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I am researching two, linked articles on software-defined storage.
The first sets out to define software-defined storage and set out its benefits to enterprise users.
The second aims to take the pulse of the market and outline some of the key products and what they do.
I am currently looking for technical or white papers on the sector, as well as analyst research. The deadline for submissions is Tues, 9th May. Please email with your suggestions.
My next articles for Computer Weekly’s storage section will look at storage egress charges, and backup maintenance.
What are cloud storage egress charges and what you can do to reduce them?
The piece will cover:
What are cloud egress charges?
How do they compare to others charges made for cloud storage?
What are the risks to organisations from unchecked egress charges?
What can you do to manage and mitigate over-burdensome egress charges?
Deadline for leads: Monday 19 December
Why does backup need maintenance, what does it consist of and how do we do it?
Why can’t you just leave backups to run without some kind of maintenance programme?What can go wrong if you just set and forget?What is involved in maintaining backup systems?
How does use of the cloud change this? We will look at backing up to the cloud as well as cloud to cloud back up.
What tools can you use to help maintain backups?
What innovations in backup might make all this easier?
Deadline for leads: 07 January.
For either of these articles, please contact me by email in the first instance.
I am currently researching the following articles for Computer Weekly.
How enterprise backup products will change in the next decade
What are the key areas of functionality in enterprise backup that we are likely to see in the coming decade?
This piece will look at developments in automation, cloud, containers, the edge and how backup technologies are adapting — or will need to adapt — to encompass them. But I am open to other suggestions around emerging backup technologies, beyond those listed above.
Deadline for leads: Monday 17th October
Ransomware, storage and backup: Techniques and limits
This article will explain the technologies and techniques in storage and backup, that are available to defend against and recover from ransomware.
But it will also spell out the limits of the abilities of storage and backup against a threat that is possibly best countered elsewhere.
This is a slightly longer article, so I also aim to cover:
Deadline for leads: Monday 24th October
For either of these articles, please contact me by email in the first instance.
I am looking for input for the following two features:
What are the benefits of having a good data protection strategy when facing ransomware. And what are the shortcomings of data protection and backup that cannot overcome the likely effects of a ransomware attack?
The piece will cover:
RPOs and RTOs. What could be the effect of ransomware attacks on how much data you can recover and from how long before the attack?
How useful as media to recover from are: backups, snapshots, cloud storage and backup and tape?
To what extent is it possible to air-gap stored data?
In what order should data be restored when recovering?
Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, 6 July
What are the pros and cons of storing unstructured data on-prem vs in the cloud, and what is the role of technologies that allow for hybrids between the two?
The piece will cover:
What are unstructured data and why are they important?
How big an issue is storing unstructured data?
What are the pros and cons of:
On-prem: The ‘classic’ use of large-scale scale-out file storage, and the more recent use of object storage, and attempts to converge the two
Use of cloud storage
Hybrid approaches, including Snowflake, where unstructured data is given structure and on-prem can be a source.
Deadline for submissions: Wednesday 20th July
For all these articles please contact me by email in the first instance, if you are contributing to a specific article please note that in the subject line. Many thanks.
I am researching the following features for Computer Weekly, with deadlines in June:
What is data gravity, what implications does it have for data storage, and to what extent can it be mitigated
The piece will over these points:
Deadline for contributions: Monday 6 June.
What are ‘global file systems’, who are the main vendors and what are the key differences between their products?
What are the common features of the ‘global file system’ products offered by vendors
What customer challenges do they solve?
How do they differ from file-and-sync services or just using the cloud?
Note, this piece will build on an earlier article (here) but will focus on the specific vendors in the space and their offerings. Please contact me directly for information on the vendors.
Deadline for contributions: Monday 13 June.
What do you need to do to ensure backups are maintained and reliable?
This is an advisory article setting out what should be done to ensure backups are maintained, and work. This will include cloud, virtualised and container environments.
Points we hope to cover include:
Deadline for contributions: Friday 17 June.
For all these articles please contact me by email in the first instance, if you are contributing to a specific article please note that in the subject line. Many thanks.
I am writing a set of storage features for Computer Weekly. These will be published in May.
