Unified Storage for the Cloud Means Higher-Level Interfaces In common use, the term “unified storage” means providing block-level and file-level access to the same storage system with a single management and control interface. Traditionally, block-level access is via fiber channel or iSCSI, and file-level access is via NFS or CIFS protocol. Recently, storage vendors are also adding _object_-level storage where the objects are entities with metadata like type, access control policies. Objects are read and written by applications using REST HTTP or SOAP and used directly at the application level. The most popular API is Amazon’s S3 (Simple Storage Service). With the higher-abstraction level of objects, the underlying implementation (e.g.,
storage provider
BYOD Is In—Bring Your Own Cloud, Not So Much As employees continue to bring personal mobile devices and laptops into the workplace, most businesses have resigned themselves to dealing with the security and management headaches of the new BYOD reality. But now, with the growing popularity of cloud storage and synchronization services, companies have found themselves facing the next wave in the consumerization of IT: “Bring your own cloud” or BYOC. In large part due to the flexibility of cloud collaboration services, it’s not uncommon for employees to telecommute from home or from one office to another. Many of these
Data Security in the Cloud: Solutions for Consumers and SMBs A recent small business cloud computing survey from Microsoft found that a chief concern of potential SMB cloud customers is the security and privacy of their data. A full 70% of small businesses are concerned about where their data is stored. Just over half of all SMBs cite data privacy as a potential deal breaker for adopting cloud services. And only 36% of businesses think their data is as or more secure in the cloud than their current on premises solution. Most data security and privacy concerns revolve around four
Seamless Cloud Storage Solution Now Available iSpaces Offers Portal to Multiple Cloud Storage Providers iSpaces launches its new cloud storage solution today, FileSpace, offering the first and only service allowing users to seamlessly access their favorite online storage providers all together in one place. Users can simply drag and drop files between Dropbox, Box, iSpaces storage and their local hard drive from one easy to use interface. “With so many cloud storage providers available, people tend to have multiple accounts with documents in various places,” said Sunne Justice, president and co-founder of iSpaces. “FileSpace makes it infinitely easier to manage
University Down Under Offers To Make Students Cloud-Capable Sometime back I had postulated that the true success of cloud computing in entering the mainstream is dependent on the technology being not only part of our everyday lives, but also a part of our education system (See: Cloud Computing Goes Mainstream with University Certification Course). Thus, when the University of Washington decided to offer a certificate course in cloud computing, it truly was a big deal. Since then, there have been some developments on the job front that have strengthened the argument of teaching cloud computing as a subject (See: Cloud
Red Hat to Acquire Cloud Storage Provider ‘Gluster’ Raleigh, NC – October 4, 2011 – Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gluster, Inc., a leading provider of scale-out, open source storage solutions for standardizing the management of unstructured data. With this acquisition, Red Hat will define a new baseline for how enterprise IT manages the explosion of big data, whether deployed on-premise or spanning into the public cloud. Red Hat is expanding into a critical part of enterprise infrastructure,
IT performance company Riverbed Technology is optimizing data protection through its new Riverbed Whitewater cloud storage gateway models. Riverbed’s new releases will enable more businesses of all sizes to leverage the benefits of cloud data protection. The company has designed these models according to the size of the company. Small and medium sized businesses may use the new Whitewater models 510 and 710. The Whitewater model 2010 is ideal for the mid-sized enterprise and targeted use cases in the large enterprise. Following this announcement, Whitewater cloud storage gateways can now aid businesses cut down operational burdens, costs and complexity when
