IT Business Edge: Tape libraries on a roll
It’s happened so often over the years that no one is predicting the end of tape storage anymore. In fact, you could argue that the exact opposite is happening now – a renaissance of sorts in tape library systems geared toward simplicity of operation and deployment, even for the smallest of data centers. Fresh out of the gate is Qualstor, which just introduced the XLS Enterprise tape library system designed to fit easily into standard rack configurations. Although only 23 inches wide, the unit can accommodate up to 780 tape slots, delivering more than 624 TB in less than 11 square feet. The system is already compatible with the upcoming LTO 5 tape driv

Data Center Journal: What will make IT departments green? - Regulation
During a sustainable IT panel discussion hosted by eWeek Europe the subject of green IT and its economics was the topic of the inaugural event. The panel discussed the themes of the green data center movement, how green IT has evolved, and whether green IT will become cheaper. The session involved audience interaction, where attendees could pose questions to the experts, and also cast their votes in an online poll. Responses to the questions were as follows: Question 1: Is the green data center movement about saving the environment or money? Response: •       Both – 63 percent •     

Data center redundancy: can you afford to be without it?
Can you build enough data center redundancy?  Most businesses today have little or no tolerance for downtime.  The cost of downtime is lost revenues, lost credibility and lost clients.  And the first step to avoid data center downtime is to house your critical systems  in a computer room with multiple power feeds, generators, UPS systems and cooling.  These so-called mission critical facilities are engineered to provide power and connectivity to your critical computer systems with no interruption in power or cooling.  How does this work?  N+1 data center redundancy is when a data center has at least 2 of everything, including power feeds, gener

Rich Miller: Power Densities Likely to Drive Expansions
Average power densities continue to rise in data centers, and are affecting the lifespan of existing data center facilities, according to new survey data from Emerson Network Power. A majority of data centers say they will run out of capacity within two years, suggesting a wave of expansions is in the pipeline. Thirteen percent of the members of Emerson’s Data Center User Group (DCUG) said the average power density in their data centers was 12 kilowatts a cabinet or higher, with five participants reporting average power loads exceeding 20 kw a cabinet. Eleven percent reported average densities

Chris Poehlker: Is tape really dead?
With all the industry buzz around disk based data protection and deduplication, many companies are rethinking their current investments in tape infrastructure. The problem is that many have spent years perfecting that tried and true method of data protection and have invested substantial sums in people, training, and money along the way. So the question is do you scrap everything you have invested and move to a different approach? If so, how do you do it without being disruptive? These are difficult decisions many IT administrators are facing today, and making the wrong decision can have a major impact on your business, or your career. Disk-based data protection is definitl