One of the biggest technical hurdles to IoT success is dealing with data at the edge. Sensors generate vast amounts of data that needs to be processed and actioned almost immediately– but how is that information to be stored and transferred?

As with every hardware manufacturer, Cisco routinely retires older product models and ranges to make room for newer technologies in their portfolio. But if your business is using these soon-to-be-retired devices, what should you do?

Managed Service Providers face a significant strategic choice; focus on a single core offering or increase the range of services on offer to their clients. The single-service approach is simplest for the MSP, but it also means that clients end up managing multiple contracts to cover a broad range of needs– and that eats into any cost savings they achieve.

Job security requires more than just technical ability. The CTO must also be able to earn the trust of the rest of the C-suite. So how do you earn that trust?

Every business has ambitious growth plans, driven by smarter use of technology and data. However, this increased emphasis on IT is not always reflected in the annual budget increases. So what can the IT Director do to secure the additional funding needed?

The annual maintenance contract, an essential aspect of NetApp storage ownership, ensures you have access to support and spares at all times. The trouble is that the contract not only costs around 20% of the original purchase price, but it also increases each year.

Cloud-first strategies have changed the way businesses approach technical challenges relating to applications and storage. But if you’ve noticed that pressures on the local data center have increased, you’re not alone.

Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are radically changing the way businesses work. ML is able to process vast datasets to create algorithms that will increase operational efficiency. AI can take those algorithms to make automated decisions, reducing the need for manual intervention in the process.

Thanks to our extensive hardware lab testing, CDS engineers are very good at looking at hardware failure rates and their root causes for a wide range of storage systems, servers, and network components. Sometimes we’re asked which part is most likely to fail, and there is only one correct answer to that question.

With the emergence of used hardware resellers, CTOs now have additional options for disposing of unwanted assets. Instead of sending systems to be recycled, residual value can be reclaimed by selling them on.

Digital transformation programs are forcing businesses to increase the availability of their data. Even though they are critical to operations, these ancient applications are notoriously limited in connectivity options, and connecting to the internal data stores is almost impossible.

Digital transformation is one of the most pressing challenges of modern business, using data to drive strategy and decision-making, and to increase the quality of service offered to customers. Obviously, technology will need to be upgraded and streamlined to achieve these goals, but digital transformation is more than “just” a technical challenge.

Infinite capacity and low-cost archive-focused services make the cloud an attractive proposition for data cold storage. Services like Amazon AWS S3 Glacier service are cheap and easy to set up, with relatively low monthly running costs.

The cloud has already become an integral aspect of most businesses who now use more than 1,100 hosted applications on average. This statistic alone should give pause to any organization considering going ‘all in’ on the cloud.

With promises to reduce capital spend and increase infrastructure flexibility, cloud adoption rates have been accelerating. Many businesses now proudly announce their strategy is ‘cloud-first,’ meaning all future developments will take place using hosted platforms and services.

Cloud services have revolutionized corporate IT, helping to reduce capital expenditure and manage inconsistent demands on IT infrastructure. But cloud adoption is a double-edged sword: get the basics wrong and you could be storing up serious potential problems for the future.

Virtually every storage array is now built using common hardware standards and interfaces, which means that virtually every spare can be replaced with a generic alternative in the event of failure.

When it comes to data security, most businesses are deploying adequate protection for information in use. Sadly, the same cannot be said of data disposal as second-user hard drives containing sensitive personal information continue to come up for sale on the open market.