NetApp, Oracle Settle Old Patent Litigation over ZFS
9/9/2010 10:56:18 AM
NetApp and Oracle settle a 3-year-old patent lawsuit over the origin of the Zettabyte File System. Terms were deemed confidential. - When Oracle annexed Sun Microsystems and all that intellectual property in its $7.4 billion deal last January, it also inherited all of Sun's legal entanglements. As of Sept. 9, one of those has gone away. NetApp and Oracle announced a settlement regarding a 3-year-old patent lawsuit over th...

Storage Software Market Gives Mixed Messages
9/8/2010 1:08:45 PM
Year-over-year numbers show 3.3 percent growth in the storage software market, while quarter-to-quarter results indicate a 2.3 percent revenue decrease, IDC says. - Industry analyst IDC reported Sept. 7 that the worldwide storage software sector enjoyed a small revenue gain year-over-year in the second quarter of 2010 but also that market numbers dropped a bit from the first quarter. In its quarterly Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker report, IDC ...

Investors Enjoy Huge Takeaway in HP Buy of 3PAR
9/3/2010 3:09:01 PM
News Analysis: CEO David Scott and venture capital firms Menlo Ventures, Worldview Technology Partners and Mayfield Fund will come away with many dollars when the deal is done. - In the aftermath of the out-of-control bidding war that recently concluded with Hewlett-Packard outspending Dell at $2.35 billion for storage maker 3PAR, the winners undoubtedly are enjoying one of the sweetest Labor Day weekends of their lives. Those victors include CEO David Scott and ve...

IDC Reports More Double-Digit Growth in Disk Storage Market
9/3/2010 9:12:57 AM
The total disk storage systems market grew to $6.8 billion in revenues, representing 20.7 percent growth from 2009's second quarter. - Worldwide sales of disk-based storage arrays, which leveled off only briefly during the last two years of a difficult macroeconomy, climbed a healthy 21 percent in the second quarter of 2010 over the same period a year ago, industry researcher IDC reported Sept. 3. For the quarter, the total d...

Dell Surrenders: HP Gets 3PAR for $2.35 Billion
9/2/2010 9:31:59 AM
UPDATED: Hewlett-Packard wins out with an unsolicited, all-cash bid of $33 per share over Dell, ending the 10-day-long bidding war. - Minutes after being rebuffed by yet another higher offer for 3PAR from Hewlett-Packard, Dell decided on Sept. 2 to drop out of the high-stakes bidding process for the utility storage provider. Thus, with its final $33-per-share, all-cash bid, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based IT superpower will gain t...

HP Again Tops Dell's Latest Bid for 3PAR
9/2/2010 7:46:52 AM
Hewlett-Packard takes only minutes to snap back with a higher offer after Dell takes three full days to tender its offer. Bidding now up to about $2.07 billion. - The 10-day-old bidding war between two stubborn IT superpowers over a relatively small storage company went up another level Sept. 2 when Dell increased its standing offer for 3PAR from $27 to $32 per share, with Hewlett-Packard subsequently upping its own to $33 from $30 a few minutes later. Del...

NetApp, Syncsort Ship Backup for Mixed-Bag Data Centers
9/1/2010 1:57:00 PM
NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup combines Syncsort backup management software, NetApp snapshot, clone and replication, and NetApp disk storage in a turnkey package. - SAN FRANCISCO Storage maker NetApp and data integration/protection software provider Syncsort announced Sept. 1 at VMworld 2010 here that they have combined to market a new data protection package for mixed-bag data centers which means just about all data centers. Called NetApp Syncsort Inte...

HP, Hynix to Collaborate on Memristor Memory Technology
9/1/2010 12:08:25 PM
Hewlett-Packard and Hynix will work to bring memristor products to market. Memristors could eventually replace not only traditional memory technologies such as Flash and hard drives, but also CPUs. - Hewlett-Packard is about three years away from taking its memristor technology from the research lab to the marketplace. HP officials announced Aug. 31 that the company has entered into a joint development agreement with memory supplier Hynix Semiconductor to develop and bring the technology to ...

HP Unveils Storage Tiering, Thin-Provisioning Services
9/1/2010 12:03:21 PM
In apparent anticipation of the 3PAR merger, HP Enterprise Services announced new services around storage tiering and thin provisioning. - SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard apparently is setting the table for its presumed incorporation of scale-out virtualized storage maker 3PAR, which could happen as soon as today. Although its bidding war with Dell was not a done deal by midday Pacific time on Sept. 1, HP held the upper hand with...

Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d Offers Big Storage, Smaller Price
8/31/2010 5:00:04 PM
Iomega's desktop storage device for small and branch offices has features suited to both personal and enterprise use, although businesses should keep its limitations in mind. - With a mixture of enterprise- and consumer-oriented features and a target audience of small and remote branch offices, Iomega's StorCenter ix4-200d network-attached storage device has something of a dual personality. The device turns in solid performances in each of its roles, and as a result ca...

Quest Software Launches New Storage Management Package
8/31/2010 4:02:28 PM
The company launched its first storage management product, vFoglight Storage, which enables enterprises to manage virtual and physical storage deployments on a single screen. - SAN FRANCISCO Quest Software, best known for its popular Oracle- and Microsoft-related software development tools, became the latest independent software vendor to bolster its position with new products in the burgeoning world of virtualization. The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company Aug. 31 at...

How to Implement a Successful Data Deduplication Strategy
8/30/2010 1:37:14 PM
Even as data volumes grow and regulatory mandates multiply, today's IT organizations must meet increasingly strict service-level agreements while controlling costs. Data deduplication eliminates redundant data, helping IT organizations to enjoy improved data management, easier disaster recovery and reduced data storage costs. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Eric Schou explains how to implement a successful data deduplication strategy in your organization. - The IT organizations of today cannot rely on the data protection model of yesteryear, which can be characterized as tape-based, decentralized and populated primarily with physical servers. Virtualization and the large amounts of data to protect mandate a new approach to protecting and managing infor...

Dell Mulls Latest Obstacle to 3PAR: HP's $2B
8/30/2010 8:43:31 AM
Dell has a couple of days to make the next move in the rapidly escalating bidding war for the small scale-out storage maker. - Dell – was busy considering its options Aug. 30 in its prolonged bidding war with Hewlett-Packard over utility storage maker 3PAR. HP on Aug. 27 increased its offer to just under $2 billion, and 3PAR's board later that evening accepted it. Thus, Dell, which apparently has more t...

Dell, HP Stubbornly Raise Stakes in Bidding War for 3PAR
8/29/2010 8:50:35 AM
News Analysis: As Dell and HP keep stacking the cash higher in the bidding war for 3PAR, the question arises: What makes this small enterprise storage company worth it? - As the bidding for storage company 3PAR ratchets higher, so does one question why are Dell and HP willing to spend this much money for one fairly small company? My first thought was that maybe the two companies just hate each other. I was having visions of a face-off under the hot Texas su...

3PAR Accepts HP's $2 Billion Acquisition Bid
8/28/2010 12:54:50 AM
UPDATED: The $30-per-share offer all but ends the four-day bidding war with Dell for the utility storage provider. 3PAR and HP shareholders still need to approve the acquisition. - 3PAR's board of directors late Aug. 27 accepted the unsolicited proposal by Hewlett-Packard earlier in the day to acquire their company for $2 billion. The $30-per-share offer all but ended the four-day bidding war for the utility storage provider. 3PAR and HP shareholders still need to approve...