ChrisE Archives - Page 2 of 5

#50 – Introduction to Quantum Computing

Chris Evans 18 May 2018Guest Speakers

How does quantum computing relate to storage? This week’s episode is a bit of a diversion from our normal podcasting topics. In episode #47 (Enterprise Storage is not Boring), we mused as to how quantum computers use data. With no real knowledge between us, we asked for listeners to help us out. As a result, we’re joined in this episode by Scott Crowder, Vice President & CTO, Quantum Computing, Technical Strategy & Transformation, IBM Systems. That’s a long job title, Scott! During the show we try and get to the bottom of what quantum computing really …

#46 – Another View on Open Source Storage with Neil Levine

Chris Evans 13 April 2018Guest Speakers

A few weeks ago we discussed Open Source storage and whether it had any place in the enterprise. There was a lot of feedback, so we thought it would be good to follow up with another discussion, so we invited Neil Levine, Director of Product Management at Red Hat to give us his view. Martin, Chris and Neil discuss the difference in buying approach and whether bringing storage in under the radar is a good strategy. The conversation moves on to talk about the Facebook strategy of “move fast and break things”, the situation with …

#44 – Ultra High Capacity Flash Drives

Chris Evans 30 March 2018Garbage Collection

This week, Chris and Martin discuss the availability of super-high capacity or ultra-capacity flash drives. The conversation comes out of an announcement from Nimbus Data that has produced a 100TB SATA SSD. This follows up from last year’s 50TB drives that were OEMed to Viking and Smart Modular. You can find some more background at Architecting IT here. With so much capacity in a single 3.5″ form factor that could cost upwards of $50,000, is this product practical? How do the drives survive failure? Can they be repaired and who would build systems from them? …

#43 – All-flash Market Review 2018 with Chris Mellor

Chris Evans 23 March 2018Guest Speakers, Storage Unpacked Podcast

This week, Chris and Martin review the all-flash market with Chris Mellor. We looked at this sector around 12 months ago, so we’re ready for an update. Lots of things have happened over the past 12 months. Vendors have gone away and come back (Violin). Existing vendors have seen a resurgence in their sales (IBM and NetApp), while others have struggled. Pure Storage is now an incumbent alongside the likes of Dell EMC, IBM, NetApp and HPE. The conversation moves on to discuss some interesting start-ups like WekaIO and both Excelero and E8 Storage (previous …

#42 – Understanding Storage PR with Fred Monsone

Chris Evans 16 March 2018Guest Speakers

In this week’s episode, Martin and Chris talk to Fred Monsone, founder of A3 Communications, a boutique storage PR and communications company. It’s clear that modern day PR isn’t the right term any more and communications describes the work much more accurately. Fred describes the reasons why start-ups and seasoned companies want to find the right way to engage with the press & journalists, bloggers and other influencers. Dealing with people is a challenge, especially the divas (like Martin), who expect bacon rolls at events! In case you’re wondering, we mentioned A3 Technology Live, an …

#41 – Does Open Source Have a Place in Storage?

Chris Evans 9 March 2018Garbage Collection

This week, Martin, Chris and Gavin reflect on the decision by EMC to disband the {code} team and discuss whether open source has a place in storage. {code} was a project started by EMC before the Dell acquisition. The team focused on open source advocacy and developing tools such as storage plugins for Docker. Looking wider, companies like Red Hat have built their business on open source, but how are the storage platforms working out? Can vendors make money from open source and do we need a benevolent dictator like we have in Linux? Elapsed …

#40 – Garbage Collection: Death of the Storage Admin

Chris Evans 2 March 2018Garbage Collection

This week’s podcast was recorded a few months ago, so apologies for the sound quality. The team discuss the role of the storage administrator and whether we will see the eventual demise of storage admins or simply a transition to another role. The conversation tracks the responsibilities of storage administrators over the last 30 years, from the era of the mainframe to today’s software-defined offerings. Early on, Martin invents a new word (abomnerbation)! The discussions finally agree that the age of the LUN monkey is over. Elapsed Time: 00:26:57 Timeline 00:00:00 – Intro 00:01:00 – …

#39 – Garbage Collection: Storage Mythbusters Part I

Chris Evans 23 February 2018Garbage Collection

In this week’s podcast, the guys talk about some of the myths in the storage industry. The focus is mainly on traditional storage arrays and some of the features that end users might not need. The conversation takes a marketing turn, with questions on how five 9’s availability is marketed and the use of dedupe/compression as a tool to reduce costs. What do you think? Are there any myths you believe exist within the industry? Drop us a line and give us your thoughts or areas we should be discussing. Elapsed Time: 00:31:05 Timeline 00:00:00 …

#38 – Talking Dedicated Backup Appliances with Don Foster from Commvault

Chris Evans 16 February 2018Commvault, Guest Speakers

In this week’s podcast, the team talk to Don Foster, Senior Director for WW Solutions Marketing at Commvault. Initially this podcast was intended to be recorded at Commvault Go last November (2017) in Washington DC, but schedules didn’t align so we did it remotely. The audio quality is not as good as we’d like, so apologies for that. However, there are some good discussions in this episode, including lots to think about if you’re looking to deploy a backup appliance in place of a traditional DIY solution. Don spends some time at the end of …

#37 – State of the Storage Union with Chris Mellor

Chris Evans 9 February 2018Guest Speakers

This week Chris and Gavin catch up with Chris Mellor, Storage Editor for The Register. With so much happening in storage, it’s difficult to know where to start, so the guys focus on the rumour of Dell EMC reversing into VMware. Could this really happen and why is Dell EMC even thinking about this? The conversation flows on to IBM and their super-mega-hyper-uber announcement on NVMe. Is IBM getting its storage mojo back? Finally, the discussion turns to IoT and how storage and compute move to “The Edge” – no, not Dave Evans, but IoT. …