Green without the ‘gotcha’

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

October 30, 2009

green servers

Reducing power consumption in the data center has  moved from a nice-to-have to a necessity.  No surprise that a ‘green’ drive sounds appealing for servers and storage systems.

Drive manufacturers have responded with new drives that use much less power than previous models. 

Just be careful not to throw the enterprise ‘baby’ out with the bathwater.  Green enterprise drives use less power, but are still enterprise drives under the covers.  That means enterprise-level performance, reliability, RAID integration features. 

IT administrators that focus on low power at the expense of other features have gotten burned with drives that may be labeled enterprise, but don’t cut the mustard when it comes to getting the job done.

Seagate enterprise drives, like the new Constellation drive, have ‘green’ features like PowerTrim and PowerChoice that reduce power while still meeting enterprise server and multi-drive storage requirements.

Photo courtesy of ispeech.org

By Pete Steege | Posted in Green IT, Products, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

All 6Gb/s SAS, all the time

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

October 30, 2009

HDTV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s like HDTV. 

First we had HD televisions without any content.  Then we had some HD broadcasts, and some HD DVDs in the stores.

Then – inflection point! – all the pieces were there.  TVs, DVRs, broadcast, DVDs, web content.  The whole thing took off faster than you can say “Blockbuster fire sale”.

End-to-end 6Gb/s SAS has arrived 

LSI, SuperMicro and Seagate demonstrated the 6Gb/s SAS equivalent.  It’s just a matter of time before 3Gb SAS is a quaint relic of days gone by.  This opens the 6G/s door wide for system builders too.

Seagate has 6Gb/s SAS available on the following products:

If you haven’t built 6Gb/s SAS into your plans, time to get crackin’.

By Pete Steege | Posted in 10K/15K RPM, 7200 rpm, Products, Servers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

SSD from Seagate

Barbara Craig

Barbara Craig

October 28, 2009

 SSDs are making their way into the market as Seagate, the storage leader began shipping SSDs last month to enterprise OEM customers who are reporting favorable early results with their testing.
 
Targeted at the broad volume server market (including the popular blade servers), the initial product offers a SATA interface, and in the future we’ll deliver additional interfaces and performance options based on our customer requirements .
 
With 30 years of experience in enterprise data center storage solutions, Seagate is well-positioned to offer quality, enterprise-class offerings for SSDs as we have for HDDs.
For more on the SSD technology,  explore JDEC, the leading developer of standards for the solid-state industry.   For more on Seagate’s announcement, see the earnings call transcript  and the Xbit Labs article on the announcement.
By Barbara Craig | Posted in SSD, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Benchmark Reviews: Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 “dominant”

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

October 28, 2009

silvertachawardBenchmarkreviews.com has a lot to say about the Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 – - twelve web pages worth.   In sum, they were very impressed.

The Cheetah 15K.7 drive scored 8.75 out of 10 points and was given the Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.  Some highlights:

  • “demonstrated a dominance over existing enterprise storage solutions”
  • “improved…transfer speeds at the same time it saves electrical energy costs.”
  • “probably the best constructed hard drive in the world.”

Thanks for the kudos guys!

By Pete Steege | Posted in 10K/15K RPM, Products, reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Avoid data spills with encryption

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

October 1, 2009

exxon-valdez1

TechGadgets created an arresting visual image in my mind as they described the problem being solved by Seagate’s new self-encrypting enterprise drives:

“There isn’t an organization, large or small, that does not face the threat of data spilling or leaking.”

Think Exxon Valdez.  The loss or theft of sensitive data can sink a company or expose millions of consumers to identity theft.  A pretty functional analogy I think.

Encryption has been known to be the optimal solution for data at rest for a long time.  The challenge has been in how to deploy this advanced technology in a manageable way.

Seagate’s enterprise self-encrypting drives (SED) allow incredibly sophisticated security to be implemented in servers and storage systems by the simple replacement of two components: SED disk drives and SED-friendly controllers from LSI and Intel.

The drives perform exactly the same as their unsecure replacements.  There is no performance loss because the encryption takes place real-time within the drive hardware.

By Pete Steege | Posted in Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Labeling a hard drive “Enterprise” does not make it so

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

September 29, 2009

Fast hard drives are not always Enterprise drives, just as high capacity drives can be Enterprise drives under the right circumstances.

What makes a drive an Enterprise drive?

What some people forget is that much of what defines this premium label goes beyond the drive itself.

Enterprise table stakes

Of course Enterprise drives must have reliability, performance and the ability to work long hours in difficult environments.  These traits are not added after-the-fact; enterprise drives are born that way.

Some vendors apply their Enterprise label somewhat loosely. Be sure and thoroughly test a drive in your envrironment before deploying any drive for enterprise purposes.

Beyond table stakes

Enterprise drives also require Enterprise-class support.  That means system-level testing by the drive vendor in real-world scenarios. It means robust firmware revision controls. It means rapid resolution of any drive issues that do come up, safely deployed within customers’ solutions.

