Storage Magazine Apr 2015 Edition

STORAGEMAGAZINE

^STORApril 2015

Vol 15, Issue 2

COMMENT - NEWS - NEWS ANALYSIS - CASE STUDIES - OPINION - PRODUCT REVIEWS

The UK’s number one in IT Storage

TAPE MEASURES:IBM and FujiFilm stretchcapacity records

WEB-SCALE STORAGE:Hitting the sweet spot

INTERVIEW:Beta Distribution

FLASH THE CASH:New economic arguments for

data centre SSD

STORAGE AWARDS 2015:Finalists in full

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Source: *As compared to 10k RPM SAS HDD with 184 Read IOPS performance and published pricing as of January 20, 2015 ©SANDISK CORPORATION 2015. All rights reserved.

Despite lower budgets, the need for real-time access to data has only increased, along with

demands on IT. But with SanDisk SAS SSDs and a flash-transformed data centre, you can accelerate

price/performance 100x. A win-win solution that benefits everyone. That’s why SanDisk has been

expanding the possibilities of storage for over 25 years. sandisk.co.uk/data

Welcome to a flash-transformed data centre.

WHEN MILLISECONDS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO THE BOTTOM LINE, REAL-TIME ACCESS TO CHANGING MARKET DATA IS A NECESSITY.

YOU INVEST IN SANDISK SSDs. AND BOOST PRICE/PERFORMANCE BY 100X*.

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STORAGEMAGAZINE

^STORApril 2015

Vol 15, Issue 2

COMMENT - NEWS - NEWS ANALYSIS - CASE STUDIES - OPINION - PRODUCT REVIEWS

The UK’s number one in IT StorageTAPE MEASURES:IBM and FujiFilm stretchcapacity records

WEB-SCALE STORAGE:Hitting the sweet spot

INTERVIEW:Beta Distribution

FLASH THE CASH:New economic arguments fordata centre SSDSTORAGE AWARDS 2015:

Finalists in full

Comment.....................................4CROSSING THE CHANNEL

News..........................................6 SanDisk unveils InfiniFlash 2TB SATA SSDs from OCZ

CASE STUDY: MAHR GROUP........10With next-gen data protection from Quantum, Mahr Group now has afuture-proof backup solution for all of its physical and virtual servers

PRODUCT REVIEW.............................12•Toshiba PX02SMB160 Enterprise SSD

AT YOUR SERVICE.............................14NCE snapped up the 'Storage service company of the year' award atthe 2014 Storage Awards. Editor David Tyler visited the company'sWiltshire offices to discover what has made them so successful

CASE STUDY: KIRKLEES COLLEGE..........................16Kirklees College in Yorkshire is achieving flexibility and adherence usingDataCore's SDS platform to position itself ahead of FELTAG (FurtherEducation Learning Technology Action Group) recommendations

HITTING THE HARD DRIVE 'SWEET SPOT'......................................18As the data centre evolves, so must the disk drives that populate it,explains Matt Rutledge, senior vice president of storage technology, WD

SOFTWARE-DEFINEDSTORAGE..............................................20The rise of open-source-based software-defined solutions signals anew era of agile and scalable storage, suggests Jason Phippen, Headof Global Product Marketing at SUSE

STORAGE AWARDS 2015.........…22The full list of finalists is announced!

BIG DATA FLASH................................28 New ways of deploying Flash are reinforcing economic arguments thatwill see a growth in the market for 'Big Data Flash'

TAPE MEASURES..............................30IBM Research and FujiFilm are busy setting new capacity records fortape media: Storage magazine takes a closer look

INTERVIEW: BETA DISTRIBUTION........................32Beta Distribution has been around for over thirty years and remainsEurope's largest distributor of LTO media - but there is now much moreto the business that describes itself as 'one of the most disruptive storageplayers out there'

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It is sometimes easy to lose track of the fact that, for many IT buyers, there is little orno direct contact with most of the storage vendors who feature in our pages - almostall of their procurement is done through a partner channel that may include

distributors and resellers (as well as 'value-added' variants on both of those) as well assystems integrators and consultancies. On paper we might surmise that this reliance onthe channel would make life harder for vendors - how do they get their unique sellingpoints across to end users, for instance? But in reality the channel has developed overdecades to become an invaluable tool for both vendor and buyer alike. It has meantthat vendors can 'focus on their knitting' - i.e. developing the best solution for the job -while effectively outsourcing a large part of their commercial operations to partners ofone hue or another.

In this issue we take a look at two very different companies who are doing very nicelyout of this situation: NCE Computer Group and Beta Distribution. Beta are in theprocess of growing their business 'explosively' (their word) as they shift toward a storagesolutions approach that sees them working with best of breed vendors includingSeagate, QNAP and HDS as well as 'upstarts' like Falconstor and Exablox. As EnterpriseBusiness Manager Ricky Patel comments: "I'm tasked with bringing in some new anddisruptive brands - including Tier 1 vendors and software firms - to our technologysolutions division. As a business we see ourselves as very much a Value AddedDistributor: we have 3 other divisions, which are important foundations for the wholebusiness. We are almost like a start-up ourselves within an established business."

Elsewhere we take an in-depth look at the service business at NCE, who are taking onrepairs, service and supply chain work for a growing roster of companies who nolonger consider it economic for them to provide such services in-house. From tapelibraries and optical drives to ruggedised laptops, no job is too big or too small forNCE's team of experts. With a call centre setup that any insurance giant would envy,NCE are growing a highly successful business for themselves in an area where vendorsdidn't see any returns.

The channel then, seems to be in rude health, riding the waves of IT and economicdownturns and coming out leaner, smarter and better able to turn a profit.

David [email protected]

CROSSING THE CHANNEL

BY DAVID TYLEREDITOR

EDITOR: David [email protected]

NEWS EDITOR: Mark [email protected]

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Abby [email protected]

PUBLISHER: John [email protected]

LAYOUT/DESIGN: Ian [email protected]

SALES/COMMERCIAL ENQUIRIES: Stuart Leigh

[email protected]

Steve [email protected]

MANAGING DIRECTOR: John [email protected]

DISTRIBUTION/SUBSCRIPTIONS: Christina Willis

[email protected]

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storageMag_FY15Q4_NextGen_Advert.pdf 1 2/9/2015 9:43:29 AM

N E W SN E W S

LaCie's Rugged Thunderbolt storage solu-tion will be available in a 1 TB SSD

capacity. The LaCie Rugged delivers speedsof up to 387 MB/s - three times faster than astandard mobile hard drive - and is capableof transfering 100 GB in less than five min-utes. "Wherever digital content is created andwherever our customers want to travel tocapture and collect it, our LaCie RuggedThunderbolt drive will go as the ideal com-panion," said Erwan Girard, Business UnitManager for LaCie. "With fast Thunderboltspeeds that save hours in the field and nowa 1 TB SSD capacity, our customers canfocus on the creative process instead of wor-rying about transfer times or storage limits."www.lacie.com

Dot Hill's new AssuredSAN 6000 Seriesarrays have been optimised for key

vertical markets including telecommunica-tions infrastructure, network management,video surveillance, service providers, highperformance computing (HPC) and otherInternet of Things (IoT) applications.

"In partnership with target vertical marketcustomers, we studied the I/Os per sec-ond and throughput requirements drivenspecifically by these new IoT workloads,"said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president,product and solutions, Dot Hill. "To meetthese new requirements we were able toquickly enhance our AssuredSAN con-troller design, demonstrating the inherentflexibility and modularity of our architec-ture. This allowed us to establish new lev-els of performance that meet and exceedthe demanding requirements of today'sevolving workloads. Dot Hill has beenshipping this new AssuredSAN 6000Series with key vertical market partnersand now we are making it more broadlyavailable to all partners." www.dothill.com

OCZ Storage Solutions has announced anew series of SATA III SSDs to add to its

Intrepid 3000 enterprise portfolio. The newIntrepid 3700 SSD Series delivers superiorperformance and I/O latency responses thatdramatically improve application performanceand I/O efficiencies, and supports higher stor-age densities up to 2TB representing OCZ'slargest capacity enterprise SATA SSDs to date.

"Data centre customers have asked for larg-er solid state drives that do not make any sac-rifices in performance or endurance toaddress the need to manage the ever growingamounts of data being generated by today'scomputing environments," said Daryl Lang,

CTO at OCZ Storage Solutions. "Our newIntrepid 3700 Series is designed to meetthese market requirements for an easy todeploy solid state solution that delivers thevery best balance of features, endurance,and capacity."

The Intrepid 3700 Series is available in fourmodels supporting 240GB, 480GB, 960GBand 1,920GB usable storage capacities andutilises the latest Toshiba A19nm NANDflash. Each model is driven by OCZ's Everest2 controller platform which includes an opti-mised firmware architecture and advancedflash management.www.ocz.com/enterprise

TWICE AS RUGGED

ASSURED FOR IOT

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SanDisk has unveiled a revolutionary all-flash storage platform that creates a new

category for the IT industry, termed by IDCas "Big Data Flash." Built using open sourcesoftware, SanDisk's InfiniFlash storage systemdelivers massive capacity, extreme perform-ance, and superior reliability to big data andhyperscale workloads, while significantlyreducing data center complexity and costs.

Available in three different configurations(IF100, IF500 and IF700), the breakthroughplatform provides 5x the density, 50x the per-formance and 4x the reliability, while con-suming 80 percent less power as comparedto traditional hard disk drive arrays, surpass-ing the capabilities of existing all-flash arrayswhich focus solely on performance.

InfiniFlash also delivers breakthrough pric-

ing for an all-flash hardware solution at lessthan $1 per gigabyte (GB), and breaks the$2 per GB barrier for an all-flash systemwithout requiring compression or de-duplica-tion technologies.

