IO Blog
Visiting the Physical Layer
Networking is all about moving data quickly, safely and efficiently. But in a world that’s focused on data structure, compression algorithms and other higher concepts, it’s easy to forget that data also requires a physical level. In everyday life, data needs to ride on a reliable transmission medium, such as a wire, cable, optical fiber… View Article
Finding the Right Cloud Storage Solution
With all sorts of business applications and services heading into the cloud, a growing number of IT managers are considering cloud storage as a way of expanding their storage capabilities without the expense and trouble of acquiring additional storage hardware. Cloud storage—also known as virtual storage—provides an extensive array of potential benefits. Besides relieving businesses… View Article
Data Center Asset Management
Data center asset management is a critical yet often neglected task. There are all of those boxes, serial numbers and software versions to track and organize. Who has the time or energy? Yet failing to coordinate and control data center assets inevitably erodes efficiency and performance. Without proper management, hardware and software product lifecycles gradually… View Article
Getting the Upper Hand on Server Consolidation
Virtualization leads to server consolidation and cost savings. At least that’s how the process is supposed to play out. But anticipated financial and operational benefits can quickly vanish when server consolidation plans go awry. To gain the upper hand on server consolidation, and ensure that your virtualization strategy reaches its maximum potential, pay attention to… View Article
Do You Need Multiple Data Centers?
Is two always better than one? Is four guaranteed to be an improvement over two? Quite possibly, if the topic being discussed is data centers. As data centers internally consolidate and become increasingly efficient, a growing number of enterprises are considering the idea of operating multiple facilities. There’s a strong case to be made for… View Article
Solid-State Storage Meets the Data Center
Solid-state-storage is already found in USB memory sticks, smartphones, media players and a variety of other devices. Before long, you may also find solid-state drives (SSDs) performing key tasks inside your data center. While hard drives aren’t yet ready to join the endangered species list, SSDs can help data centers keep pace with speedier servers… View Article
Understanding Virtualization’s Limitations
Just about everybody agrees that server virtualization is a good idea, since the practice leads adopters to improved efficiency, increased availability and lower costs. But as enterprises large and small leap into the virtualization pool, some are doing so with unrealistic expectations, perhaps misled by over-enthusiastic colleagues and gushing news reports. Whether you’re a virtualization… View Article
Modular Data Centers: A Perfect Fit for Enterprise IT
A growing number of enterprises are discovering that a modular data center is the perfect fit for their IT needs. A relatively new concept, modular data centers give organizations a flexible, reliable and energy efficient way of deploying an always-on IT and network facility quickly and at an affordable price. For enterprises that are still… View Article
Creating an Effective Data Backup Strategy
Your data center’s most valuable asset isn’t its servers, storage systems or any other physical components—it’s the data these systems handle. To ensure that your data center never loses a single bit of information due to technical or environmental factors, it needs to have an effective strategy for efficiently backing up and recovering data. Here… View Article
Selecting the Best Data Center Location
You’re no doubt familiar with the famous real estate mantra, “Location, location, location.” Well, what’s true for homes also applies to data centers. Location plays a major role in data center cost and service, so when searching for a home for your IT systems you’ll want to carefully consider where the facility is located as… View Article