Enterprise customers know this and expect it.  Chris Mellor at The Register recently reported on the impact of unmet customer expectations.

Seagate has about 60% market share in the SAS & FC drive market.  Because most of this business transpires quietly with a half-dozen very large customers, it doesn’t get much press.  That’s OK.  There’s a great feeling that comes from satisfying customers with a quality solution that more than makes up for it.

By Pete Steege | Posted in 10K/15K RPM, Products | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Data center encryption for the masses

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

September 23, 2009

sed-vault-prSeagate took a big step in the history of disk drives yesterday, although it may take a while for it to be seen as such.

Seagate announced the availability of a slew of self-encrypting drives (SED) for enterprise applications. Because these drives plug and play with secure TCG-standard controllers available from LSI and Intel,  fully secure servers and storage systems can now be built as easily as any other system.

Chris Mellor at The Register grasped the implications, as did Joe Kovar at CRN.

Encryption is not new. What is new is that the building blocks are now in place for any system builder to make a fully secure, fully encrypted system.  Seagate’s Teresa Worth says it well: “Strong enough for National Security, simple enough for the one-man IT shop.”

What does “fully secure” mean?

  • Every byte of data stored on the system is encrypted as it is written with government-grade AES 128 bit algorithms
  • There is no performance impact; the drives are just as fast as their non-encrypting siblings
  • Drives removed from the array cannot be accessed without the encryption password
  • New controllers cannot access the drives without the encryption password

As a matter of fact, Seagate’s self-encrypting drive technology is so secure that it has been endorsed by the National Security Agency.

Instant Secure Erase

“Fully secure” also means that drives can be totally erased instantly by simply deleting the encryption password.  That’s huge for businesses everywhere that currently retire tens of thousands of drives, many (most) of which still contain sensitive data.

Instant Secure Erase alone makes these secure systems worth adopting.

We’re at the cusp of a new era of secure servers and storage.  Before long, most if not all business systems will be populated with self-encrypting disk drives.  It may even be mandated.

Which system builders will grab hold of this opportunity and take the early lead in this space?

By Pete Steege | Posted in Products, Security | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The encryption stimulus plan

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

September 15, 2009

Here’s a favorite post from my other blog Storage Effect:

Source: creditloan.com

Source: creditloan.com

A fellow employee once asked me, “Why isn’t it illegal for companies to use non-encrypted drives in business computers?”

Set aside the logistical issues, and that’s a really good question. Day after day we read about exposed personal data, both lost and stolen. Beyond the personal intrusion, data loss is very expensive for companies.  According to  the Identity Theft Resources Center in San Diego:

  • Documented data breaches have risen by over 40% a year since 2006
  • It can cost a business $90,000 or more to recover from a lost laptop and its data
  • Lost or stolen equipment account for more of these breaches than any other cause - about 20%

Jon Oltsik at CNET proposes a mandate for 100% encrypted disk drives in all Government equipment. He makes a compelling argument!

But why stop there?  Mandating encryption for all business data would increase investment in the technology sector as the encrypted infrastructure is built out. Companies would drastically reduce their exposure to the costs and risks related to being front page news due to exposed customer data.  More jobs, more efficient companies, technological advances, all that good stuff.

Not to mention we would all feel safer.

The Government could get the ball rolling with loans or other help to defer the upfront costs for some businesses.  The initial investment would pay for itself over time in reduced costs for businesses to protect ever more sensitive data from theft or loss – not to mention the costs of cleaning up the mess after data is compromised.

Can you think of a better way for the Government to use their influence on our industry to create technology jobs, enhance the information infrastructure and reduce business costs? I’m all ears.

By Pete Steege | Posted in Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Data center nightmare captured on video

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

September 14, 2009

Reliable enterprise-class disk drives are critical for any trustworthy data center.

Redundant storage system designs are necessary.

Failover power and cooling is essential.

But sometimes none of that matters.  This video from Data Center Knowledge of a Vodaphone data center in Turkey demonstrates why remote disaster recovery is just as important as any other investment.  Store whatever data you value both “here” and “there”.

The video starts out almost comical; by Minute Six the situation has become dramatically more serious.

By Pete Steege | Posted in Backup, Data Center, International | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

It’s time to overcome “data hugging”

Pete Steege

Pete Steege

September 10, 2009

computerhug460x276“Server hugging” – the tendency of programmers to want their servers nearby like a warm security blanket –  is not unique to Microsoft.

There’s a broader and more insidious ailment that affects IT organizations everywhere: can I sleep at night if my businesses’ data is out on the cloud? Let’s call it data hugging.

Data hugging is understandable.  IT organizations are the stewards of a corporation’s digital crown jewels.  It’s in their name, it’s why they exist.

With growth comes change, and IT needs to let go of their sentimental attachments to their data’s location.  Cloud Computing is here to stay. It’s not for every byte and everyone, but it has a place in most organizations’ plans.

It’s time to set feelings aside and apply dispassionate business-based analysis to the in-house vs. Cloud analysis.

By Pete Steege | Posted in Cloud Storage, Data Center, Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

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