"We are very excited to bring our first allflash array storage system to market in theform of a category-defining product that weexpect will drive flash into big-data work-loads at massive scale," said Sumit Sadana,executive vice president and chief strategyofficer, SanDisk. "By offering InfiniFlashbelow $2/GB before compression and de-duplication, we are changing the industrydynamics in favor of dramatically broaderflash adoption in new hyperscale and enter-prise workloads." www.sandisk.co.uk/enterprise/infiniflash

INTREPID NEW RANGE OF SATA III SSDS

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SANDISK USHERS IN "BIG DATA FLASH"

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AT THE HEART OFDATA STORAGE

Reliable data storage is the lifeblood of any enterprise.So why trust your data to anything less than the mosttrusted, most reliable drives from the most experiencedmanufacturer? Toshiba invented NAND flash storage, andhave millions of drives installed worldwide. From HDDs toSSDs, and 3.5” to 2.5”, when you need high-capacity,high-performance storage solutions for the heart of yourenterprise, your head says Toshiba.

For more information visit www.toshiba-storage.com

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N E W SN E W S

HOW SAFE IS THE PUBLIC CLOUD?

Despite one third of UK firms banning pub-lic cloud from the workplace, its use

appears endemic, unmanaged and unstop-pable according to a new survey commis-sioned by Connected Data.

The survey of 100 UK businesses revealedstark concerns about the safety of the publiccloud services, such as DropBox, Box andAmazon for sharing confidential data.However, despite this caution, the findingsdemonstrate that most employees' activity viathese platforms generally goes unmonitoredand unchecked in 64% of businesses.

The vast majority (90%) of IT decision mak-ersbelieve that sharing sensitive data in thepublic cloud poses some level of risk.However, despite this inherent mistrust, onlyone third (33%) have banned staff from usingpublic cloud. Of the firms that do ban the useof public cloud at work, over half (58%) admitthey would not know whether their employeesare using it anyway. Other findings include:• Over two thirds (69%) of businesses ques-

tioned believed that public cloud services

were being used by some proportion of theirworkforce regardless of companypolicy (with29% suspecting over half their employees ofdoing so)• More than a quarter (27%) rank use of

public cloud as the greatest risk to theircom-pany data, above lost devices (25%), hacking(14%) and malicious staff behaviour (18%)• Over a tenth (13%) of UK firms admitted

they had lost or had confidential data exposeddue to staff sharing it via public cloud. Anadditional 19% could not be certain whetherthis had happened to their business or not.

Dr. Geoff Barrall, CEO of Connected Data,commented, "While we shouldn't be overlysurprised at the levels of mistrust in publiccloud, we should be concerned by a growingpattern of employee behaviour that puts sensi-tive company data at risk. Penalties to staff areserious, yet the need to share files across dif-ferent devices is leading them to break com-pany policy and put their jobs on the line."

With more than one million helium-filledhard disk drives (HDDs) deployed,

HGST has now achieved a new milestone inreliability as the only manufacturer withdrives field-proven and rated for two and ahalf (2.5) million hours mean time betweenfailure (MTBF). Now shipping its secondgeneration HelioSeal Platform drives, HGSTis shifting its volume mix and rampingHelium production to meet strengtheningcustomer demand across cloud and main-stream data centre applications.

Both the Ultrastar He8 and the UltrastarHe6 families now boast a reliability rating of2.5M hours MTBF. Due to its patented man-ufacturing process and the inherent benefitsof Helium, HGST's HelioSeal drives are fieldproven and have a more robust design mar-gin than traditional air based drives. Thedrives are hermetically-sealed, which keepair, humidity and other contaminates out ofthe drive, allowing them to be used in harshor ambient environments. The Helium insidethe drives also reduces disk vibration andflutter, adding to even greater reliability.www.hgst.com

NOT JUST HOT AIR

ExaGrid has announced that Q1 2015was its most successful quarter to date.

The company achieved record bookings andmarked its fifth consecutive quarter as bothcash and P&L positive. The company alsoreported double-digit growth from Q1 2014."Q1 2015 was another record-setting book-ings quarter for ExaGrid," said Bill Andrews,CEO of ExaGrid. "Our competitive win rateremains high as organisations continue tosee the benefit of our architectural approachto backup storage versus simply adding datadeduplication to a backup application or toan inline/scale-up storage appliance. Thecombination of ExaGrid's unique landingzone and scale-out architecture solves all theproblems of backup storage and is especiallyeffective in virtual environments."� www.exagrid.com

EXAGRID EXCELS

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The University of Cambridge Institute forSustainability's (CISL's) data backup is now

nine times faster after implementing Arcserve'sUnified Data Protection software, with backuptimes reduced from 18 to just two hours. TheInstitute's virtual servers are also now continu-ously available and a multi-layered recoveryapproach means crucial data is always onhand. CISL works with future leaders: helpingthem develop the skills they need to tacklecritical global challenges. Through educationprogrammes, business platforms and strategicengagement initiatives, the institute deepensfuture leaders' social, environmental and eco-nomic understanding.

The Institute selected Arcserve UDP to accel-erate backup times, increase availability andspeed up its data recovery. Arcserve UDPcombines backup, replication, high availabilityand true global de-duplication technologieswithin one unified console for virtual and

physical systems, along with advanced recov-ery capabilities. This has enabled CISL to:• Ensure the availability of information forstaff and stakeholders • Prevent any disruptions due to slow backups • Safeguard its reputation with future leadersby improving its ability to recover server data.

Arcserve UDP protects data across one physi-cal server and 22 virtual machines running onthree Citrix XenServer hosts. A total of 2.5TBof data is backed up including SQL serverdatabases, MS Exchange mailboxes, MSOffice files and a CRM system. Each night itautomatically carries out incremental backupsacross CISL's virtual and physical servers, andduring the day, file, email and databaseservers are backed up every four hours, witheach backup taking just ten minutes, a taskthat previously took up to twenty-two hours.www.arcserve.com

CISL CUTS BACKUP TIME BY 99%

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For 150 years, manufacturers all overthe world - from the automotiveindustry to medical equipment

producers - have relied on precisionmeasuring instruments from The MahrGroup. This consortium of companies is theworld's third-largest producer of productionmeasurement solutions and offers anextensive product portfolio ranging fromlarge manual calipers to precise digitalmeasuring instruments. Founded inEsslingen, Germany, today The Mahr Grouphas a global focus with subsidiaries andcustomers around the world, includingEurope, China, and the United States.

Creating production measurementproducts requires a complex, data-intensiveworking environment. Technicians andengineers draw on a variety of differentcomputer-aided design (CAD) systems thatcreate gigabyte-sized images and largevideo files. The company's 1,700 employeesare constantly using databases, whichinclude MySQL, Oracle, and MicrosoftExchange, and Windows applications, suchas Office and SharePoint. The result is amassive amount of data that is constantlyincreasing.

KEEPING UP AS VOLUMES DOUBLEFor years the IT team has trusted Quantumto provide new technology to help thecompany manage its evolving backup anddisaster recovery needs. Initially, the IT teamreplaced its multiple external tape drives withits first tape library when its data outgrew theolder system's capacity. Later the team

moved to the next generation of tapelibraries, the Quantum Scalar i500, andQuantum's early DXi-Series disk backupsand deduplication appliances. "Over the lastfive years, our data volume has doubled,and keeping up has become an ever-increasing challenge," explains ThomasWendt, The Mahr Group's backupadministrator.

However, as The Mahr Group's IT teamadded server virtualisation, new data-intensive applications, and large-scale,network-attached storage (NAS), the amountof backup data once again began tooutpace the ability of the old infrastructureto keep up. "We had a robust tape library inthe Quantum Scalar i500 that could scaleup to an impressive capacity of 2.6PB," says

Gerd Wiechers, The Mahr Group's head ofIT. "But now we needed a new solution,which could, on the one hand, increasebackup performance and reduce capacityrequirements, and, on the other, dovetaileasily into the existing infrastructure andmake administration more efficient."

NEXT-GGEN BACKUP &DEDUPLICATIONFor its next-generation backup solution, TheMahr Group selected Quantum's DXi6700Series deduplication appliance. The disk-based backup solution, along with theexisting Scalar i500 tape library, has sincebecome the foundation for the company'sentire backup operation - providing fastperformance and low administrativeoverhead.

CUTTING BACKUP DOWN TO SIZEOVER RECENT YEARS THE MAHR GROUP'S DATA VOLUME HAS GROWN, OVERWHELMING ITS LEGACYBACKUP SYSTEMS. WITH NEXT-GENERATION DATA PROTECTION FROM QUANTUM, THE COMPANYNOW HAS A FUTURE-PROOF BACKUP SOLUTION FOR ALL OF ITS PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL SERVERS

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"Quantum has impressed us every time wehave implemented a new solution becausethey have what we need and theinstallations have always been completed injust one day," says Wiechers. "This hashelped the team meet their schedule andbudget targets."

With the new system, the IT team was ableto establish an optimal set of backupprocesses:

Data from the virtual machines (VMs) iswritten to the DXi using Veeam Backup& Replication software

Data on the NAS system is written tothe DXi using Symantec Backup Exec

Data on the DXi is written to the Scalari500 tape library using a direct path-to-tape that does not send the datathrough the backup server

The backup of the databases is writtendirectly to tape.

BETTER RELIABILITY AND LOWERCOSTS"For us, a key advantage is that the Scalari500 makes our backup as reliable as packmules," explains Wendt. The full 26TBbackup - consisting of VMs, the NASsolution, and databases - takes place onthe weekends. Furthermore, incremental

backup of the VMs occurs daily, directly tothe DXi6700. Veeam then takes a completestorage snapshot of the system once aweek, which allows The Mahr Group tobring the VMs back online more quickly."The Scalar i500 tape library and theDXi6700 deduplication appliance copewith the uncontrolled growth of ourdatabases quite easily. Scalable, high-performance, and easy-to-use, they are theperfect storage solution," says Wendt:"When I think back to our beginnings withexternal tape drives, I realise that we havemade a giant leap in our backup systemusing Quantum technology".

