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Additional Sept 2024 article: Data centre cooling

For this Computer Weekly feature, we are looking into the state of the art for data centre cooling.

What ticks the boxes for effectiveness, efficiency, cost and energy use? Which solutions are easiest to fit into current data centres, and which improvements bring the greatest benefits?

The rise of new workloads like AI means that datacentre operators need to consider how to get more power in, to support large GPU clusters, and the cooling requirements of these chips.

So how will operators tackle those new power and cooling requirements?

The focus will be on the technologies currently on the market, and which can be applied to existing data centres. We can touch on emerging technologies and those that work with new-build locations, but the focus of the feature is on practical options CIOs and data centre managers can buy now.

I am keen to hear from data centre owners/operators — including CIOs — industry consultants and analysts. Due to the nature of the feature, we are unlikely to quote equipment vendors directly, but happy to receive information on their solutions.

To contribute to this piece, please contact me by email in the first instance. The deadline is Friday 23rd August.

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New commissions: Computer Weekly, July 2024

For the storage section of Computer Weekly, I am writing a feature on hybrid multicloud storage.

The piece will cover the following points:

  • What is hybrid/multi-cloud storage? 
  • What are the benefits of hybrid/multi-cloud storage?
  • What pitfalls does hybrid/multi-cloud storage bring? 
  • What workloads can most benefit from hybrid/multi-cloud storage?
  • What customers / workloads are a no-no for hybrid multi-cloud storage? 
  • What technical solutions can help make best use of hybrid/multi-cloud storage?

I am happy to receive technical briefs on this topic from vendors, as well as input from analysts or consultants. Any real-world examples of hybrid multicloud storage in use are also welcome.

The deadline for submissions is 1700hrs Tuesday 9th July.

To contribute, please contact me by email in the first instance.

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Computer Weekly: how to create the best hybrid cloud storage strategy

This feature will set out the key points IT directors need to consider when developing a hybrid cloud data storage strategy.

Key points we will consider are:

  • Key strengths of cloud storage
  • Key strengths of on-site data storage
  • How to decides which data goes where?
  • What does an optimal cloud storage strategy look like?
  • Some examples, including those that are primarily cloud based and primarily on-premises
  • Use cases that drive the decisions

I am keen to have real world examples and commentary from analysts or other experts.

Please note, the focus is on storage deployments, not compute.

The deadline for submissions is 1700hrs Thursday 23 May (due to the UK bank holiday weekend).

To contribute to either piece, please contact me by email in the first instance.

Note: if possible please don’t change the email subject line (or by all means append the source’s name to it, eg CW May 2024 – Our Client). It just helps ensure I can find all submissions.

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Computer Weekly: storage articles for January 2023

My next articles for Computer Weekly’s storage section will look at storage egress charges, and backup maintenance.

Cloud egress charges

What are cloud storage egress charges and what you can do to reduce them?

The piece will cover:

What are cloud egress charges?

How do they compare to others charges made for cloud storage?

What are the risks to organisations from unchecked egress charges?

What can you do to manage and mitigate over-burdensome egress charges?

Deadline for leads: Monday 19 December

Backup maintenance

Why does backup need maintenance, what does it consist of and how do we do it?

Why can’t you just leave backups to run without some kind of maintenance programme?What can go wrong if you just set and forget?What is involved in maintaining backup systems?

How does use of the cloud change this? We will look at backing up to the cloud as well as cloud to cloud back up.

What tools can you use to help maintain backups?

What innovations in backup might make all this easier?

Deadline for leads: 07 January.

For either of these articles, please contact me by email in the first instance.

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Computer Weekly articles for November 2022

I am working on a couple of storage-related articles to appear in the last quarter of the year.

These are:

Indefinite storage

How long do we need data? And which technologies are available now, or being developed, that can extend data storage life? In some industries the projected retention period for critical data is now over 100 years, so can storage keep up?

The piece will cover:

  • What is indefinite storage?
  • How does it contrast with less lengthy periods of data retention?
  • Where might indefinite storage be required?
  • What regulations / laws might dictate it?
  • What industries, or particular data within companies, might it affect?
  • What are the technical requirements for indefinite storage?

Deadline for leads: Monday, 14th November

IT ( storage) hardware shortages and how to ameliorate them

Some critical IT components are becoming harder to source, and that is having an knock-on effect on computer hardware, including storage; potentially shortages could also ipacrt the cloud. In this piece we will look at:

  • The big picture in terms of the shortages and how long are hardware supply issues likely to last?
  • What storage hardware is affected?
  • Some evidence of the effects?
  • What are the underlying causes?
  • What are the key effects on storage hardware procurement?
  • What can IT departments do to ameliorate the effects?

Deadline for leads: Monday, 21st November

<p>For either of these articles, please contact me by <a href=”mailto:journalism@stephenpritchard.com?Subject=CW: November 2022 features”>email</a> in the first instance.</p>

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Computer Weekly features: August 2022

I am working on the features below for Computer Weekly (for late August/early September publication). Deadlines for contributions noted against each article.

Data classification policy

How do you write a data classification policy, and more importantly, what should it cover?

In this feature we will look at:

  • What do we understand by data classification?
  • What is it used for? (eg for, backups, compliance, storage management and budgeting)
  • What does such a policy take into account?
  • What are the benefits of data classification?
  • What are the key elements of a data classification policy, and how would you start drafting one?

Deadline for contributions: Friday 5th August

How do we measure cloud storage TCO?

What are the key things to take into account when working out cloud storage costs as a total cost of ownership?

