David Morgenstern

Some external hard disk enclosures have gone high style over the past couple of years as vendors add curves, colors and textures. While these designs are pleasing to the eye, what customers really need are enclosures that incorporate features that enhance functionality and usability. One example of this creative thinking can be seen in Maxtors […]

As the IT industry struggles to pull itself together, storage vendors keep adding pieces to the puzzle; the emerging picture looks bright. Just last week, for example, Network Appliance reported year-to-year gains of about 25 percent. But while IT budgets for storage hardware and software may be on the rise, I would wager the line […]

A lesson from last weeks power blackout: When it comes to problems with the AC coming out of the wall its easy to point our fingers at the utility company—or the landlord. On the other hand, when it comes to maintaining the data integrity of your hard disk and its files, or the reliability of […]

The problems were really only beginning for the Northeast when the lights went out during last weeks (or “sustained, deep under-voltage” as the power engineers called it). Even as power was restored to air conditioners and Broadways neon lights and stranded travelers jetted their way home throughout the following weekend, side effects such as water […]

In a recent column, I discussed Fibre Channel security with consultant Himanshu Dwivedi of @stake Inc. The protocol simply wasnt designed with security in mind, he said. Consequently, Fibre Channel suffers inherent weaknesses in frames that render sessions susceptible to hijacking. (For more information, see “How Secure is Your SAN?”) However, Dal Allen, president of […]

Iomega Corp. on Tuesday introduced its Removable Rigid Disk (RRD), a new cartridge hard disk standard that the company said it hopes will return it to the top of the removable-storage market. Due in early 2004, the 2.5-inch format will provide a capacity of 35GB. Aimed primarily at replacing tape backup drives in small business […]

Over the past couple of years, Microsofts Enterprise Storage Division has signed up an increasing list of OEM partners for its network-attached storage architecture, and the result has been strong growth in sales of Windows-powered NAS. And more changes are due next month with the launch of the groups next-generation design, which is dubbed Storage […]

SAN FRANCISCO—A small developer hopes to get managers of Linux servers to break their command line habit. At this weeks LinuxWorld show, Tactile Interactive offered a look at the latest beta of Interrogator, its powerful, graphical file manager for Linux and Solaris platforms. Now in Version 0.8, Interrogator provides navigation around the system as well […]

SAN FRANCISCO—The floor of a technology trade show is perhaps the worst place in the world for dispassionate evaluation of a market. This was especially true at this years LinuxWorld as developers (and most users) put aside the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about the future of the platform engendered by the . Despite the […]

Its the end of the line for free Linux, if The SCO Group Inc. gets its way. The company on Tuesday set a price tag on the open-source OS: the “SCO Intellectual Property License for Linux” will cost $1,399 for single-CPU servers. The company said an introductory server price of $699 for one CPU will […]

By any measure, e-mail is the killer Internet application. But at the same time, many IT managers find it a killer app to back up: Dealing with dynamic data—as well as senior managements increased expectations of continuous availability—is a real headache. In the past, demands werent quite so high. A server would go down and […]

Security appears to be off the radar of SAN customers. But is the reason that theres no real security threat or that security just doesnt sell in todays storage market? In my previous column, I looked at SAN security from the perspective of consultant Himanshu Dwivedi. Hes the managing security architect at @stake Inc.> and […]