And this leap is quantifiable: "If weassume that the time needed to manageour backup was 100% before, today weare down to just 15%, thanks to Quantum."Not only has the backup window beenreduced by a third, but the patented datadeduplication of the DXi appliance has alsodramatically reduced disk needs. An 80%reduction in data means that only 28TB ofDXi capacity holds more than 160TB ofdata, contributing to significantly lowerbackup costs. Backups are also morereliable because the iLayer software in theScalar i500 monitors itself using a built-indiagnostic system, so that backups andrestores no longer fail.

TOP MARKS FOR SUPPORTHaving a good backup solution is notenough if the manufacturer fails to provideeffective support. The Mahr Group's ITteam is enthusiastic about the expertise andafter-sale service they have received fromQuantum over the years. "We have beenbuilding on Quantum for more than adecade. When it comes to personal contactand technical support, our team can thinkof nothing better," says Wiechers."Quantum easily provides the best quality interms of service."

The Mahr Group IT team reports thatQuantum engineers exhibit proactiveattention to new updates, are alwaysapproachable for any questions, andresolve any issues quickly. "When theadministrative interface was not accessibleon the DXi on one occasion, Quantum wasable to correct the problem within a fewhours," says Wiechers.

An upgrade project is already in theworks: a capacity expansion of the DXi6700from 32TB to 40TB, and the Mahr Groupplans to keep working with Quantum in thefuture. "Only then we will be 100% certainthat our backups will keep runningsmoothly," Wiechers and Wendt agree.More info: www.quantum.com

"We had a robust tape library in the Quantum Scalar i500 that could scale up to an

impressive capacity of 2.6PB. But now we needed a new solution, which could, on the

one hand, increase backup performance and reduce capacity requirements, and, on

the other, dovetail easily into the existing infrastructure and make administration more

efficient."

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TOSHIBA PX02SMB160 ENTERPRISE SSD

VERDICT: As the creators of NAND, it is only to be expected that Toshiba's enterprise offerings would be market leaders,and there is no question that the innovative thinking behind the PX02SMB160 brings SSD into the enterprise environment withconsiderable success.

There can surely no longer beany question that SSDtechnologies are making a

significant inroad into theenterprise, and any remainingworries about reliability are beingchipped away with every productrelease from the main vendors.Indeed there are good argumentstoday that in many situations SSDstorage offers greater reliabilityand integrity than spinning disk.

Toshiba's PX02SMB160 is theircurrent top of the range SSD driveat 1.6TB capacity, part of a familythat also includes 800GB, 400GBand 200GB models. Only acouple of years ago the idea of a1.6TB SSSD device would have seemedunthinkable - or at least unthinkablyexpensive. Now we see a world in which thecomparative prices of SSD and HDD arecoming ever closer together. Indeed the wholepricing discussion has evolved for many usersfrom one of 'cost per GB' to one of 'cost perIOPS'. It is in this environment that thePX02SMB160 excels.

The drive uses multi-level cell (MLC) NANDrather than the dearer SLC NAND which hasbeen more often found in earlier 'enterpriseflash' offerings. SLC is usually held to offerhigher data integrity and therefore be bettersuited to the enterprise. Toshiba claim that itsinnovative SSD controller on the PX02SMB160gives the right combination of highperformance and endurance, along with theeconomies of MLC.

It will handle up to 10 full drive writes perday, which should make it more than adequate

for mixed workload read/write environments.The drive has been very cleverly designed toexploit the combination of MLC NAND andthe new controller, and includes twice theamount of NAND modules (32) as Toshiba'sfirst generation SSD offerings. The potentiallyhigher error rates of MLC NAND areaddressed by Toshiba's proprietary 'QuadrupleSwing-By Code' (QSBC) which offersadvanced error correction - and thereforehigher endurance - for read-centricapplications. The PX02SMB160's advancederror correction also includes what Toshiba call'background patrol', a function to check dataintegrity and correct errors as they occur. Thisworks alongside conventional wear levelling,which equalises program/erase cycles acrossthe NAND. The blistering dual-port SAS-3interface offers a data rate of up to12GB/second.

The PX02SMB160 enterprise SSD provides16 channels of NAND flash memory

interfaces, twice as many as theToshiba client SSD. ThePX02SMB160 has an interleavedmemory access architecture inwhich each channel is associatedwith two or more NAND flashmemory chips (each with 8-Gbytecapacity). This means that whileone memory chip is reading datafrom or writing data to memorycells, the controller can perform adata transfer with another memorychip simultaneously.

The increased concurrencyamong NAND flash memory chipsnot only compensates for the(relatively!) slow read and writespeeds of the MLC NAND but also

improves the overall SSD access performance.Furthermore, each NAND flash memoryinterface has a 1-to-2 multiplexer to doublethe number of accessible NAND memorydevices. These design techniques combine tooffer the 'Holy Grail' for enterprise storage: ahigh storage capacity of 1.6 TB combined withhigh performance.

What Toshiba have done so well with thePX02SMB160 is not just in the SSD NANDitself, but in designing the board and controllerso as to optimise the whole drive forperformance, endurance, and cost-effectiveness in the data centre.

Product: PX02SMB160 Enterprise SSDSupplier: Toshiba Storage Products DivisionTel: 00800 84685463Web site: toshiba.semicon-storage.com/eu/product/storage-products.htmlEmail: [email protected]

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We live, sad to say, in an increasinglythrowaway society. And we all knowhow tempting it can be, when our

favourite consumer gadget breaks, to getstraight online and buy a new one - becauseit has more RAM, or curved edges, or itdoesn't bend in your back pocket. But in thebusiness world it has got harder and harderto justify the never-ending cycle of 'ITrefreshes'. Increasingly businesses are underpressure to make their existing systems andhardware last longer - and at the same timemany storage vendors are quietlywithdrawing from offering in-house support,repairs and service.

This situation has created the perfectopportunity for NCE Computer Group toflourish - stepping in where hardwarecompanies no longer want to, and makingthemselves a very nice business model out ofit to boot. UK MD of the company AndrewGenever comments: "Our core strength - andwhat underpins our service offering - is ourdeep engineering ability."

CRADLE TO GRAVE SUPPORTA good example of the high regard in whichthe company is held by vendors is the factthat one of their technical pre-sales staff hasbeen designated a Datacore MasterEngineer, an accolade only awarded to 15people throughout the UK. As AndrewGenever boasts: "This isn't something you canapply for, or sit an exam for - you areawarded it in recognition of your knowledgeof their technology." As an example of theirin-depth expertise, Genever cites a recent visitto a university client that had been trying withHP and Datacore representatives to resolvean issue for two weeks: "Our professionalservices guys went on site and they'd fixed theproblem within twenty minutes of arriving,solving the technical fault in the software andmaking relevant adjustments to thehardware."

The ability to do this, insists Genever, comesfrom the fact that his staff are genuinely multi-skilled: hardware break/fix, software, andengineering: "We don't have one specialist,

one product; they're all multi-talented. Wehave technical pre-sales, professionalservices people who go out and install andconfigure solutions, technical 'break/fix' staff,as well as technical support and parts supply.We think of it as covering our customers fromcradle to grave."

EXTENDING LIFEAccording to Genever, the company made aconscious shift around four years ago frombeing a 'repair company' to being a 'servicescompany': "Maintenance is what we arepredominantly, right now - that's our corebusiness. We have the ability to sell solutions,we have the ability to do supply chain. Wemight be supporting a manufacturer with atechnical help desk, RMA (return merchandiseauthorisation) handling, logistics andinventory management, warranty handlingand repair. Then as a product reaches end-of-life, we might re-appropriate it and sell iton through the broker channel. We really dosee a product through from the beginning ofits useful life to the end."

AT YOUR SERVICENCE SNAPPED UP THE 'STORAGE SERVICE COMPANY OF THE YEAR' AWARD AT THE 2014 STORAGEAWARDS. STORAGE MAGAZINE EDITOR DAVID TYLER VISITED THE COMPANY'S WILTSHIRE OFFICES TOFIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT HAS MADE THEM SO SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR FIELD

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C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E : N C E C O M P U T E R G R O U P

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In a timely example of this 'cradle to grave'approach, NCE is in the process of buying upthe Neptune disk array product range fromDot Hill in exactly this way. The message toDot Hill users will be that NCE will support thiskit going forward, while NCE buys up all theremaining inventory, and continues to supportinstalled devices in the field.

PREDICTING FUTURE FAILURESAs the range of products to be supportedcontinues to expand over time, a business likeNCE has to continually invest in expertise inadditional technologies. Staff spendconsiderable time reverse engineering specificdevices in order to be able to replicate - andoften exceed - the knowledge of the originalmanufacturers. According to Genever when agiven piece of technology is approachingaround 3 years old, it is approaching its'official' end of life in the eyes of the originalvendor: "We put considerable time and effortinto researching those devices in a bit moredetail, reverse engineering them - hardwareand software - so that we can be confident ofbeing able to offer a full break/fix service onthem in the field."

The trick is to do this proactively and havethe expertise ready well in advance of themarket. It is the role of NCE product

managers to monitor the market and keeptrack of how many of a given unit are out inuse, in order to let the technical staff preparein advance and be ready to offer a full repairand support service when the devices do startto fail in numbers that would make it worththeir while to offer support. This proactivestrategy gives NCE a time advantage overany competitor who (typically) wouldn't lookat reverse engineering a piece of kit untilafter they'd seen a potential market demandfrom users.

