Web News Digest: Apple Hedges DVD Bet with Dual-Format Recorder ... and More

Celera Genomics Links SAN Islands into a Global Entity ... Computer Associates to Offer SAN Certification ... Apple Hedges DVD Bet with Dual-Format Recorder ... Singapore Struggles to Keep Edge in Disk Drives

Enterprise Storage

Celera Genomics Links SAN Islands into a Global Entity

Celera Genomics Group late last year overhauled its storage systems and began the process of building a global SAN. The new infrastructure, based in the Maryland headquarters, is a 150 terabyte global SAN, consisting of 61 IBM AIX servers and three EMC Symmetrix frames interconnected with a pair of Brocade 12000 2G-bit Fibre Channel switches in a redundant fabric architecture. Each switch has a total of 128 ports in a core-only architecture. This new global SAN now provides a pool of storage that can be redeployed efficiently and economically to disparate systems as business needs change, according to Scott Collins, manager of the IT architecture group.

Read the full story on:Storage Networking World

 

Computer Associates to Offer SAN Certification

Computer Associates will offer enterprise solution providers and their end-user customers industry-wide SAN certification via a discounted training and testing program. Infinity I/O, a provider of storage networking education and certification services, plans to offer the discounted training and testing based on SAN standards set by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), said Ron Collier, area manager for CAs Field Support Group. Under the new program, CAs solution providers can invest in Storage Networking Certified Professional Level 2 certification for their employees or offer the certification to customers, Collier said. 

Read the full story on:CRN

 

Personal Storage

Apple Hedges DVD Bet with Dual-Format Recorder

On the new 17-inch flat-panel iMac, Apple switched to an internal SuperDrive that adds the potential to burn DVDs in the +R/RW format as well as -R/RW. Previously, Apple used the Pioneer-made DVR-104/A04 or 103/A04 drive, which supports only the DVD-R/RW format. Now, Apple uses the Sony DW-U10A drive, which reads and writes at 4X speed in both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW formats, as well as offering support for DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW standard. Although Apple switched drives, according to The Mac Observer, Apple currently switched off the ability to burn in the DVD+R format via a firmware modification to chips directly on the drives motherboard.

Read the full story on: The Mac Observer

 

Storage Business

Singapore Struggles to Keep Edge in Disk Drives

The production of hard disk drives, a staple of Singapore industry, is facing unprecedented economic threats amid the harsh global tech downturn that hammered margins and tight prices. Singapore is home to Seagate and Maxtor plants that make higher-end enterprise computing and server network drives, but its position in lower-end drive manufacturing could be eroded by China, according to industry analysts. Disk drives represent the largest component of Singapores non-oil domestic exports, contributing 16 percent.

Read the full story on:Reuters UK