biggar, an analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. Click the link to read more. "Akorri Aims to Manage Virtual Infrastructures" EnterpriseStorageForum.com "That's huge," is how Bob Laliberte, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, described support for VMware. "VMware is great for power and cooling and data center consolidation, but as it proliferates, how do you track it?" Click the link to read more. "Intransa launches 10 GigE IP SAN" SearchStorage "Ten Gigabit Ethernet is a big deal, and people won't just throw it in," said Steve Duplessie, founder and analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Click the link to read more. "How credit-card information went out wireless door" The Wall Street Journal The security upgrade alone could cost $100 million, says Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, a Milford, Mass., consulting firm, based on his conversations with industry experts and people familiar with the work being done. Click the link to read more. "IBM gives SharePoint users Tivoli backup muscle" ComputerWorld Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said SharePoint is becoming a problem for many companies because of its use as a standard for information sharing and collaboration. Click the link to read more. "Analyst report: Tape libraries slipped in 2006" SearchStorage.com Heidi Biggar, analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), said recent ESG research (VTL Adoption and Market Trends) shows that overall tape use is on the decline due to the increasing presence of disk-based alternatives. Click the link to read more. "Symantec adds reporting, failover to data deduplication" SearchStorage.com Though there are still steps that could be taken -- integration with bare-metal restore, for example -- Lauren Whitehouse, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group said that at this point Symantec is "taking integration further than any other backup vendor has taken it. There's talk about next-generation data protection, but it's been on the fringes of the data center. Boxes like Data Domain don't solve problems like the capacity glut at the client." Click the link to read more. "When and why you should roll out 10Gbit Ethernet" TechWorld But others don't hold that view. For example, Brian Garrett, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, says iSCSI is in fact being deployed "for Tier 1 and Tier 2 apps in companies of all sizes." Click the link to read more. "VMware aims for $100m IPO" The Boston Globe "This has probably been the best technology acquisition in the past three or four years," said Brian Babineau , a senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, a Milford research firm. "Managed IT Services for the SME" Processor.com In contrast, Paul Myerson at the Enterprise Strategy Group says, “If I were to pick one of the hottest MSP markets today, it would have to be the storage backup space,” citing the growth in data stored at branch offices. "More Than Storage" Processor.com “On-demand data protection services, such as Arsenal Digital’s, allow organizations of all sizes to improve the quality, reliability, and security of data protection, while also better managing its high cost and complexity,” says Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. "IBM updates VTL, shuns data deduplication" SearchStorage.com "Dedupe is important, and they know that," said Heidi Biggar, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "They are a little late now, but they can still make it up, but they need to have a clear roadmap." "The role of CDP for SMBs" InfoStor Now that affordable implementations of continuous data protection (CDP) are available, SMBs can take advantage of technology that was once available only to larger enterprises with big IT budgets. Click the link to read ESG analyst Heidi Biggar's article for InfoStor. "Virtualization Gets Real at SNW" Enterprise Storage Forum Tony Asaro, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, takes a similar stance. "Storage is only partially virtualized," says Asaro. "Without infrastructure virtualization, we will always be less than the sum of our parts." "EMC Acquires Its Way to Juggernaut Status" eWeek.com When EMC considers an acquisition, it looks at it both strategically and tactically, added Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group of Milford, Mass. "Those that can add immediate top-line revenue and also deliver incremental value to the rest of the business are strategic acquisitions, like VMware, Data General and RSA Security," he said. "Vendors Dive Into Data Protection" Byte and Switch One analyst told Byte and Switch that data integrity is a big issue for users. "This is something that has been a problem associated with mission critical applications for years," said Brian Garrett, lab technical director at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Data deduplication eases storage requirements" ComputerWeekly.com "Users get 'end-to-end' benefits when deduplicating data at the source -- less data traverses the WAN, LAN and SAN," says Lauren Whitehouse, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Symantec SaaS push will force channel to change" SearchSecurityChannel.com VARs that are not already in the managed services business will have a more difficult time adjusting to SaaS sales, said Paul Myerson, channel analyst for the Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. "It's a totally different DNA," he said. "SNW: XAM working group to standardize metadata" Computerworld In fact, the Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford, Mass., estimates that fixed content data will grow by 58% annually because of growing regulatory efforts, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. "SNW in Focus, Day 1" ComputerWorld Click the link to view a video in which Brian Babineau, senior analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group, is interviewed on the first day of Storage Networking World about the convergence between server virtualization and storage networking, clustering, and integration issues relating to virtualization software and VMWare. "Symantec's Safe SaaS Step" internetnews.com Bob Laliberte, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, said the timing is right for Symantec to dip its toe into SaaS waters. "The SMB market is really favoring outsourcing these types of activities," he told internetnews.com. "SNW product news