THE SERVICE VAR DIFFERENCEBut the marketplace is not one of desperatelytrying to keep up with vendors, as in fact theyfrequently approach NCE with new kit tomake sure that they are aware of what'scoming. "We are always looking around atwhat's emerging, obviously," explains Genever,"And we are careful to explore what works forNCE as a product offering as well ascommercially. Obviously what we like best tois to sell product where we know we can alsodo the maintenance. We think of ourselves asa Service VAR, which does differentiate usfrom other resellers, undoubtedly, to vendorsas well as customers."

While there is clearly extra revenue to be hadfrom the SVAR model, it would be a struggle

for most VARs to try to emulate NCE's model,simply because of the huge time andpersonnel investment they have already made.Genever explains: "It would be very difficultindeed to come in and set up a break/fixcompany in today's market. It would requireso many multi-vendor skill sets, and there areall sorts of accreditations to be gained andmaintained - other companies couldn't dowhat we do without incurring significant costs."

Genever is rightly proud of the positiveculture at NCE and what he calls the 'staircaseof talent': technical pre-sales are often ex-professional services, professional servicesstaff have typically moved up from thebreak/fix team, break/fix from the workshop,and so on. There is great emphasis placed onopportunities to improve and on internaltraining, including an 'NCE university' whichoffers online courses to staff at all levels fromMS Office to time management as well as in-depth technical courses. Andrew Geneverconcludes: "We share that technologybetween the UK and US operations, and itoffers huge benefits across the business. It isvital for us to keep innovating and movingforward - if we stay still we will fall behind, sowe know we have to keep investing for thefuture of the business as a whole."More info: www.nceeurope.com

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C A S E S T U D Y


C A S E S T U D Y: K I R K L E E S C O L L E G E

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Kirklees College in Yorkshire usesDataCore's SANsymphony-V platformto provide its 20,000 students with a

modern blended learning deliveryenvironment in line with the 2014 FELTAG(Further Education Learning TechnologyAction Group) report recommendations. Thereport caused concern throughout the UK's400 Further Education institutions, as itdefined the need for IT to quickly remove anyIT infrastructure obstacles that may impedethe progress of provisioning combined self-directed studies with traditional college basedcourse delivery or risk losing IT funding.

Jonathan Wilkinson (Head of IT, Kirklees)and Simon Powell (Senior Storage Engineer,Kirklees) have elected to use Software-defined Storage as their flexible, always-onbackbone. Jonathan notes: "Essentially wewere looking to build upon what had alreadybeen achieved using DataCore as a platformacross 8 years.

The pace of change facing education isnothing short of a revolution in the way wefacilitate our students. What needs tounderpin this change is a watertight,expandable system that allows us to growcapacity as needed and keep applicationshighly performant on a continuous basis.SANsymphony-V delivers the high-endstorage services we need today and providesthe flexibility for further growth in the future."

REMOVING IT OBSTACLES IN A RAPIDLYTRANSITIONING INFRASTRUCTURE Part of Kirklees College's success in being at theforefront of this dual delivery lies with theflexible, always-on and ready to expand,software based IT infrastructure deliveredthrough a fully functioning Storage AreaNetwork (SAN). The decision to move towardSoftware-driven Storage actually occurred wellahead of the mainstream rush initially tocombat incidents of outages of their virtualservers through the deployment of theDataCore software.

Then, as the College expanded and merged,the DataCore storage virtualisation platformcontinued to comfortably provide a scalableand robust platform for expansion andresilience. And that ability to scale and trim iskey to adherence and optimal IT enablement.In 2013, as part of a move to the new campus'data centre, DataCore Gold Partner, NCErecommended an overhaul of the original SANinfrastructure with new storage hardware fromNexsan's by Imation storage family, togetherwith an upgrade to DataCore's SANsymphony-V10 enhanced software-defined softwareplatform for full future proofing and latestfeature sets.

Now, fully armed with the ability to performadditional operations such as Random WriteAcceleration to speed transactional processingand DR snapshots that ensure replication of

data on a real time basis, the team can relax inthe knowledge that they are flexibly enabled formany years to come. Simon comments: "Thereare some neat features in the upgradedDataCore solution that we have noted. We nowuse Random Write acceleration to reduce thestorage overhead as it produces faster storage-friendly sequential writes at our busy datamining times. Auto Tiering now also automatesand allocates the data seamlessly."

Flexibility of the solution is a key attribute forthe College. DataCore opens up choicesthrough its full agnostic approach to hardwareprovision, taking stranded storage capacity intofree space, and has allowed the team a morebullish approach to selecting the mostappropriate vendor without fear of future lockin when the hardware warranty expires.Flexibility is also paramount in considering theway that the college caters for students' learningpreferences under FELTAG recommendations."It is true that lots of solutions claim to offerresilience and flexibility, but there are fewsolutions on the market that could offer us thetotal peace of mind that DataCore offers, andhas done so for many years," concludedJonathan Wilkinson. "Once installed,SANsymphony-V is a transparent software layerthat you can fine tune as you go along withoutfear of failure, downtime or a dramaticoverhaul to the infrastructure or Collegebudget. We wouldn't face the future without it." More info: www.datacore.com

FURTHERING EDUCATIONSTORAGE MAGAZINE TALKS TO ONE OF THE UK'S LARGEST FE COLLEGES, KIRKLEES COLLEGE INYORKSHIRE, ON HOW IT HAS ACHIEVED FLEXIBILITY AND ADHERENCE USING DATACORE'S SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE PLATFORM, SANSYMPHONY-V10 TO POSITION ITSELF AHEAD OF FELTAG (FURTHEREDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY ACTION GROUP) RECOMMENDATIONS

@STMagAndAwards

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+44 (0)1249 813666 | www.nceeurope.com | [email protected]

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T E C H N O L O G Y


T E C H N O L O G Y: W E B - S C A L E S T O R A G E S T R AT E G I E S

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For many years, we've looked at storagein the data centre in terms of"enterprise-scale." Traditional storage

has been and continues to be a great fit forenterprise-scale. Hard drive arrays are fast,dependable, capacious, and affordable. Butnow the top tier of service providers areexceeding enterprise-scale and transitioninginto something even more demanding:Web-scale. Consider the level of Google,Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and similarglobe-spanning organisations. These groupsfuel modern digital existence and are trustedwith safeguarding it.

However, with the overlapping explosionsof mobile and unstructured data, thestorage challenges of 2020 will not be thesame as those of 2010. As such, theproviders grappling with the lion's share ofthat storage will face different issues andpriorities than more mainstream enterprises.The question of "Can we store it?" now givesway to "How can we optimally store - andscale - it?" Answers must accommodateproviders' operational and TCO needs,changing global usage patterns, andeconomics that can scale evenly withdemand.

CAPACITY STORAGE: ENTERPRISE VS.WEB-SSCALETraditionally, capacity storage has focusedon 7,200 RPM hard drives spinning thehighest number of affordable terabytes(currently in the 4 TB to 6 TB range).Reliability, performance, and cost pergigabyte all fell within a comfortable rangefor businesses needing to grow theirpetabytes of lower tier storage. Web-scaleorganisations, however, face new storageparameters. They need to assess metricssuch as performance per watt and capacityper watt. In an era when a user's decade-old

HITTING THE HARD DRIVE 'SWEET SPOT'AS THE DATA CENTRE EVOLVES, SO MUST THE DISK DRIVES THAT POPULATE IT, EXPLAINS MATTRUTLEDGE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, WD

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T E C H N O L O G Y

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T E C H N O L O G Y: W E B - S C A L E S T O R A G E S T R AT E G I E S

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photo (that might not have been viewed sincejust after being uploaded) must still beaccessible within seconds, is tape still the rightfit for archiving? Are there ways to trade someperformance for higher reliability?

Emerging Web-scale organisations havebeen asking WD questions like these recently.Clearly, a new range of market needs wasevolving, so WD went to the drawing boardand began to redesign the hard drive for thisemergent class of mass storage. The resultswill soon be seen throughout WD's Re, Se,and Ae data centre drive families. Inparticular, WD will be the first vendor tomarket with hard drives optimised for Web-scale archiving, an application that effectivelyconstitutes a new storage tier for disk.

Enterprise archiving, of course, hasconventionally relied on tape (and still oftendoes due to compliance restrictions). Theprice and capacity points were right, even ifperformance was such that it might takeminutes to hours to fulfil a file request. Manyorganisations persisted with tape simplybecause there was no better solution for thetask, although they have increasingly askedWD to come up with something. Somewanted a more feasible, sustainable approachto offering storage as a cloud service. Otherswanted a more cost-effective approach tomaintaining data - potentially for centuries -without having to "bury it in a cave."

TARGETING NEW ARCHIVINGWhen it comes to lower tier disk storage, ITgenerally examines combinations of fourfactors: performance, capacity, power, andcost. At this level, "performance" tends tomean "will reliably deliver megabytes in a fewseconds or less," not "blistering IOPS," which

appear higher in the storage stack. Capacityremains magnetic disk technology's forte. Withplatters now reaching over 1TB each, it'spossible to achieve very high capacities perdrive by stacking eight platters per unit (oreven twelve platters, as in the case of 1.6"-high drives). WD leads the industry involumetric drive density.

High platter counts push up drive BOMcosts, but, coupled with high areal density,also push down cost-per-gigabyte, which iswhat Web-scale IT wants to see in a lowertier application. Concurrently, WD is drivingdown power consumption in these drivesthrough everything from lower spin rates toPCB component choices to highly optimisedfirmware. Again, coupled with high capacity,this results in best-in-class power-per-gigabyte results.

Enterprises have been slow to adopt topcapacity drives because higher areal densitypenalises performance while high plattercounts impact cost-per-gigabyte. In archivaldisk storage, though, slowing performanceis acceptable if the counterbalancingrewards are preferable. Consideration ofthese variables reveals a sweet spot in themarket ideal for archival disk with fiveplatters in a one inch-high format. In fact,the five-platter form factor turns out to playparticularly well across several data centresegments with both high- and low-intensityworkloads. WD can maximise all of thebenefits Web-scale organisations areprioritising in their present and future diskstorage by targeting most of its diskdevelopment resources into this sweet spot.

