Category Archives: Storage

Amazon Web Services, Archiving & Regulatory Retention, Content Management, Data, DropBox, Google, Google Drive, Intellectual Property, Social, Storage

The Fracturing of the Enterprise Brain

Never mind BYOD (bring your own device), employee use of non-corporate online storage solutions could lead to the weakening of enterprise ability to access company data and intellectual property. In the worst case scenario, companies could lose information forever.

A post by Brian Proffitt at ReadWrite Enterprise explains:

Employees are the keepers of knowledge within a company. Want to run the monthly payroll? The 20-year-veteran in accounting knows how to manage that. Building the new company logo? The superstar designer down in the art department is your gal. When such employees leave the company, it can be a bumpy transition, but usually not impossible, because the data they’ve been using lies on the corporate file server and can be used to piece together the work that’s been done.

Of course, that’s based on the premise that, for the past couple of decades or so, data has essentially been stored in one of two places: on the file servers or the employee’s local computer.

Today, though, people store data in a variety of places, not all of it under the direct control of IT. Gmail, Dropbox, Google Drive or a company’s cloud on Amazon Web Services…

Read the article.

Featured, Storage, Storage and Information Management

The Newest Data-Storage Device is DNA?

By Randy Weis

Molecular and DNA Storage Devices- “Ripped from the headlines!”

-Researchers used synthetic DNA encoded to create the zeros and ones of digital technology.

-MIT Scientists Achieve Molecular Data Storage Breakthrough

-DNA may soon be used for storage: All of the world’s information, about 1.8 zettabytes, could be stored in about four grams of DNA

–Harvard stores 70 billion books using DNA: Research team stores 5.5 petabits, or 1 million gigabits, per cubic millimeter in DNA  storage medium

–IBM using DNA, nanotech to build next-generation chips: DNA works with nanotubes to build more powerful, energy-efficient easy-to-manufacture chips

Don’t rush out to your reseller yet! This stuff is more in the realm of science fiction at the moment, although the reference links at the end of this post are to serious scientific journals. It is tough out here at the bleeding edge of storage technology to find commercial or even academic applications for the very latest, but this kind of storage technology, along with quantum storage and holographic storage, will literally change the world. Wearable, embedded storage technology for consumers may be a decade or more down the road, but you know that there will be military and research applications long before Apple gets this embedded in the latest 100 TB iPod. Ok, deep breath—more realistically, where will this technology be put into action first? Let’s see how this works first.

DNA is a three dimensional media, with density capabilities of up to a zettabyte in a millimeter volume. Some of this work is being done with artificial DNA, injected into genetically modified bacteria (from a Japanese research project from last year). A commercially available genetic sequencer was used for this.

More recently, researchers in Britain encoded the “I Have a Dream” speech and some Shakespeare Sonnets in synthetic DNA strands. Since DNA can be recovered from 20,000 year old wooly mammoth bones, this has far greater potential for long term retrievable storage than, say, optical disks (notorious back in the 90s for delaminating after 5 years).

Reading the DNA is more complicated and expensive, and the “recording” process is very slow. It should be noted that no one is suggesting storing data in a living creature at this point.

Molecular storage is also showing promise, in binding different molecules in a “supramolecule” to store up to 1 petabyte per square inch. But this is a storage media in two dimensions, not three. This still requires temperatures of -9 degrees, considered “room temperature” by physicists. This work was done in India and Germany. IBM is working with DNA and carbon nanotube “scaffolding” to build nano devices in their labs today.

Where would this be put to work first? Google and other search engines, for one. Any storage manufacturer would be interested—EMC DNA, anyone? Suggested use cases: globally and nationally important information of “historical value” and the medium-term future archiving of information of high personal value that you want to preserve for a couple of generations, such as wedding video for grandchildren to see.  The process to lay the data down and then to decode it makes the first use case of data archiving the most likely. The entire Library of Congress could be stored in something the size of a couple of sugar cubes, for instance.