highlights" SearchStorage However, according to Bob Laliberte, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), there are questions about true heterogeneous support with SMI-S anyway. "It's not HP's fault," Laliberte said. "The SMI-S standard is still just not where it needs to be to really practically manage heterogeneous storage environments." "Opinion: This SNW's about resource management and optimization" Computerworld Click the link to read Brian Babineau's article at Computerworld previewing the important themes to watch out for at this year's Storage Networking World conference. "Opinion: White House e-mails lost? What a joke!" Steve Duplessie's latest Computerworld "Since You Asked" column Q: Steve, did you see that the White House has now "lost" e-mail records? -- J.M. Acton, Mass. A: I did. They didn't. They are hiding them -- there is a big difference. Click the link to read the rest of Steve's response. "Analysts: TJX case may cost over $1b" The Boston Globe "When you hit a million or more records, then you get much more scrutiny," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for Milford consulting company Enterprise Strategy Group, who is among those who estimates that the TJX breach could cost more than $1 billion. "IBM eyes FalconStor acquisition, sources say" SearchStorage.com Analysts agree a deal between IBM and FalconStor makes sense. "IBM can certainly afford them," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. Half a billion dollars is a rounding error for IBM, with a market capitalization of $145 billion. "HP renews SMB storage campaign" SearchStorage.com Still, according to Tony Asaro, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), HP does have an edge on its storage competitors in the SMB market in the form of printers, servers and PCs. "They already have a great brand in that marketplace," Asaro said. "HP can go back to those customers and sell other stuff, like printers and software. What else does EMC and NetApp have to sell them?" "Diligent Signs Kanematsu Electronics and Signs Sharp as First ProtecTIER Customer in Japan" TMCNet "The Japanese market is a rich one but requires strong partnerships in order to be successful," said Tony Asaro, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "CommVault signs first distribution deal" eChannelLine Also, it tends to develop products in-house, rather than rely on an acquisition binge to gain access to new technologies, noted Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Storage That Is Online & Hands-Free: Too Good to be True?" Processor.com For the SME, the advantages are similar to those afforded to large enterprises, Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, says. “The proliferation of broadband, the lower cost of disk, and the desire to remove non-IT employees from the backup process has made remote backup services more attractive to this audience,” Whitehouse says. “Safeguarding data at a remote location with a pay-as-you-go utility model is appealing to [SMEs], especially as an alternative to in-house backup to tape media.” "Nexsan, Reldata Combine for Unified NAS/SAN Package" eWeek.com "This is a high-density product that is relatively cost-effective, when you compare it against some others in the same ballpark," Brian Babineau, storage analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., told eWEEK. "Its versatility is also a good selling point, since you can use any kind of SAN or NAS [network-attached storage] connectivity on it." "Vendors Propose Fibre Channel Over Ethernet Standard" internetnews.com "Today we have separate networks for storage and traffic in the data center," Brian Garrett an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said. "For enterprise-class applications, FC is the king. For general purpose networking, Ethernet rules." "The Best Time To Pitch New Products And Services" VAR Business Magazine Bill Lundell, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, a Milford, Mass.-based analyst firm, points out that the approach goes back to the days of IBM mainframes, when vendors of IBM-compatible equipment tried to time their product introductions to coincide with the life cycles of IBM products. New ESG Research Finds Virtual Tape Users are Moving Towards a Tape-Less Data Protection Environment New Report Also Finds VTL (Virtual Tape Library) Solutions Improve Backup and Recovery Performance, Reduce Tape Media Management Issues and are Easy to Deploy Milford, MA – March 27, 2007 -- The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading information technology (IT) analyst firm focused on information storage, security and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, VTL Adoption and Market Trends. "Sun restructures again, promises new array" SearchStorage.com According to Tony Prigmore, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, this kind of move isn't necessarily unusual for vendors with both server systems and storage in-house. "If we look back across all the large systems and storage players over the last 15 years, they have played the 'where should storage reside' game back and forth," he said. "Storage newcomers fight uphill battle" SearchStorage.com "ESG believes that organizations will archive over 43,000 petabytes (PB) of unstructured file system information in the next four years," said Mark Bowker, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) -- so there is a market opportunity, and the product could be valuable there, he said. "Emulex Introduces New Accelerator for SAN Virtualization" eWeek.com Read what ESG Senior Analyst Brian Garrett had to say about Emulex's latest announcement. "GridApp Tool Boasts Database Consistency, Reliability" eWeek.com Read what ESG analyst Mark Bowker had to say about GridApp's new product, Clarity 3.5. "Symantec Enables Data Center Standardization With Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5" Sys-Con Media Read what ESG analyst Bob LaLiberte had to say about Symantec's announcement. Enterprise Strategy Group Research Finds Desktop Security Products Are Viewed As “Commodities” Large Organizations Claim That They Are Likely to Switch Desktop Security Vendors Milford, MA -- March 13, 2007 -- The Enterprise Strategy Group, a leading information technology (IT) analyst firm focused on information storage, security, and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, “Desktop Security at the Crossroads,” a unique research study that examines large organizations’ policies, procedures, and purchasing plans with respect to PC security software, such as anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewalls. The new report is based upon a survey of 206 Information Security professionals at North American public and private organizations. "IT and the Ford Pinto: two-of-a-kind lemons" Computerworld.com: Steve Duplessie's "Since You Asked" column You can put lipstick on an IT pig, but under the hood, it's still a Pinto Q: Is it ever going to be realistic to think we will have infrastructure within IT that lets the "IT as a service" mantra be real? It is tiring to hear from vendors who are selling the same old junk now claim they have the answers to these problems. As far as I can tell, running a big box of blade servers doesn't do a single thing different for me except it has better packaging and takes up less room. Am I missing something? "ISPs fear SAFETY Act retention requirements" SearchStorage.com Meanwhile, ESG research analyst Bill Lundell also pointed out that there are already procedures in place and even laws already on the books that provide regulations for ISPs to work with law enforcement. He cited the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which already grants the Department of Homeland Security the ability to monitor Internet users they suspect of preying on children or of participating in terrorist activities. "Lessons from the DuPont breach: Five ways to stop data leaks" Computerworld.com An organization's sensitive data is widely distributed throughout its corporate network, according to Eric Ogren, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass. Important data resides not just in databases but in e-mail messages, on individual PCs and as data objects in Web portals. "Hot Spots: Unstoppable iSCSI" Tony Asaro, Storage Magazine iSCSI is not only here to stay, it's likely to take a leading role in many storage shops. We've watched iSCSI grow from a standard into a real technology that has spawned specific products, to the point where there are a large number of vendors providing iSCSI products. More importantly, we're seeing user adoption of iSCSI growing rapidly. ESG Research Finds Information Security Concerns are Paramount at Remote Offices Milford, MA -- February 27, 2007 -- The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading information technology (IT) analyst firm focused on information storage, security, and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, Branch Office Optimization. This report examines the major IT priorities at and challenges currently faced by organizations’ remote office/branch office (or “ROBO”) locations. "Why we hate lawyers in IT: Reason No. 1,997" Computerworld.com: Steve Duplessie's "Since You Asked" column Wait until encryption is mandated -- that will be another boondoggle for lawyers and the industry February 26, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Q: I have been in the IT field for over 20 years, in several different companies. Why does it seem like in the past year I spend more time meeting with lawyers than the business people? I understand Sarbanes-Oxley issues, but my current company has been public for seven years, and we have always had "compliance" reviews, but I have been in six meetings in the past eight months with our chief counsel and other lawyers in attendance. Is this happening everywhere, or should I be concerned that something is up? "Use ILM to Store Data Properly and Securely" cioupdate.com “This is the biggest ILM abyss,” said Brian Babineau, analyst for The Enterprise Strategy Group. Departments will bicker and personal agendas may trump true value. There are few types of data that everyone will value similarly. “Confidential customer records and things like credit card numbers will have a high value,” Babineau said. Beyond that, it’s up for grabs. Opinion: Why you won't get any VMware stock Read ESG founder Steve Duplessie's latest "Since You Asked" column on Computerworld. Research Finds Many Enterprise Messaging Channels Remain Unprotected Milford, MA – February 13, 2007. The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading information technology (IT analyst firm focused on information storage, security, and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, Messaging Security: Beyond E-mail, a unique research study that examines the policies, procedures and technologies used by large organizations to safeguard messaging technologies such as e-mail, Web mail, instant messaging(IM), mobile devices, and message archives. ESG undertook this research project to assess which messaging technologies were utilized by large organizations and how these messaging platforms are currently protected. New ESG Research Report Finds Continued Momentum for iSCSI-Based Milford, MA -- February 8, 2007 -- The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading information technology (IT analyst firm focused on information storage, security, and management, today announced the availability of a new research report, iSCSI Enters the Mainstream. This report examines the current and future adoption of storage area networks (SANs) that use the iSCSI protocol to connect storage and server resources. "Encryption appliances: The new way to automate security" Computerworld The market is only about five years old and consists of a handful of small firms, noted Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc., a market research firm in Milford, Mass. The appliances typically use specialized, dedicated processors to handle the processing demands of encryption, where every byte is the product of intense calculations. The devices cost from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, Oltsik explained. "Record revenue at EMC" The Boston Globe Tony Prigmore , senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, said all of EMC's key businesses appear in good shape. "We don't see any major areas of competitive deficiency," he said. But Prigmore noted a sizable increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses. He said last year's disclosure that EMC would cut 1,350 jobs is part of its effort to eliminate redundant jobs at a company that has made nearly two dozen acquisitions in three years. Prigmore added that although EMC would keep looking for ways to cut its costs, "I can't imagine that it means any more major job cuts than they've already committed to." "Don't Wait for FDA to Define Risk -- the Agency Isn't" Edata Integrity Report