THE WD ACTION PLANWD's new Web-scale drive options will allow

data centres to cut costs, expand capacity,and potentially cut storage powerconsumption in half. In many cases, whentape fails to meet given application criteria,archival disk will prove to be a more desirablesolution. These new drives will ultimatelyimpact enterprises in much the same way thatflash storage did around ten years ago -starting with a trickle, but finally building into atier-filling flood.

Thankfully, WD doesn't carry the legacyburden of a heavy SAS or 10/15K RPMcommitment. Data centres now buy four SATAdrives for every one SAS, and that ratio skewseven more heavily toward SATA in the lowertiers. WD has long prioritised its commitmentto SATA, and now that determination is payingdividends with this fresh push to help Web-scale providers realise their Tier 3 storageobjectives. By correctly reading the market,WD invested in the right platforms andpositioned itself for growth in the niches thatenterprises and providers would need most.

Soon, these investments will bear fruitamong traditional enterprises operating a stepbelow Web-scale as major data centres lookto leverage the same economies and scalingas their larger counterparts. When they'reready, enterprises will be able to follow thetrail of partners and deployment strategiessuccessfully blazed by Web-scale pioneers.Any business large enough to need purpose-tuned, mid- to low-tier disk storage will beable to realise value in their applications.Meanwhile, top-level service providers cancontinue to optimise their storage for theabsolute best capacity-per-watt and providemore cost-effective performance to users thanever before.More info: www.wdc.com

"Web-scale organisations face new storage parameters. They need to assess

metrics such as performance per watt and capacity per watt. In an era when a

user's decade-old photo (that might not have been viewed since just after

being uploaded) must still be accessible within seconds, is tape still the right fit

for archiving? Are there ways to trade some performance for higher reliability?"

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T E C H N O L O G Y


T E C H N O L O G Y: S O F T WA R E - D E F I N E D S T O R A G E

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STORAGE RE-DEFINED

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THE RISE OF OPEN-SOURCE-BASED SOFTWARE-DEFINED SOLUTIONS SIGNALS A NEW ERA OFAGILE AND SCALABLE STORAGE, SUGGESTS JASON PHIPPEN, HEAD OF GLOBAL PRODUCTMARKETING AT SUSE

Migratory creatures such as stingrayshave an innate response tochanges that are reliable indicators

of a changing season. Certain changessignal the onset of the migratory season,and more immediate factors, such as watertemperature, determine the precise day theywill migrate. Circumstances are signalling toenterprise IT organisations that a change inseason is on the way for data centreinfrastructure, and a few important factorsare triggering a mass migration to softwaredefined data centres.

In a typical enterprise data centre today, ITorganisations are rapidly breaking free fromserver vendor lock-in with hypervisors, whichcan virtualise any server using an x86processor. However, most networking andstorage environments remain silos ofrestrictive and expensive vendor-specifichardware and software.

With software defined data centres, ITorganisations are beginning to transformtheir networking and storage infrastructurefrom expensive, proprietary, vendor-specifichardware into open-source based softwareand low-cost, commodity hardware.

Traditional enterprise-class storage can bedescribed simply as file, block and objectstorage systems including softwareembedded on expensive, proprietary systemcontrollers, along with server-based storagemanagement software. Transform both typesof software into open source softwarerunning on industry-standard servers andcommodity storage, and you have softwaredefined storage. This will lie at the heart of asoftware defined data centre, providing aflexible, cost effective, high-performance,highly-available and massively scalablestorage environment.

POWERED BY CEPHThe best choice for open software definedstorage is Ceph, the most popular softwaredefined storage solution for OpenStackbased clouds. Using inexpensive commodityoff-the-shelf hardware, Ceph extensivelyscales from tens of terabytes to multipetabytes. Ceph provides industry-leadingstorage functionality such as erasure codingfor space-efficient resilience and faulttolerance; cache tiering for performance andoptimised data placement; a unified block,file and object interface; as well as thinprovisioning for capacity optimisation. Cephstorage clusters are also self-healing andself-managing, which significantly reducesoperational costs.

Powered by Ceph and available as part ofSUSE OpenStack Cloud or as a stand-alonestorage solution, SUSE Enterprise Storage is ahighly scalable and resilient software basedstorage solution that enables organisations tobuild these cost-efficient and highly scalablestorage solutions using commodity off-the-shelf servers and disk drives.

SUSE Enterprise Storage customers canhave confidence that the enterprise storagesolutions they deploy now and in the futureare tightly integrated with SUSE LinuxEnterprise Server, which has a long history ofdelivering leading data storage functionality

to enterprise customers. SUSE LinuxEnterprise Server was first to provide ajournaling file system with XFS followed byfirst to market support for EXT3 andReiserFS. It was also the first to support aclustered file system with OCSF2. And, mostrecently, it is the first to market with supportfor the scalable, copy-on-write, B-tree filesystem BtrFS. SUSE has over two decades ofexperience delivering the data integrityenterprise customers demand.

SUSE Enterprise Storage customers benefitfrom the flexibility to deploy enterprisestorage solutions on a wide selection ofSUSE-certified, industry-standard hardwareplatforms combined with best-in-class,worldwide, enterprise, 24x7 support services.

CHANGE IS GOING TO COMEWith hyperscale and large enterprisecompanies leading the way, enterprisestorage migration from proprietaryhardware-centric products to softwaredefined storage solutions is underway.Revenue for traditional enterprise storagepeaked in 2014 and will gradually declinefrom this point forward. In 2015, a catalystfor the acceleration of enterprise adoption ofsoftware defined storage will be the generalavailability of open-source-based softwaredefined storage suites from Linux vendorslike SUSE. Six years from now revenue forenterprise software defined storage willsurpass revenue for traditional enterprisestorage and become the dominant class ofstorage through our visible horizon of 2027.

The bottom line is that the generalavailability of open-source-based, softwaredefined solutions from Linux vendors likeSUSE marks the beginning of a new era ofmuch more agile, scalable and costeffective storage.

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• Compliance – Failure to meet compliance requirements from HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI, and others can

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E V E N T P R E V I E W


E V E N T P R E V I E W : S T O R A G E A W A R D S 2 0 15

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THE FINAL STRAIGHTNOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED, AND THE FINALISTS CAN NOW BEANNOUNCED FOR THE STORAGE AWARDS 2015

STORAGE MAGAZINE "ONE TO WATCH" AWARD - PRODUCT Acronis Backup as a serviceAptare StorageConsoleBarracuda Networks PST EnterpriseCloudian HyperStoreCode 42 CrashplanDell DR4100 Disk Backup ApplianceDot Hill AssuredSAN Ultra 56ExaBlox OneBlox +ExaGrid EX32000EGFI GFI Archiver Infortrend DS4000PMC NVRAM DriveProact ProboxOCZ Saber 1000 SATA 3.0 Enterprise SSDRockstar AntSanDisk InfiniflashSeagate 8TB Archive HDDSpectra Logic Black PearlSphere 3D Glassware Application VirtualisationStarWind Software Virtual SANStorMagic SvSANSuse Enterprise StorageSwiftStack SwiftStackZadara Enterprise Storage as a Service

STORAGE MAGAZINE "ONE TO WATCH" AWARD - COMPANY AptareBarracuda NetworksBeta DistributionCloudianCode 42ExaGridGridstoreInfortrend

LogicNowNetJapanOCZPea SoupQuorumRockstarPromise TechnologySamsungSolid FireSphere 3DSuseTegileTintriVeritasX-I0ZadaraZerto

STORAGE MAGAZINE "VALUE FOR MONEY" AWARD Acronis Acronis AccessAsigra Cloud BackupCleversafe DsNetEasy Software Easy ContractEmulex by Avago Technologies EndaceVisionExaGrid EX SeriesFujiFilm LTO6 Media CartridgesInfortrend DS1000OCZ Saber 1000 SATA 3.0 Enterprise SSDRockstar AntSanDisk InfiniflashSphere 3D Overland SnapScaleSuse Enterprise StorageToshiba HG6YVeeam Veeam Availability Suite

2015 FINALISTS

The 12th annual Storage Awards will takeplace at London's Connaught Rooms onthe evening of June 18th, 2015. This

year's list of finalists sees a refreshingcombination of 'familiar faces' and new names,and we expect the crowd on the night to reflectthat mix, making for an exciting night as ever.

The full breakdown of categories andfinalists can be found over the followingpages. Voting is now open for readers tochoose the 'best of the best'. Please note thatthe 'Editor's Choice' and 'Storage MagazineSolution of the Year' categories will be judgedby our editor Dave Tyler and a selected panel

of experts respectively, so are not open to apublic vote.

