Okay, summer's over. Let's get back to work...
But first, let's look at what's new. Microsoft has taken WinFS, its new file
system, out of the first release of its next operating system. The story is
that WinFS will follow soon after the OS releases. For most of us, this is
something we don't need to worry about for a couple of years, at least.
EMC has reduced prices on its Celera line of NASes. Network Appliance still
dominates the high-end NAS business and its alliance with NTP Software for
storage management gives it a significant advantage in the marketplace.
Speaking of NTP Software, they have released their Deep Scan technology for
content filtering. Deep Scan uses sophisticated heuristics to determine the
real content of a file without creating a huge impact on storage platform
performance.
What's on tap for Q4? Based on the conversations we've been having, the... (more)
Information Storage & Security Journal Co-Editor-in-Chief Patrick Hynds
writes: The U.S. deparment of Homeland Security is performing a readiness
test this month called Cyber Storm, after rescheduling. The Cyber Storm
exercise is about ensuring and testing against a computer based attack or
hack against public infrastructure targets as well as some parts of the
private sector. This has caused some (on Slashdot.org for example) to decry
it as idiocy that will only "break the Internet". These are likely the same
people who would apportion blame if an attack came and we found oursel... (more)
Storage is still one of the most costly and fastest-growing aspects of
everyone's network and is likely to remain so for some time. Every network
user is a storage user. We're all part of a community that shares the costs
and the benefits of this expensive resource. Storage management can be a
challenging task. There's so much hardware, so many alternatives, and so many
issues that it's easy to get lost in the details and fail to see the forest
for the trees.
Networked storage is a service not a product. While hardware is necessary for
you to provide the service, successful stor... (more)
(SYS-CON Media) – I am often struck by how good some ideas are and
often wonder whether they are happened upon by accident (dumb luck), like the
discovery of Teflon and penicillin, or whether there was just a really good
idea that made it happen. I think what we are seeing in the evolution of .NET
is a bit of both. .NET has arrived in my opinion. I base this on the really
powerful community I see surrounding it, especially from where I sit here in
the North East just north of Boston.
I also note that the conversations have ended that contain the often-heard
phrase, "If .NET... (more)
Usually in this space I like to summarize the contents of the issue and point
out anything bearing in particular on our theme, but if you will indulge me,
I would like to talk more long term and big picture this month.
I am thinking specifically about security. Not a big surprise for those who
know me and, if you were paying attention, you might have noticed that I used
to be the security editor before taking over as editor-in-chief. Security is
one of those pervasive things like error handling. You don't typically notice
it until it fails you when you need it most.
I was talking... (more)