What was once unthinkable (or at least only in the realm of science fiction) has become reality in many cases: drones, hand held computers with more processing power than that which sent man to the moon, and terabyte storage in home computers. The future of data storage is very bright and impossible to predict. Stay tuned.

Here is a graphic from Nature Journal (the Shakespeare Sonnets), “Towards practical, high-capacity, low-maintenance information storage in synthesized DNA” http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11875.html#/ref10

Click here to learn more about how GreenPages can help you with your organization’s storage strategy

Other References:

Researchers used synthetic DNA encoded to create the zeros and ones of digital technology.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/dna-information-storage/1858801/

MIT Scientists Achieve Molecular Data Storage Breakthrough

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/mit-scientists-achieve-molecular-data-storage-near-room-temperature.php

DNA may soon be used for storage

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236176/DNA_may_soon_be_used_for_storage?source=CTWNLE_nlt_storage_2013-01-28

Harvard stores 70 billion books using DNA

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9230401/Harvard_stores_70_billion_books_using_DNA

IBM using DNA, nanotech to build next-generation chips

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136744/IBM_using_DNA_nanotech_to_build_next_generation_chips

 

Android, Application programming interface, Cloud Storage, Document Management, DropBox, iOS, Storage, Tools

Dropbox API Allows Developers to Get Sync With Less Effort

Dropbox today announced a new application programming interface for in-app synch. The new API is intended to lure developers to Dropbox by making programmers’ life  easier by letting their native iOS/Android apps treat users’ cloud-based files as if they were stored locally.

“Give your app its own private Dropbox client and leave the syncing to us.”

Learn more at Dropbox.

Android, Cloud Storage, Collaboration, Cubby, Free, iPad, iPhone, LogMeIn, Mac, Storage

Cubby cloud sync, storage service From LogMeInOut of Beta

LogMeIn Inc.  announced the general availability of its new cloud sync and storage service, Cubby. An easy-to-use, secure cloud service for sharing files across devices and with other people, Cubby offers the flexibility to turn any number of PC or Mac folders into ‘cubbies’ that can be accessed from Android phones and tablets, iPads and iPhones, as well other PCs and Macs from virtually anywhere in the world.

People can quickly share individual files or entire folders with others via a simple one-click link, or can choose to invite friends, colleagues, clients, and business partners into their ‘cubbies’ to collaborate across shared files and projects. The free version, Cubby Basic, includes Cubby’s signature sync-in-place flexibility (any folder can be a ‘cubby’), free desktop and mobile apps, 5GB of cloud storage, and the ability to share files via the cloud.

A premium version, Cubby Pro, builds on this by offering the flexibility to share content across computers with or without the cloud (via Cubby’s distinct DirectSync™ mode), additional controls for sharing your most sensitive content, multi-user accounts, and 100GB or more of cloud storage.

BitTorrent Sync, DropBox, File synchronization, Internet Technology, Linux, Storage

BitTorrent Sync Aims to Replace Cloud With Peer-to-Peer for File Synchronization

The folks responsible for peer-to-peer downloads of (mostly) appropriated music and videos are in pre-alpha with BitTorrent Sync, which aims straight at Dropbox and its ilk for multi-device file synchronization. They are looking for early testers and promise native clients for Windows, OS X and Linux, with hints of smartphone support.

Today, BitTorrent Sync is in a pre-Alpha stage. And we’re hoping that users like you can help us build something sick. If you’re comfortable using early, incomplete software, and if you’re committed to helping us figure out a better way to sync, we want to hear from you.

If you are interested, sign up here.

 

Amazon AWS, Amazon Glacier, Amazon S3, CloudBerry, CloudBerry Explorer, CloudBerry Lab, Free, Storage

CloudBerry Introduces Smart Restore for Amazon Glacier

CloudBerry Lab today released CloudBerry Explorer v. 3.7.2 an application that allows users to manage files in Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier just as if they were on their local computers.