Voting closes on June 9th, so make sure youvisit the Awards website soon and make yourvoice heard!More info: www.storage-aawards.com

@STMagAndAwards

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STORAGE MARKETING TEAM OF THE YEAR Beta DistributionCMS DistributionDataCore with On Your CaseEASY Software with Sarum PRHammeriomartNetAppOracle QlogicSanDiskSuseTintriZerto

STORAGE MAGAZINE SERVICE TO INDUSTRY AWARD Arcserve Giovanni GodutiBeta Distribution Ben Jackson BMC Software Neill BurtonCode 42 Andy HardyComputacenter Bill McGloinExaGrid Graham WoodsFujiFilm Roger MooreHammer Paul MatraversNetApp Alan SynnottOracle Nicky NichollsQLogic Bob AitchisonQuantum Christo ConidarisTarmin Shahbaz AliSanDisk Marcos BurnettVision Solutions Ian Masters

CHANNEL EXCELLENCE AWARD Asigra Tracy StanilandBeta Distribution Ricky PatelBig Technology Jason DanceCleversafe Gurdip KalleyCloud Distribution Bruce HockinCode 42 Jon BrooksCommtech Mark WalkerGridstore Andy HillHammer Nick PowlingHGST Jon ShortlandQLogic Robert ClarkeSanDisk Matt QuirkTintri Sally Reade

ARCHIVING & COMPLIANCE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR Barracuda Networks Barracuda ArchiveONECommVault Simpana for Email ArchiveEASY Software EASY for ExchangeEMC SourceONE ArchivingGFI ArchiverHGST Active Archive Platformiomartcloud Mail ArchivingLogicNow MaxFocusNexsan by Imation AssureonQuantum StorNext Storage ManagerSpectra Logic Active ArchiveSymantec Enterprise VaultTarmin GridBank Archiver

STORAGE INNOVATORS AWARD ArcserveCleversafeDot HillInfortrendNetAppOCZOracleQLogicQuantumSamsungSanDiskSeagateSphere 3DSuseTegileTintriVeritasWD

STORAGE MEDIA BRAND OF CHOICE AWARD DellFujiFilmHPIBMImationMaxellQuantumSamsungSeagateSonyTandbergVerbatim

HYPER-CCONVERGED VENDOR OF THE YEARCiscoDellEMCFujitsuHDSHPHuaweiIBMNetAppNutanixSimpliVityVCE

DATA PROTECTION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP)Backup Technology VDRBarracuda Networks Barracuda BackupCode 42 CrashPlanCommVault SimpanaDell Netvault Backup 10ExaGrid EX32000EFalconStor FreeStorIBM Tivoli Storage ManagerOracle StorageTek DRQuorum OnQUnitrends Enterprise BackupVeeam Backup & ReplicationVeritas NetBackupVision Solutions Double-Take Move

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STORAGE MONITORING PRODUCT OF THE YEAR HDS Storage Capacity Management & ReportingIBM Tivoli Productivity CentreNetApp OncommandNimble Storage InfoSightOracle StorageTek Tape AnalyticsPaessler PRTG Network MonitoringSolarWinds Storage ManagerTarmin GridbankTintri Global CenterVeeam VeeamVirtual Instruments VirtualWisdom

OBJECT STORAGE VENDOR OF THE YEARAmplidataCleversafeData Direct Networks (DDN)DellEMCExabloxHGSTHPNetAppQuantumScalityTarmin

DISK BASED PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: SMALL/MID-RRANGE Dell EqualLogic PS4100Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3004 SeriesExaGrid EX SeriesFujitsu Eternus DX200Infortrend DS4000Imation NST2000Lenovo N4610 Network Storage ServerOverland Storage SnapServer XSR 120Promise VTrak x30 Series RAID subsystemQNAP HS-210 Silent NASQsan AegisSAN LX P600QSynology DS1812+WD DX4200

DISK BASED PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: ENTERPRISEDell Compellent SC8000Dot Hill Ultra 48 AssuredSANEMC VNX8000HDS Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) VMHP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 Modular Storage

SystemIBM System Storage DS8870Imation Nexsan NST6000MC Metro Storage

ClusterNetApp FAS8020Oracle ZFS Storage ArrayQuantum DXI 6900Spectra Logic Black Pearl Deep Storage ApplianceToshiba AL13Sx 15k rpm 600GB HDD

SSD ACCELERATION CARD OF THE YEAR EMC XtremSFHP SmartCache IO AcceleratorHGST FlashMAX IIILSI by Avago Axxia Network Accelerator OCZ Saber 1000 SATA 3.0 Enterprise SSDOracle Sun Flash Accelerator F20 PCIe CardPlextor M6ePMC Sierra Flashtec NVRAM DrivesQlogic FabricCacheSamsung T1 SeriesSanDisk Fusion ioDrive2 Duo Seagate Nytro WarpDrive Flash CardToshiba PX02SMF

FLASH ARRAY OF THE YEAR Avere FXT Series Edge FilerDell SC220 Flash Optimized SolutionEMC xTremIO Scale-out ArrayIBM FlashSystem 900Infortrend DS1024BKaminaro K2 Flash ArrayNetApp EF540 Flash ArrayNimbus Gemini F400 All Flash ArrayPure Storage FA 450 Flash ArraySanDisk InfiniflashTegile Zebi Storage ArrayTintri VMstoreViolin Memory 6600 Flash ArrayX-IO ISE Storage System

CLOUD ENABLER OF THE YEAR AcronisAmazon S3Barracuda NetworksCleversafeCode 42EMC EvaultiomartMicrosoft AzurePulsantProactSix Degree GroupSphere 3DSuseVeritasVMwareVodafone

STORAGE HOSTING COMPANY OF THE YEAR Amazon S3ClaranetDatabarracksiomartOnyxPeer 1 HostingPhoenixPulsantRackspaceSix Degrees GroupSungardVodafone

@STMagAndAwards


Lightning Ultra™ Gen. II SAS SSDs offer industry-leading predictable performance with high availability for the

analysis of large data sets. Available in 19nm SLC, these SSDs are designed for write-intensive applications

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with a heavy workload comprised of a 50/50 read/write mix.

This next generation Lightning® SSD offers a feature-rich robust design combined with SanDisk’s innovative

parallel processing architecture to deliver full data path protection (supports T10-DIF), temperature based

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STORAGEMAGAZINE

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STORAGE VIRTUALISATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR DataCore SANsymphony-VDell Compellent Storage CenterDot Hill RealStor 2.0FalconStor FreeStorIBM StorwizeImation Nexsan NST SeriesMaxta MxSPNexenta NexentastorOracle Oracle VMPernixData FVPSphere 3D Glassware Application VirtualisationTintri T800VMware vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA)

CHANNEL PARTNER PROGRAM OF THE YEAR ArcserveBarracuda NetworksCommvaultDot HillFujitsuImationNetAppPure StorageQLogicQuantumSeagateTarmin

STORAGE SERVICE COMPANY OF THE YEAR BluechipCapitaComms-CareComputacenterCTERADaisyIBMMaindecNCEOne Source ITPhoenixProactQ AssociatesSol-Tec

CORPORATE STORAGE RESELLER OF THE YEAR ComputacenterEACSEsteemInsight DirectKelwayNCEOISGProact ITQ AssociatesSCCSoftCatStone

SPECIALIST STORAGE RESELLER OF THE YEAR CapitaCognitive SolutionsComputacenterCOOLSPIRiTERA

LETNLogicalisNCEProactQ AssociatesS3ServiumSol-TecVirtek Systems

STORAGE DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR Arrow ECSAvnetBeta DistributionCloud DistributionCMS DistributionCommtechGlobal DistributionHammer PlcNorthamberWestcoastWiproZycko

STORAGE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP)Barracuda Networks Barracuda BackupCleversafe DsNetCommVault SimpanaDataCore SANsymphony-V Dell DR4100 Disk Backup ApplianceDot Hill AssuredSAN Ultra 48NetApp EF540Oracle StorageTekPure Storage FA-450 Flash ArrayQLogic FastLinQ 3400 Series AdapterSanDisk Optimus MaxSanDisk InfiniflashSeagate 8TB Archive HDDSuse Enterprise StorageTintri VMStoreToshiba HG5YWD Re+

STORAGE COMPANY OF THE YEAR CommVaultDataCoreDellEMCHPIBMImationNetAppOracleQLogicQuantumSanDiskSeagateSuseSymantecVeeamVeritasWD

@STMagAndAwards


Lightning Ultra™ Gen. II SAS SSDs offer industry-leading predictable performance with high availability for the

analysis of large data sets. Available in 19nm SLC, these SSDs are designed for write-intensive applications

such as high performance computing (HPC), big data analytics, database logging, media editing, and indexing

with a heavy workload comprised of a 50/50 read/write mix.

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According to IDC, over the next five years,more than 95% of all IT expenditure willgo towards the "third platform" of

computing infrastructure (cloud computing, bigdata, mobile computing and the Internet ofThings). Older storage infrastructures are notsuited to handle the scale of many of theprocesses required for the current andemerging world, such as evolving workloads,intense and high demand scalability andresource agility.

This has been the principal driver for thechanging expenditure. Traditional HDDs, forexample, are better for capacity-intensiveenvironments that not only require a low dollar-per-gigabyte cost for capacity but also needrelatively few inputs/outputs per second orIOPS per gigabyte. However, using the sameapproach in today's data intensive world wouldnot be economical at all and IDC has spokenat length about the potential of Flash todominate spinning disk in the performanceintensive storage environments.

MANIFOLD RETURNSFlash arrays have a higher performancethroughput, which means fewer arrays tomanage the same workloads. Additionally, asworkload capacities demand higherthroughput rates (measured in inputs/outputsper second or IOPS), many enterprises are

finding their workloads are perfectly positionedfor Flash's cost-to-performance ratio. As well asreducing the need for storage overprovisioning, Flash-based SSDs require muchless power for running and cooling than HDDs,especially once IT managers run de-duplicationand installed less capacity to begin with. Withpower in the data centre usually in the topthree IT operating costs, alongside people costsand data centre space, any reduction in thesegenerates significant savings to the business.

Hitting all of them at once, as you can withFlash, brings manifold returns. Also, deployingFlash within storage arrays built significantly totake advantage of Flash based media willresult in lower storage administration.Revolutionary internal architecture completelyeliminates complex set-up and tuning steps,while inherently delivering maximumperformance. Given that a single tier of Flashbased media will be deployed there is no moremanagement of storage tiers and the 'chasingof performance hotspots'.

