The VAR Guy

Sometimes the world of technology gets a little … technical. But it’s all worth understanding. Case in point: EMC’s new VFCache. It’s going to bring supercharged caching capabilities to servers for anything from storage, database needs or even application performance. How does it all work? Through a PCI Express slot, of course.

Dot Hill, the company behind the AssuredSAN storage system, wants to assure all owners of the AssuredSAN storage system that their investment will be completely assured. Thus, enter the Dot Hill one-year-free, on-site-support initiative. If you’re sure you want to know more, rest assured, the full details of the AssuredSAN storage support program are surely coming up.

CommVault, the company behind the Simpana storage management software, is announcing a slew of enhancements to its flagship product. These updates focus on reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of data management and compliance requirements. I spoke to CommVault’s Jeff Echols, senior director of marketing, cloud strategies and alliances, about the new updates. Here are the details …

ownCloud, Inc., which went commercial fewer than two months ago, may be young, but it’s already pumping out innovative new features for the ownCloud open source framework, including some interesting potential revenue streams. Here’s a look at the latest updates in version 3, out this week.

AMD, Apple, CA Technologies and EMC each reported quarterly results today. Their respective results suggest corporate technology spending continues to accelerate — perhaps setting the stage for a strong year in the IT channel.

For many organizations, finding the right solutions provider or VAR is a critical task. Enterprises as well as SMBs look to their solutions provider for guidance, and now more than ever for backup. As data continues to grow (for most SMBs, up to 50 percent annually), solutions providers can help their customers choose which backup model makes the most sense for their organization.

The upcoming Windows Server 8 (like Windows Phone 7, with the number at the end) will include a new file system, ReFS, short for Resilient File System. IT admins, VARs and anyone running a server should probably check out the latest details for Microsoft’s file system. Read on for more information about the new perks …

When the sun was shining in the summer of 2011, The VAR Guy was soaking up as many rays as possible at Dell’s inaugural Storage Forum in Orlando, Fla. Dell has since taken the Storage Forum show on the road to foggy London town, where the company has unveiled a new set of storage solutions under the “Fluid” moniker. Here’s the rundown …

Nimbus Data Systems Inc., a storage company, has launched the FlashPoint Partner Program and is seeking partners that need alternatives to traditional disk storage arrays.

More than a year ago users lamented at the loss of the Windows Home Server Drive Extender feature, which allowed users to continually add drives to a singular storage pool to virtually create one giant drive. Now, Windows 8 is bringing it back with a vengeance. Dubbed Storage Spaces, the new feature in Windows 8 will give everybody room to grow …

It’s no secret that Canonical’s Ubuntu One file-syncing service faces stiff competition from better entrenched rivals such as Dropbox. But recent signs indicate Ubuntu developers may be taking the service in a different direction by adding developer APIs. Will this be enough to differentiate Ubuntu One from competitors? Here are some thoughts.

Dell is crossing the pond in January to take its storage message to partners in the United Kingdom with the first of its 2012 Dell Storage Forums. You may remember in June 2011, The VAR Guy headed to sunny Orlando, Fla., for the inaugural Dell Storage Forum, which marked the first time that Dell Compellent, EqualLogic and PowerVault partners came together for one event, focused on bringing together all those technologies into a “fluid” data infrastructure. Now, Dell is ready to cross the pond and bring the fluidity to London for its European partners.

Drobo, formerly Data Robotics, the storage company behind the stylish and svelte data appliances that offer both pro-sumer and professional technology, is boasting some milestones in 2011 that are putting Drobo on track to have a stellar year for 2012. Read on for the storage details …

There’s no shortage of cloud-based file sharing services out there these days, but many have flaws: Dropbox has suffered embarrassing security holes, Ubuntu One isn’t as cross-platform as one might like, and iCloud — like most Apple products — is buried in proprietary nonsense. But there’s a new cloud-based service on the horizon: ownCloud has announced a new commercial initiative that, based on open source code, promises flexibility and accountability without lock-in or security headaches. It’s an interesting move with fascinating possibilities for the open source channel, and I recently got a chance to speak with one of the founders behind it.

These days, it’s nigh impossible to find anyone who can talk about the future of IT without carrying on about the cloud — and with good reason, since cloud computing is certainly important. But Talend is betting enough data will stay local for customers to demand a mixed strategy for a long time to come. At least, that’s what version 5 of the company’s open source platform released in November 2011 suggests. Here’s the scoop:

Intel, my hosts here at the SC ’11 conference in Seattle, used the first day of the event to make a pair of announcements that shows the chip giant is always looking to the future. First, Intel released the first details of Knights Corner, a 50-plus core chip that can deliver a consistent 1 teraflop of double-precision floating-point precision. And second, Intel released the details of a new line of Sandy Bridge-compatible motherboards designed for the reseller channel.

What’s the leading cause of storage growth in your data center? It’s probably virtualization — as the SMB and midsize-business community continue to shrink their data centers with virtual servers, the space saved is often replaced by data appliances. But NetApp is releasing an addition to the FAS2000 family to help reduce the complexity that can accompany all that storage and make it easy to administer. Tech specs on the new unit are coming right up …

Dot Hill Systems, which develops storage solutions, has bolstered its Connections Partner Program. The enhancements specifically target VARs that are seeking to promote enterprise-class storage solutions into the SMB market, according to Brad Painter, VP of worldwide channel sales at Dot Hill.

If you’re a Dropbox fan but searching for something more — short of building your own home server — you may want to check out the TonidoPlug2. It’s designed to act as a super-power efficient file server, with a few extra features to boot. Read on for the quick look at what could be your new best friend, especially if you or your customers travel a lot…

FalconStor and Fujitsu are gearing up to take the world by storm. With a new reseller agreement, both companies will be pushing storage technology deep into all global marketplaces. Here are the distro details and The VAR Guy’s take …

Dot Hill is making strategic storage moves in an agreement with distributor Info X to put more of Dot Hill’s storage solution portfolio deeper into cloud and virtualization networking solutions. Dot Hill has long been ramping up its virtualization and SAN technologies, and Info X has a long history of serving storage VARs. Read on for the details and The VAR Guy’s unique perspective …

Symantec CEO Enrique Salem is set to keynote Symantec Partner Engage tomorrow (Oct. 13, Chandler, Ariz.). The VAR Guy expects an update on Symantec.cloud, Symantec O3 and plenty more from Salem, Channel Chief Randy Cochran and the Symantec partner team. In fact, here are four themes that will surely emerge at Symantec Partner Engage.

Michael Dell is set to keynote Dell World on October 13 in Austin, Texas. So what message will Michael Dell deliver to Dell’s customers and channel partners? Hmmm… Chances are, Michael Dell will describe how the PC giant remains committed to hardware even as it pushes into cloud services, managed services, IT consulting, networking and more. Here’s an educated guess on what Dell will say…