Which backup and recovery technologies can safeguard against ransomware? And what are the limitations of backup and disaster recovery tools, and techniques, to protect against this type of incident?
In the past we have covered immutable snapshots and offsite backups including tape, as well as recovery strategies tailored to ransomware. This feature will draw together lessons learned by organisations that have faced ransomware attacks, and cover the backup and recovery industry’s tools and advice.
Deadline for leads: Wednesday 20 April
This feature is an overview of leading Kubernetes backup technologies.
How do they work, how are they best used, and how do organisations acquire them (eg are they standalone or part of a larger product suite).
We are open to vendor submissions but do please look at our previous coverage on this.
Deadline for leads: Wednesday 27 April
This piece will look at situations that can make it hard for organisations to move to object storage, and how they can overcome them. We are looking to identify the most important hybrid storage barriers, as well as ways around the problems.
Inevitably, the piece will look at hybrid cloud in the context of both pure-play cloud and on-premises storage. But there is a working assumption that CIOs will be looking at hybrid cloud, if they’re not already using it, that it has advantages, and that businesses want to do more of it.
Deadline for leads: Wednesday 27 April
Please contact me by email if you can supply information or propose a spokesperson.
For Computer Weekly, I am writing a feature looking at the storage requirements for AI, machine learning and analytics technologies.
This will include:
the demands these technologies make on storage infrastructure
The types of storage are best for the varying workloads in these areas (file, block, object, cloud
What storage vendors recommend for AI/ML/analytics use cases, and by workload
The deadline for leads is Wednesday, 16 March, with interviews the week after.
Please get in touch via the usual email address.
For Computer Weekly, I am writing this feature:
Cloud computing is often held to be the way to save on IT infrastructure costs. But do the cost savings actually stack up? And do IT departments have the skills and resources to fully cost up the different options available from cloud providers?
The article will ask:
More detailed questions will be supplied to experts offering comment. We want to include storage costs in the article.o
Please respond with any leads by Tuesday 8th Feb, 1700hrs; all interviews will need to be completed by Friday 11 February.
Please get in touch via the usual email address.
I am working on the following articles, which will appear in Computer Weekly in October:
The cloud is now the main backup destination for a growing number of businesses. And the range of businesses offering disaster recovery as a service is growing too.
But is disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) always the best option? Or is it better to develop a solution in house, using off the shelf (cloud) technologies?
The piece will look at the benefits of DIY approaches, and the drawbacks, and compare these to the benefits (and drawbacks) of DRaaS. The piece will also summarise the range of DRaaS services on the market, and set out the best use cases for each.
I’d welcome analyst comment and/or industry case studies for this piece. Deadline for leads: Thursday 16th September.
Has the conventional data warehouse had its day? And what could replace it? Conventional, on-premises data warehouse technology now competes with a range of emerging technologies, including data virtualisation, “data lakehouses”, and cloud data warehouses.
What role will these newer technologies play? Are they likely to supplant the conventional, on-premises, datacentre approach, and if so why?
I am keen to speak to analysts and consultants in order to form a market overview, but also CIOs whose preferences are either for the new, or indeed the conventional, technology. The deadline is Wednesday 22nd September.
For either article please get in touch in the first instance by email.
I am working on two new feature articles for Computer Weekly. There is some overlap between the two topics, so I am posting them both here.
The topics are:
Key questions to ask suppliers about storage-as-a-service consumption models
5 things you need to know about cloud file services
For the first piece, this is a brief for CIOs and their teams sourcing cloud storage. We will come up with a ranked list of questions IT teams should ask vendors. These could include:
There might be other points that could be added to the list. I cannot use vendor quotes directly but can look at research, and take analyst comments.
For the second piece, we are aiming to distinguish between fully featured cloud file services, including those from the “big three” and file and sync type services such as Box or Dropbox.
The piece will set out the benefits and limitations of cloud-based file services and explain how they are used. And the article will identify the main vendors, both pure play and those that are part of a wider cloud (storage) offering.
The deadline for leads and content is 1700hrs, Tuesday 17th August. These articles will be published in September. If you can help, please submit any ideas or content by email .