However, though Flash is the only storagesolution that is able to adequately cope withthe demands of the third platform, until recentlyit has not been available at a reasonableenough price point for many, as the dollar-per-gigabyte cost has been a large barrier to entryinto the secondary market. Though the

MAKING 'DOLLAR-SENSE'OUT OF FLASHNEW WAYS OF DEPLOYING FLASH ARE REINFORCING ECONOMICARGUMENTS THAT WILL SEE A GROWTH IN THE MARKET FOR 'BIGDATA FLASH', ARGUES MARCOS BURNETT, SALES DIRECTOR FORNORTHERN EUROPE, SANDISK

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absolute cost of Flash storage has beencoming down significantly over the last fewyears, making the relative cost per TB ofstorage more attractive than ever in a Flash vs.traditional array, the applications in thesecondary market have been unable to justifythe cost of Flash, as they are unable to takeadvantage of conventional Flash performanceto fully leverage secondary economic benefits.

SECONDARY BENEFITSTo make Flash appealing to these markets, it isimportant to understand how the secondaryeconomic benefits of Flash (lower device count,lower energy consumption and reduced floorspace requirements) would apply in secondarystorage environment. If one makes theconservative assumption that Flash can achievea data reduction ratio of 2:1 for secondarystage workloads and a conservative 20% lowerdevice count, and that a Flash-based mediumwas available at roughly $0.40 per gigabytefor raw capacity by 2018, a Flash-basedconfiguration would cost roughly the same as astorage solution built out of performanceoptimised HDDs priced at $0.183 per gigabyteand would have a 40-80% lower TCO.

To compare a Flash-based configuration witha storage solution built entirely out of capacity-optimised HDDs, we would have to assumethat we'd need 4 times the number of devices

to meet IOPS requirements, a number thatsignificantly raises not only the acquisition costbut also the TCO of the solution.

BIG DATA FLASH IS BORNBased on this quick analysis, we can start toformulate what a viable storage product thatcould meet the previously defined marketopportunity might look like. The storageproduct would have the secondary economicbenefits of Flash and cost $0.40 per gigabyteby 2018. It would have to deliver performance(latencies, IOPS, and throughput) that isconsistently better than the best case thatperformance-optimised HDDs can offer today.And since this would be targeted at secondarystorage environments, it should be built forscalability into the tens or hundreds ofpetabytes for application workloads that requirehigh ingest rates, exhibit low change rates, andneed high read rates with some level ofintermixed random writes.

It should be delivered in a package that meetsenterprise requirements for availability,reliability, and manageability; should be able tosupport multiple data types (block, file, andobject as well as structured, unstructured, andsemi-structured); and should mesh well withpre-existing data centre workflows foroperations like access, monitoring, andbreak/fix. Targeted as it would be at massively

scalable environments, IDC suggests that anappropriate name for this new category wouldbe "Big Data Flash."

The creation of the new category of Big DataFlash is a welcome development in an industrythat is struggling with legacy HDD technologiesfor secondary storage applications in the thirdplatform computing era. The performance andcost characteristics of Big Data Flash enablenot only new types of secondary storageapplications but possibly also new types ofprimary storage applications that meet itsperformance profile.

Admittedly, prices per gigabyte vary amongvendors based on their products' configurationsand whether or not they factor in datareduction technologies, such as deduplicationand compression. Prices per IOPS are noeasier, with differing sets of variables to weigh.However, as there is no sign that the rate atwhich we are creating data will subside anytimesoon, solutions like Big Data Flash are what weneed to enable us to use the data sets we arecreating in a cost effective and reliable way forour business advantage. As illustrated, BigData Flash offers a significant shift ineconomics; that, more often than not, is thebiggest factor in the process of adopting newtechnology.More info: www.sandisk.com/enterprise

"The creation of the new category of Big Data Flash is a welcome development in an

industry that is struggling with legacy HDD technologies for secondary storage

applications in the third platform computing era. The performance and cost

characteristics of Big Data Flash enable not only new types of secondary storage

applications but possibly also new types of primary storage applications that meet its

performance profile."

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IBM scientists have demonstrated an arealrecording density of 123 billion bits ofuncompressed data per square inch on low

cost particulate magnetic tape, a breakthroughwhich represents the equivalent of a 220terabyte tape cartridge that could fit in the palmof a hand.

To put this into perspective, 220 terabytes ofdata is comparable to 1.37 trillion mobile textmessages or the text of 220 million books,which would themselves require a 2,200 kmbookshelf spanning from Las Vegas toHouston, Texas.

IBM says that this new record proves thatcomputer tape - a storage medium invented in1952 with an initial capacity of about 2megabytes per reel - continues to be an idealtechnology not just for storing enormousamounts of back-up and archival data, but fornew applications such as Big Data and cloudcomputing. The record setting demonstration isan 88 fold improvement over an LTO6cartridge, the latest industry-standard magnetictape product, and a 22 fold improvement overIBM's current enterprise class tape product.

Today more than 500 exabytes of data residein tape storage systems, according to IT analystfirm Coughlin Associates. The new record wasachieved using a new, advanced prototype tapedeveloped by FujiFilm Corporation of Japan, incollaboration with IBM scientists. This is thefourth time in less than 10 years that IBMResearch and FujiFilm have collaborated toachieve such a feat.

ETH Zurich, a leading international universitybased in Switzerland, is using IBM tapetechnology for central data back-up andrestore services. "The average data transfer

rate to tape has increased steeply over theyears to approximately 60 terabytes daily andour tape library has reached more than 5.5petabytes. Despite advances in overall storagetechnology, tape is still a promising media forlarge amounts of data for its transferability ofdata in Linear Tape File System applicationsand its low energy consumption," said Dr. TiloSteiger, Deputy Head of ITS System Services,ETH Zurich."

"With this demonstration, we prove again thattape will continue to play an important role inthe storage hierarchy for years to come," addedDr. Evangelos Eleftheriou, IBM Fellow. "Thismilestone reaffirms IBM's continued commitmentand leadership in magnetic tape technology."

While tape has traditionally been used onpremise for video archives, back-up files,replicas for disaster recovery and retentionof information, off-premise applications inthe cloud are beginning to emerge due to itslow cost, which averages just a few penniesper gigabyte.

INTO THE CLOUDIBM Research scientists in Zurich are nowexploring the integration of tape technology withcurrent cloud object storage systems such asOpenStack Swift. This would enable objectstorage on tape and allow users to seamlesslymigrate cold data to an extremely low-cost,highly durable cloud based storage tier perfectlysuited for back-up or archival use cases. Aresearch prototype of this technology is beingdemonstrated at April's 2015 NationalAssociation Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas,while additional technical details will bepresented at the 2015 Intermag conference(May 11-15) in Beijing and at the IBM EDGEconference (May 11-15) again in Las Vegas.

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TAPE MEASURESIBM RESEARCH AND FUJIFILM ARE BUSY SETTING NEW CAPACITY RECORDS FOR TAPE MEDIA: STORAGEMAGAZINE TAKES A CLOSER LOOK

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To achieve 123 billion bits per square inch,IBM researchers developed several newtechnologies, including:

A set of advanced servo controltechnologies that include a high bandwidthhead actuator, a servo pattern and servochannel and a set of tape speed optimisedH-infinity track follow controllers thattogether enable head positioning with anaccuracy better than 6 nanometers. Thisenables a track density of 181,300 tracksper inch, a more than 39 fold increaseover LTO6

An enhanced write field head technologythat enables the use of much finer bariumferrite (BaFe) particles

Innovative signal-processing algorithms forthe data channel, based on noise-predictivedetection principles, enable reliableoperation with an ultra narrow 90nm widegiant magneto-resistive (GMR) reader.

IBM has been working closely with FujiFilm onthis technology since 2002, particularly on theoptimisation of its dual-coat magnetic tapebased on barium ferrite (BaFe) particles. Theresults of this collaboration have led to varioustechnology improvements, among them adramatic increase in the precision of controllingthe position of the read-write heads - which has

resulted in an increase in the number of tracksthat can be squeezed onto half-inch-wide tape.

In addition, the scientists have developed new,advanced detection methods to improve theaccuracy of reading the tiny magnetic bits,achieving an increase in the linear recordingdensity of more than 76 percent over LTO6,while enabling the use of a reader that is only90nm in width.

Many of the technologies developed and usedin the areal density demonstrations are laterincorporated into IBM tape products. Twonotable examples from 2007 include an

advanced noise predictive maximumlikelihood read channel and first generationBaFe tape media.

Of course IBM has a long history ofinnovation in magnetic tape data storage. Itsfirst commercial tape product, the 726Magnetic Tape Unit, was announced morethan 60 years ago, and used reels of half-inch-wide tape that each had a capacity of about 2megabytes. This latest areal densitydemonstration represents a potential increasein capacity of 110,000,000 times comparedwith IBM's first tape drive product. More info: www.research.ibm.com

"While tape has traditionally been used on premise for video archives, back-up

files, replicas for disaster recovery and retention of information, off-premise appli-

cations in the cloud are beginning to emerge due to its low cost, which averages

just a few pennies per gigabyte. IBM Research scientists in Zurich are now explor-

ing the integration of tape technology with current cloud object storage systems

such as OpenStack Swift. This would enable object storage on tape and allow

users to seamlessly migrate cold data to an extremely low-cost, highly durable

cloud based storage tier perfectly suited for back-up or archival use cases."

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David Tyler: The last few years have seensome huge changes in your business - canyou sum up the shift for us?Ricky Patel: The company actually started offin calculator repairs over 35 years ago,before moving into print hardware andsubsequently consumables, which is wherewe'd focused for some time - for instance weare Canon's oldest distributor in the UK.Nine years ago Steve Soper stepped in asMD and took the opportunity to recalibrateand look at the broader market, whichhighlighted a number of areas within thechannel that we should enter to help ourgrowth. Two years later we created ourtechnology solutions division which has gonefrom strength to strength This was initiallybased on building an LTO business – we areoutselling all other distributors on LTO mediain Europe – so on the back of that we havebrought in product managers and businessmanagers who have added majortechnology brands to the business. Thisincludes the likes of Seagate, QNAP,Synology, Infortrend, LaCie, and others.

