Author Archive

Although many companies have investigated the potential for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)-based environments to lower costs and leverage new work opportunities, many have discovered that VDI can be a tough technical challenge. Whereas server virtualization solutions are relatively easy to size and operate, large VDI environments introduce significant new challenges into the planning and operational stream. For example:

• VDI environments must be sized to accommodate user-visible I/O peaks that often affect many virtual desktops at the same time. Server workloads also ...

A lot of enterprise class storage arrays have had deduplication available as an add-on for a long time.  However, many customers continue to avoid deduplication in primary storage on traditional arrays due to the performance hit that ensues as well as the fact that the feature costs additional money in licensing fees.

Last year, however, IDC made the proclamation that deduplication isn’t just for backup anymore.  In their report, IDC recognizes that storage needs between enterprises and SMBs/midmarkets are quite ...

Back in the days of Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003, the world’s most popular email and calendaring system carried with it such extreme I/O loads and unpredictability that Microsoft wouldn’t support the product unless the storage environment with architected in very specific ways.  With Exchange 2007, Microsoft made major changes to Exchange’s storage needs, resulting in a massively reduced I/O footprint.  This move was a first step in enabling Exchange to run well in virtual environments, which Microsoft officially supported ...

Back in December, I took the position on our blog that all-flash arrays are overhyped and impractical. Apparently, 99% of IT managers in a UK survey agree with me. In a press release edited by StorageNewsletter.com, independent research firm Vanson Bourne interviewed 100 IT decision makers at 100 large enterprises across the UK. The purpose of the survey, which was commissioned by hybrid storage vendor X-IO, was to compare the actual adoption plans of all-flash arrays in ...

Colleges and universities, both public and private, are facing unprecedented challenges in today’s increasingly competitive education marketplace.  Besides competing with one another for a diminishing number of students, institutions of higher education are under increased scrutiny from regulators and accreditation agencies seeking to ensure positive outcomes from what can be an expensive education.  IT teams in colleges and universities face burgeoning portfolios while also striving to constantly do more with less and are often tasked with cutting costs while maintaining ...

The hybrid storage space is becoming littered with vendors trying to capitalize on a trend that Tegile started so long ago. It can sometimes be hard to differentiate one vendor from another, particularly when it comes to understanding how the underlying technology actually works. To help you in your selection process, we’re on the rooftop, shouting out these five key items that differentiate Tegile from everything else in the market.

Deduplication with no asterisk necessary

With some hybrid and traditional storage ...