Enterprise Storage
3PAR Introduces Utility Storage
Storage vendor 3PAR is trying to bring the utility computing model to the storage industry. 3PAR already offers its InServ Storage Server, which lets customers easily add storage that can be managed by the servers software. Last week the company added Thin Provisioning software to the storage server that can help IT managers allocate storage to specific applications. 3PAR is the first storage vendor to offer this form of utility storage, which should appeal to business customers, said Jamie Gruener, an analyst at the Yankee Group.
Read the full story on:InformationWeek
Personal Storage
DVD Movie Rentals Top Tapes for the First Time
DVD movie rentals for the first time surpassed that of videocassettes earlier this month, making DVD the most popular home video format in the United States. Video retailers VidTrac rental data showed that DVDs turned the tide with 28.2 million DVDs rented, compared with 27.3 million VHS cassettes. “As we look at the development of DVD, in its inexorable march to dominance in the home video market, well look back and say this was a turning point,” said Sean Devlin Bersell, a spokesman for the Video Software Dealers Association, a trade group representing 10,000 retailers.
Read the full story on: Mercury News
Storage Business
Next-Generation Drives Look to SiGe
Disk drive manufacturers are looking at using silicon germanium to extend the working life of their next-generation drives. Several companies are evaluating engineering samples of a preamplifier developed by Agere, the worlds first preamp to use quarter-micron SiGe technology, the company said. The TrueStore PA7500 preamps are designed to improve hard disk drive yields and extend the life of the drive head. They amplify the tiny analog signals that are read from a disk drive platter and then send them to a read-channel IC for digitization. In the return direction, the device amplifies data from the read-channel so that the drive head can write to the platter. At 1.7Gbit/sec., the devices are among the fastest preamps available, but being SiGe makes them less expensive and consume less power than comparable solutions using other technology.
Read the full story on:Electronic Business
EMC on the Hunt for Software Acquisitions
EMC CEO Joe Tucci said last week that the company is on the hunt for software acquisitions as it presses forward with its open software push. “Software is definitely our highest priority,” Tucci said in an interview at the companys headquarters. “Obviously, where we are gunning, where we are hunting, is in software. There are other opportunities that might creep up, but that is not where we are purposely hunting.” He said the biggest opportunity for EMC to increase revenue long term is in the data life-cycle management software segment and in the fixed content management segment.
Read the full story on:CMP
