Month: October 2019

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Upcoming article: SME disaster recovery: Hyper-converged or the cloud

In this follow up piece for Computer Weekly, we’ll be looking more deeply at disaster recovery for the SME sector. The piece will cover:

• The key requirements for disaster recovery

o Why is it simpler than ever for SMEs to achieve effective DR

o What are the key choices (platforms, hardware and software)?

• Plus:

What are the key characteristics of disaster recovery using hyper-converged infrastructure? Who plays in the space and what doing they offer?

• What are the key attributes of the use of the cloud for DR?

• What are the pros and cons of each for SME customers?

For this piece I am open to input from analysts and systems integrators and consultants. We will also consider input from vendors, especially customer examples – but they must be SME, private sector projects.

The deadline for leads is Friday 18 October, 12 noon London time. Please contact me by by email, as ever.

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Upcoming article: can the cloud replace tape?

My next article for Computer Weekly will look at whether the cloud will finally see off tape, as the enterprise’s main backup medium.

For years analysts and vendors have predicted the demise of tape, but it lives on. Compared to disk-based backup, tape retains some advantages. And recent ransomware attacks have also caused organisations to look again at tape.

Could the cloud, though, finally see off tape backup? This article will examine the key cloud alternatives as organisations seek to move away from tape, and consider what they mean storage architecture. We will discuss:

  • Tiers of storage are there and how do they relate to each other
  • Difficulties in the (continued) use of tape
  • The key types of cloud products that can be seen as tape replacements
  • How do tape replacement cloud offerings fit with on-premises architectures?
  • Who are they key vendors of cloud tape replacement products and what do they offer

The deadline for submitting spokespeople’s names is 1700 London time, Wednesday 09th October. The deadline for submitting comment is 1700 London time, Monday 14th October. However please do not submit comments without contacting me first.

We welcome input from analysts, consultants and also senior end user IT architects, business continuity or archiving specialists.

Please contact me by by email in the first instance.