This piece will drill down into the main cost areas for cloud storage services. These could include capacity, storage tiers, AZs and egress costs, though that is not an exhaustive list. The piece will also compare these costs with the costs of on-premises storage technology.

In addition, we will look at which workloads are the most (cost) effective in the cloud, both for long term and “boost” usage and which, for now, are not.

Deadline for contributions: Friday 12th August.

Cloud bursting 

This piece is an “explainer setting out when, why and how firms will “burst” their workloads to the cloud. The piece will cover:

  • What is cloud bursting?
  • What are the benefits of cloud bursting?
  • What type of workloads can benefit from cloud bursting?
  • What are the limits / obstacles to cloud bursting?
  • What workloads are never (or almost never) likely to use cloud bursting?
  • How difficult is cloud bursting?

Deadline for contributions: Friday 19th August.

For all these articles please contact me by email in the first instance, if you are contributing to a specific article please note that in the subject line. If you are responding on behalf of more than one client, please use separate emails. Many thanks.

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Computer Weekly: storage features, July 2022

I am looking for input for the following two features:

Backups and recovering from ransomware attacks

What are the benefits of having a good data protection strategy when facing ransomware. And what are the shortcomings of data protection and backup that cannot overcome the likely effects of a ransomware attack?

The piece will cover:

RPOs and RTOs. What could be the effect of ransomware attacks on how much data you can recover and from how long before the attack?

How useful as media to recover from are: backups, snapshots, cloud storage and backup and tape?

To what extent is it possible to air-gap stored data?

In what order should data be restored when recovering?

Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, 6 July

Unstructured data storage – on-prem vs cloud vs hybrid

What are the pros and cons of storing unstructured data on-prem vs in the cloud, and what is the role of technologies that allow for hybrids between the two?

The piece will cover:

What are unstructured data and why are they important?

How big an issue is storing unstructured data?

What are the pros and cons of:

On-prem: The ‘classic’ use of large-scale scale-out file storage, and the more recent use of object storage, and attempts to converge the two

Use of cloud storage

Hybrid approaches, including Snowflake, where unstructured data is given structure and on-prem can be a source.

Deadline for submissions: Wednesday 20th July

For all these articles please contact me by email in the first instance, if you are contributing to a specific article please note that in the subject line. Many thanks.

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Computer Weekly features: June 2022

I am researching the following features for Computer Weekly, with deadlines in June:

Data gravity

What is data gravity, what implications does it have for data storage, and to what extent can it be mitigated

The piece will over these points:

  • What is data gravity? (for a definition see this TechTarget article)
  • What causes it? 
  • Give examples, large and smaller-scale perhaps, on-prem and cloud, any trends (eg, to edge?)
  • What impact does it have on data storage?
  • What impact does it have on cost, management etc.
  • What can be done, from a storage perspective, to mitigate data gravity?

Deadline for contributions: Monday 6 June.

Global file systems 

What are ‘global file systems’, who are the main vendors and what are the key differences between their products?

What are the common features of the ‘global file system’ products offered by vendors

What customer challenges do they solve?

How do they differ from file-and-sync services or just using the cloud?

Note, this piece will build on an earlier article (here) but will focus on the specific vendors in the space and their offerings. Please contact me directly for information on the vendors.

Deadline for contributions: Monday 13 June.

Backup maintenance

What do you need to do to ensure backups are maintained and reliable?

This is an advisory article setting out what should be done to ensure backups are maintained, and work. This will include cloud, virtualised and container environments.

Points we hope to cover include:

  • Ensuring all sources that need to be backed up are backed up
  • Ensuring backup targets are maintained and accessible
  • Potential areas of risk or failure, including hardware and human factors
  • Testing
  • Potential human, infrastructure etc failures
  • The need to keep backup software up to date.

Deadline for contributions: Friday 17 June.

For all these articles please contact me by email in the first instance, if you are contributing to a specific article please note that in the subject line. Many thanks.

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Computer Weekly commissions: October 2021

I am working on the following articles, which will appear in Computer Weekly in October:

Cloud DR: DIY or Disaster Recovery as a Service

The cloud is now the main backup destination for a growing number of businesses. And the range of businesses offering disaster recovery as a service is growing too.

But is disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) always the best option? Or is it better to develop a solution in house, using off the shelf (cloud) technologies?

The piece will look at the benefits of DIY approaches, and the drawbacks, and compare these to the benefits (and drawbacks) of DRaaS. The piece will also summarise the range of DRaaS services on the market, and set out the best use cases for each.

I’d welcome analyst comment and/or industry case studies for this piece. Deadline for leads: Thursday 16th September.

Where next for the data warehouse, and what might replace it?

Has the conventional data warehouse had its day? And what could replace it? Conventional, on-premises data warehouse technology now competes with a range of emerging technologies, including data virtualisation, “data lakehouses”, and cloud data warehouses.

What role will these newer technologies play? Are they likely to supplant the conventional, on-premises, datacentre approach, and if so why?

I am keen to speak to analysts and consultants in order to form a market overview, but also CIOs whose preferences are either for the new, or indeed the conventional, technology. The deadline is Wednesday 22nd September.

For either article please get in touch in the first instance by email.

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Upcoming article for Computer Weekly: disaster recovery for small businesses

In this piece, we will look at best practice for SMEs when it comes to disaster recovery.

The piece will look at the importance of an initial plan, how to assess risks and create a relevant RTO and RPO for the organisation, the DR options offered by cloud storage and applications, and the growing role played by disaster recovery as a service.

Contacts and supporting information needs to reach me by Friday 23rd July. If you can help, please submit any ideas or content by email .

I am especially interested in hearing from SMEs about how their DR planning works.