In the new release CloudBerry Explorer allows users controlling the restore cost in Amazon Glacier that is charged based on the peak usage per hour in a given month. Smart Restore functionality enables users to specify peak retrieval rate to keep the cost on the required level and to run the restore process in the background.

The new version also comes with the ability to display Amazon Glacier storage using the Folder View to make it easier for PC users to work with the storage.

Smart Restore and Folder View features are available in both versions of CloudBerry Explorer: Freeware and PRO.

Freeware version offers basic storage management capabilities such as browsing, creating, and deleting files, folders, buckets and vaults and uploading content from your PC to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier storage and vice versa. CloudBerry Explorer Freeware is available for download at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/free

PRO version offers some advanced features over Freeware version. It costs $39.99 per license.

Hardware, SED, Solid-state drive, Storage, Toshiba

Toshiba Announces Cryptographic-erase, Self-encryption Features for New Enterprise SSD, Mobile HDD

Toshiba Corporation today announced new enterprise SAS solid state drives (SSD), mobile SATA hard disk drives (HDD), including self-encrypting drive (SED) models in both product categories, and new enterprise-grade SATA SSD supporting cryptographic-erase. Select drives will start to ship in January with other models following later in the first quarter.

PX02SMQ and PX02SMU series enterprise SED (eSED) deliver government-grade Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit self-encryption and offer Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Enterprise SSC protocol self-encryption and cryptographic-erase support. These high-performance, 2.5 inch enterprise models with SAS interface, target high-end servers and data center applications and provide capacities ranging up to 1.6TB[1].

The PX02AMU value line of SATA eSSD models and the PX03ANU read-intensive line of SATA eSSD models, both for enterprise applications, feature cryptographic- erase for fast and secure media sanitization.

For mobile computing, the MQ01ABU***W series provides self-encryption, cryptographic-erase and TCG-Opal SSC protocol support in a slim 7mm height with up to 500GB[1] of storage capacity. The MQ01ABU***W series also supports Toshiba’s innovative Wipe technology, which adds security features that allows system designers to automatically cryptographic-erase sensitive user data if an unexpected host attempts to access the HDDs or if a defined number of authentication failures occurs.

Toshiba is also reportedly working on FIPS 140-2 certification[2] for select SED products to meet government-class security requirements.

Imation, M&A Activity, Nexsan, Storage

Imation Acquires Nexsan

Imation today announced that it has acquired privately held Nexsan Corporation, a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based provider of disk-based storage systems. The combination cash-and-stock transaction included approximately $105 million in cash and 3,319,324 Imation common shares, the equivalent of approximately $15 million.

“Imation’s acquisition of Nexsan is an exciting next step in our strategic transformation, which includes investing in growth platforms in data storage and security solutions, where we are targeting markets with strong growth rates,” said Mark Lucas, president and CEO of Imation. “Our strategy includes focusing on the underserved SMB market with purpose-built storage systems and appliances. This is a market that Nexsan knows well. Nexsan’s management team has grown this business from start-up to more than $80 million, with strong gross margins. Nexsan is a successful company that is addressing some of today’s fastest growing trends in storage, and we are pleased that its management team, including CEO Philip Black, will join Imation. The combination of Nexsan’s products, technologies, and talented teams with Imation’s global reach and infrastructure will be an excellent accelerator for our growth strategy in storage solutions,” concluded Lucas.

“We are excited to have Nexsan become part of Imation,” said Philip Black, CEO of Nexsan. “Imation provides us the scale and global footprint to expand our business, while still keeping intact our award winning partner program, our strong management team and employees, and our innovative products and roadmap. We look forward to working as part of Imation to deliver compelling solutions that meet the growing storage, archive and compliance requirements of businesses worldwide. This is good news for Nexsan channel partners, employees and customers.”

Nexsan’s 2011 revenues were $82 million and are continuing to grow, with gross margins in the 40 percent range. This acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Imation’s EBITDA.

Approximately 200 employees, based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, have joined Imation with this acquisition. The Nexsan business will continue to operate within Imation from Nexsan’s current headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., under existing management. Integration and global expansion activities between Imation’s Tiered Storage and Security Solutions business and Nexsan will be determined in first quarter 2013.