Ben Jackson: As a result of this we've grownthe Technology Solutions division from around10% of the business to close to 34% for thisyear. We’ve gone from around a £90 milliondistributor to £159 million in the space of 5years – this has been an explosive growth byany standards. Within the corporate resellermarket, we still have this establishedreputation in the print/consumables sector, sowe have a bit of profile raising work to do, aswe now have so much more to our portfolio

than ‘just ink and toner’. Our aim is to beseen as serious storage supplier out there nowthat we have these great brands on board andthe right level of experienced staff in place.

RP: We have a commodity-based storageplatform offering (Seagate, Transcend, LaCie),alongside a very successful NAS business(QNAP, Synology, Drobo), and we’ve recentlysigned Falconstor, Overland and Exablox, aUS startup in the scaleout NAS sector. I’mtasked with bringing in some new anddisruptive brands – who are best of breed andprovide a margin rich product set – to ourtechnology solutions division. As a businesswe see ourselves as very much a Value AddedDistributor: we have 3 other divisions, whichare important foundations for the wholebusiness. We are almost like a startupourselves within an established business.

DT: What is the specific message to thereseller market from Beta Distribution now?BJ: The strategic next step for us is to makethe market more aware of what we can nowoffer. The proposition for resellers is simple:come and work with us and we will bring youincremental business. This means we have toensure that we can bring some value-add tothe table, whether that is via integrationservices or by bringing in new technologies.

We deal with some 1800 customers everymonth; around 900 of them are currentlybuying storage products from us. So wealready have some senior relationships inplace from a management perspective, so it is

SHAKING THINGS UPBETA DISTRIBUTION HAS BEEN AROUND FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS AND REMAINS EUROPE'S LARGESTDISTRIBUTOR OF LTO MEDIA - BUT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE BUSINESS THAT NOW DESCRIBESITSELF AS 'ONE OF THE MOST DISRUPTIVE STORAGE PLAYERS OUT THERE'. STORAGE MAGAZINEEDITOR DAVID TYLER SPOKE TO BEN JACKSON, HEAD OF BETA'S TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS DIVISION,AND RICKY PATEL, ENTERPRISE BUSINESS MANAGER

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down to us to enhance those relationshipswhen it comes to storage conversations. RP: From the reseller's perspective it's good forthem to be able to talk about multiple brandsand multiple technologies - not just limited tostorage, although of course that is our keyfocus right now! One of the benefits of beinga smaller company than some of theCMS/Hammer type rivals out there is that wecan be agile in a way that they can't - we canturn round a decision within a day if necessary,thanks to our relatively flat structure as abusiness. There's no complex hierarchy forsignoff and the like - and that again helps ourreseller partners.

BJ: Strategically we are very focussed on best-of-breed, as opposed to Tier-1 - you can seethis from the sort of brands that we're signingup with. Some of these are startups likeExablox, others are very established vendorssuch as Falconstor or Overland, who franklyhave had a tough time over the last few years,but are now 'coming out the other side'. Thesefirms have a great story to tell, they haveheritage, and in many cases they are marketleaders. It's been important for us to get thatmix of vendors just right and this is anevolving process.

We've invested in growing the right way: ingetting the right people on board with in-depth storage industry knowledge. They alsohave the right relationships across the marketto know the best vendors to talk to while alsobeing able to get traction with the resellermarket and push the appropriate brands.

DT: How do you decide on a relationship witha firm like, for instance, Exablox?RP: Exablox are a good example of what we'reaiming to achieve - they're a three-year oldstart-up, specialising in object-based storage.So at the high end they are competing withthe likes of CleverSafe, Scality, as well asNimble and Pure, then there's a 'gap' betweenthose vendors and the likes of QNAP,Synology and Drobo: Exablox sit more or lessin the middle and therefore we believe theycan offer the best of both worlds. We'vesigned an exclusive deal with them to helpthem get the brand out there in the UK over18 months. We have a demo room here atour head office so we can bring resellers inand show them the offerings. Our servicesteam will also be able to put them through thetechnical training and testing required tosupport the product – all of which helps us todrive the opportunity for us, our resellers andour end users.

If, as a vendor, you want to partner with agrowing business - and one that is extremelyproactive - then we're the guys you should bespeaking to. We have one of the 'hungriest'sales teams in the market, without question -we're driven, at all levels to become asignificant player in the storage market. Wewill continue to invest in not only the currentteam but also bringing in experienced peoplefrom within the industry who will complementwhat we are trying to achieve.

DT: Do you get a different perspective on theindustry - and on end user requirements - as

distributors, from the way that storage vendorsmight see things? If so, how does that colourhow you do business?BJ: We do calls with our resellers, so we get tohear the real end user issues at the sharp end,so we can then be truly vendor-agnostic anddecide the best solution for their requirements,as opposed to being driven to push a specificproduct. We are able to develop a solutionstack that we can then take to our partners, todevelop joint campaigns with them that weknow will address recurring end user issues.It's about gathering decent market intelligenceand then putting together a solution that we'rehappy to market.

I can give you a good example: there is a lotof legacy hardware out there, as we all know.With people talking about flash and Big Data,there's lots of talk about 'rip and replace' asthe only solution - but the reality is that thebudgets aren't there for most companies. Thereal issue for end users is how to utilise whatyou have already invested in, and complementit with appropriate new technologies for yourbusiness. Solutions like Falconstor's can helpthere - letting you optimise the performance ofyour legacy hardware, with the addition offlash arrays. We see this as a big gap in themarket that we can help address - we have theexpertise to talk to business about long termplanning, about their financial strategy asmuch as their IT one, and give good adviceon both. Issues like scalability, and future-proofing a potentially huge investment, areareas where our expertise can add real value. More info: www.betadistribution.com

"The strategic next step for us is to make the market

more aware of what we can now offer. The proposition

for resellers is simple: come and work with us and we

will bring you incremental business." - Ben Jackson

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GUARDING THE VALUABLESMARK EDGE, UK COUNTRY MANAGER & VP SALES AT BRAINLOOPSAYS THAT A NEW APPROACH TO IT SECURITY IS NEEDED: ONETHAT GUARDS DATA WITHIN A PROTECTED INFRASTRUCTURE

With the growing threat ofcybercrime and security breachesand increased incidents of data

loss, securing your information has neverbeen more important. Statistics released thismonth from The Online Trust Alliancerevealed that from January to June 2014only 40 per cent of data breaches involvingthe loss of personally identifiableinformation (PII) were caused by externalintrusions: 29 per cent were caused eitheraccidentally or maliciously by employees.

Whilst tackling the cyber securitychallenge has become more difficult, thegood news is that it is not insurmountable.It does, however, require a differentapproach to the traditional one ofprotecting the infrastructure and addingreinforced firewalls that ring-fence yourcompany's information. In today's worldwhere employees are a significant source ofsecurity breaches, securing applicationsand systems is only half the job.

A NEW APPROACHThe huge amount of information that isgenerated by and resides withinorganisations means that it's not possible toprotect it all. However for many CISOs andCSOs, protecting these enormous quantitiesof data has become their primary goal. Butultimately it will become their Achilles heelbecause there's simply too much of it.

Organisations need to find a way ofprotecting valuable information withoutenforcing draconian security policies on

staff that will negatively impact their abilityto work. What's needed is a new approachto IT security that not only protects your ITinfrastructure, but protects the data itself.

WHAT'S IMPORTANT?The first step is to seriously question howcritical all this information is. Of course youwant to lock down important data such asfinancial records and customertransactions. But in addition, let's not forgetall that valuable information found indocuments such as financial forecasts,board minutes, RFPs and productroadmaps. This potentially highly valuableinformation is often shared via email andunsecured file-sharing platforms byemployees. Your most valuable assets couldalready exist outside your control,unprotected and unencrypted.

TrendLabs state that 56 per cent ofemployees frequently store sensitive data ontheir laptops, smartphones, tablets andother mobile devices. What's worse is thatthis data is all too often unguarded.

KISS - KEEP IT SIMPLE SECURITYWhere sensitive and secure data is at stake,organisations should implement acollaboration and file-sharing platform witha simple and user-friendly interface that ishighly functional, intuitive, and easy tolearn. It should provide the utmost controlin managing sensitive data for insiders andcollaborating organisations. Theimplementation of data classificationstandards should also be considered to

improve the protection of sensitiveinformation.

Focus your security policy on the high-riskareas first, for example M&Adocumentation and valuable IP rather thanchaining up everything. In mostorganisations, employees with access tosensitive information will be sharing it bothinside and outside the business. The bestsecurity policy should enable them tocontinue to do this, safely and securely.

EASY DOES ITFinally, ensure that your security policy iseasy to understand and simple to follow.This will help to ensure your employees areon board from the outset and avoidconfusion. Also don't forget that youremployees are the eyes and ears of yoursecurity strategy. They need to know how tospot a threat and the quickest and mostefficient way to react.

A WINNING COMBINATION2014 saw some of the largest organisationssuffer significant cyber attacks. Sony,Apple's iCloud and the rise of hacktivismhave shown that the threat of cyber crime isvery real. However, a combination of theright security policy, a security-awareculture, and easy-to-use tools thatemployees like using, preferably integratedinto applications they use daily, likeMicrosoft Office, will enable organisationsto give their information the protection itneeds - before it is too late.More info: www.brainloop.com

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Storage is changing… the good news is your expectations can too.

At Q Associates we live and breathe information technology and we’re passionate about the difference it can make to an organisation when you get it right.

The relentless growth of data has meant that we all have to be smarter about the way that we work. Buying a bigger box, simply doesn’t cut it. The world has moved on.

That’s where we’re different. We aim to collaborate with our clients, combine our skills and knowledge and provide versatile solutions designed for todays changing market.

If you share our view that harnessing your data could have a profoundly positive affect on your organisation, then we’d love to work with you…

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Storage Magazine Apr 2015 Edition