Data Center And Small Office/Home Office Product Reviews And News
Data Centers for mission critical applications and cloud services require high-end, fault-tolerant hardware and software for servers, processors, storage, operating systems and more. Meanwhile, enterprise and small business road warriors alike need that same level of reliability on mobile devices and back at the office as well. If it connects people and systems, stores critical data or provides digital tools for business and professionals, you'll find our coverage here - from WiFi routers to Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, High Performance Computing (HPC) and more, this channel means business.
Though encryption and enterprise products often go hand-in-hand, that is not always the case. There are some instances where encryption is not needed, and so Toshiba answered the call with a line of non-encrypted solid state drives optimized for data centers. Those drives are now starting to ship in select NetApp SolidFire all-flash array (AFA) models, enabling NetApp customers to reach new markets. Specifically, Toshiba's non-encrypted SATA 6Gbps HK4 series SSDs are shipping in NetApp SolidFire SF4805, SF9605, and SF19210 products. Toshiba is the first to ship non-encrypted SSDs on SolidFire AFAs where the focus is on optimized latency, power, and performance. "Our customers require predictable...
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When it comes to the global computer storage market, it appears that Toshiba is demonstrating strong gains in a sector that is dominated by the likes of bellwethers like Seagate and Western Digital, which appeared previously to be the last standing competitors in an arena with heavy consolidation. However, not only was Toshiba the fastest growing vendor for hard disk drive (HDDs), but it also showed stronger gains than its larger competitors in the solid-state drive (SSD) sector during 2016. Toshiba showed a 9-percentage point growth during Q4 2016 in the HDD sector, and increased its revenue share in all key storage product sectors. Toshiba’s unit share of the overall HDD market has increased...
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At this point we've reviewed quite a few high-end AC routers, including tri-band routers, flagship dual-band models, and even the latest MU-MIMO devices too. However, the one portion of the market we haven't covered much is the one that exists on the more affordable end of the pricing spectrum. We all know there are quantifiable differences between a $100 GPU and a $300 GPU, but is that also true for 802.11ac routers as well? After all, they're all branded as AC routers, and have similar features and specifications. This time around, we'll be taking a look at the $75 Tenda AC15 AC1900 router. Tenda is a lesser known brand in the US, but its AC router looks the part and is less than half...
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A couple of months back (Yes, I’m tardy in reporting. Life gets in the way sometimes.), I was invited to CDW’s headquarters in Vernon Hills, IL for a “red carpet tour” of their facilities to get a firsthand look inside the computer and tech products distributor and reseller giant. The facility is located about 40 minutes outside of downtown Chicago and is a big mainstay business in the area, employing over 7,000 people worldwide with 26 facilities across North America and Canada. Formerly known as Computer Discount Warehouse, but now just CDW, the company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the same ticker symbol. It’s a Fortune 500 company and the founder, Michael Krasny ranks on Fortune’s...
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Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to tour Carnival's CSMART facility in Almere, the Netherlands. This facility is one of a handful in the world that can provide both extensive training and certification on cruise ships as well as a comprehensive simulation of what it's like to command one. Simulating the operation of a Carnival cruise ship is anything but simple. Let's start with a ship that's at least passingly familiar to most people -- the RMS Titanic. At roughly 46,000 tons and 882 feet long, she was, briefly, the largest vessel afloat. Compared to a modern cruise ship, however, Titanic was a pipsqueak. Average Modern Day Carnival Cruise Ship, Versus RMS TitanticThis comparison, of...
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When NVIDIA first announced that it would create a workstation-class remote virtualization system that enabled full GPU acceleration with latency-free streaming I was more than a little skeptical. Not only did it seem like a solution in search of a problem, the bandwidth requirements and technical heavy-lifting to support professional PC users seemed too steep to surmount in a few short years. Then, this week, NVIDIA announced that it would offer a free 24-hour test drive of NVIDIA GRID to anyone who wanted to see what the technology could do. We took the company up on its offer and what we've seen is damned impressive. Understanding NVIDIA GRID NVIDIA's GRID is a virtual GPU technology that...
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Although the worldwide economy may be shrinking, our needs as consumers to store large amounts of data continues to grow at a breakneck pace. Whereas only a few years ago it was uncommon for most PC users to have more than just a few digital images or media files, today virtually every aspect of our lives has some sort of digital component. Our mobile phones now take pictures, shoot video, record audio and handle e-mail. it seems like everyone has a vast MP3 collection. We all create numerous documents, presentations, etc. And high-resolution, multi-megapixel digital cameras are prolific--and all that data has to go somewhere, if you want to save it, that is.While consumers have a seemingly...
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As digital media increases in popularity, so will the demand for larger storage options, whether in the form of increased hard drives capacities or through the use of expandable network storage devices. The last time we broached the topic of NAS was with our article on two impressive SOHO units from QNAP. While not industrial strength solutions, both QNAP models offered a balance of hardware and software features that made them excellent solutions for both home and small business users. However, with the TS-101 being a single drive solution and the TS-201 being a two-drive option, they are limited when it comes to ease of expansion and growth in a user's storage needs. ...
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At this point in time, it's probably safe to assume that the majority wireless network users are outfitted with some type of 54Mbps solution. First introduced in 2003, 802.11g has proven its worth as a solid wireless technology for both home and business users alike. However, as technology advances and the demands for more bandwidth and improved range increase, a new solution is needed as 802.11g has essentially reached its peak in terms of features and capabilities. To help address the need for better security, longer range and more bandwidth, the powers that be have come up with 802.11n (draft) technology. "Draft" indicates the technology is proven but has not completed the standardization...
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