Amazon, Amazon AWS, Amazon S3, Batch Processing, Clients, Free, Glacier, Mac OS X, Storage, Uploading and downloading, Windows

FileZoomer for Amazon S3 Adds Glacier, Life Cycle, Versioning, Batch Options

A new release of FileZoomer, a cross-platform client for Amazon’s S3 has been released,  adding support for new S3 features including Versioning and Object Life Cycle. Object Life Cycle for S3 includes the option to migrate files to the lower-cost AWS Glacier storage option, and includes a facility to retrieve archived files so they can be downloaded from S3.

The Glacier support in S3, as featured in FileZoomer, does not require a separate AWS Glacier account. Instead it is handled transparently by S3 and FileZoomer.

Versioning allows the option of keeping previous versions of files as they are updated.

Unique to FileZoomer is the Batch Processing option, which allows the interactive creation of configuration files that control batch uploads, downloads, and syncing files between a local machine and S3. Once configured, the pre-defined actions can be invoked from within the FileZoomer client, of from batch processes in Windows, Mac OS X, or linux.

FileZoomer is a free java client that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and linux, and it can be downloaded from FileZoomer.com

Bitcasa, iOS, Mobile, Storage

Bitcasa Releases Infinite Drive Apps for Android, Windows 8/RT

Bitcasa announced today the release of its Android and Windows 8/RT apps. The new mobile apps allow instant streaming of music, photos, videos, and documents from the Bitcasa Infinite Drive™. The Android and Windows 8/RT apps are available today for new and existing Bitcasa users on Google Play, Windows Store, and at www.bitcasa.com/download. Mac and iOS apps will be available in January.

With Bitcasa, users can backup and consolidate all of their files and media into one Infinite Drive. The Bitcasa Infinite Drive acts like an external drive that users are already familiar with, except that it never runs out of space and is accessible from anywhere and any device. With the new Infinite Drive and mobile apps, Bitcasa users get immediate benefits:

  • Instant Streaming, Access Anywhere: With Bitcasa, users can
    play whole music albums, watch videos in various formats, view and
    share photo albums, and read documents from anywhere. Instant
    streaming from the Bitcasa Infinite Drive allows users to stream their
    personal jukebox of music, videos, and photos to mobile and desktop
    devices without having to sync or store files locally on each of your
    devices.
  • Infinite Storage: The Infinite Drive acts as a virtual external
    drive that expands with the user’s growing storage needs without ever
    worrying about running out of space again.
  • Safe Backup: Continuous and automatic backup gives peace of
    mind. Users can mirror their content from all their computers to
    Bitcasa, and access it anywhere. All files and backups are protected
    with client-side encryption, which means that only users can see and
    access their data. Users can easily retrieve files with time-capsule
    versioning by date.
  • Share Content: With one click, users can share any file or
    folder with their friends and family – Bitcasa or non-Bitcasa users –
    regardless of file size. For sharing on mobile devices, users can also
    set up alerts to protect against large downloads that might affect
    their mobile bandwidth charges.
  • Get Organized: Bitcasa automatically categorizes users’ data
    into Music, Photos, Videos, and Documents.
    Users no longer have to worry about managing and organizing their
    files – the same way they do not have to worry about
    storage capacity limits.

“With our mobile app releases, we are now making all of your data easily available from mobile and PC/Mac clients while taking the security of that data very seriously,” said Tony Gauda, co-founder and CEO of Bitcasa. “By announcing our cross-platform support today, we are offering our global users secure access on all computers, mobile devices, or Web browsers by streaming from the cloud while allowing them to keep the data they access more often localized on their hard drive. With an Infinite Drive, mobile users can automatically store and access their photos from any device. It also means that they can send large videos and albums to friends and family, as well as watch videos in multiple formats. It’s an infinite, organized drive in the cloud. Users don’t have to manage it and it’s much safer than their desktop or laptop.”