Kicking off trade show season with VMworld 2008

We have now entered September and not only does this month mark the beginning of Fall, but it also marks the beginning of trade show season for many of us in the high-tech industry. From VMworld to Web 2.0 to Interop to SNW, many of us here are in the middle of prepping our clients for a busy (and fun!) few months. While many things have stayed the same, the many ways in which we communicate has changed due to...

Podcast: Deni Connor on storage trends

Today, we bring you episode 6 of our Beyond the Hype podcast series. In this segment, Don Jennings chats with Deni Connor of Storage Strategies NOW about current trends in the storage market. They discuss the prospects of the storage industry in the current economic environment, as well as emerging technologies like iSCI. Don opens the conversation by asking Deni if storage as a technology is recession-proof. While she states that no technology is completely recession-proof, she sees a never-ending...

Doing the Storage Shuffle, How you can help!

While the words of change from vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are still ringing across newsrooms today, change continues to be the main course for what's going on with those media who have tracked and covered all things storage over the past few years. Let's revisit some fairly substantial changes over the past year alone, and some quite recent: Chris Mellor sells his succesful Blocks and Files to take on reporting and analysis for the Register. Filling the hole left...

And we thought Santa had it tough...

If you still believe in Santa, perhaps you should stop reading now. With SNW in full swing this week, I'm reminded of many a comedian's take on what Santa has to do in order to deliver presents to all the deserving boys and girls (and sometimes moms and dads) around the globe each December 24. If you need the scientific take on what Santa would need to accomplish in a 31 hour window (factoring in the world's time zones), you're...

Podcast: Jerome Wendt on the state of storage

Today, we bring you Episode 4 of our Beyond the Hype podcast series. In this segment, LP&P's Don Jennings chats with Jerome Wendt, lead analyst and president of DCIG about the key drivers in the storage technology market. Don opens the discussion by asking for Jerome's view of the impact of the current economic uncertainty on storage spending. Jerome states that he's not seeing signs of a negative impact because companies are getting more value for their money, and their...

As one chapter closes, a new one begins for Deni Connor

For 10 years, I was one of many who read what Deni Connor wrote regularly for Network World. She was always one of, if not the first, to break major news items from many of the leading storage industry players. In fact, rumor has it that some of the PR community avoided briefing her in advance for fear she'd scoop the news. Still, Deni persevered and always had relevant insight and perspective on the technologies and trends customers cared about...

Whither SNW?

Last week marked another Storage Networking World Conference (SNW). This time, the conference was held at the Gaylord Texan Resort Hotel and Convention Center near Dallas, in Grapevine, Texas. Billed as the "world's largest and foremost storage networking event," SNW has become more of a reunion of sorts for many in the storage industry, especially in the vendor community. Although, finding out where former friends and colleagues end up transcends the vendor community as reporters and analysts take up new...

No Heat in New York for Storage Last Week

A week ago, Storage Decisions was winding down and I was surprised at how hot New York was in late September. Again, TechTarget put on another good show for the end user community. They really have it down to a science. Good presenters from across the storage influencer community, i.e. Contoural, Dragon Slayer, ESG, GlassHouse Technologies, StorageIO, Taneja Group, among others. And, they work hard to get and listen to the voice of the customer. To attend, registrants need to...

End of an Era

For years, those of us who worked both with StorageTek and then Sun Microsystems after the acquisition, helped to educate many in the media and analyst community on the evolution of tape within backup and archive for the enterprise. Sure, tape was and continues to be an easy thing to bash. Just ask those few companies profiled in news articles the past few years when a DLT or LTO tape holding valuable information is "misplaced, lost or stolen." However, throughout...

These Times They Are A Changing...

March used to be the month of Madness but perhaps June is the new month of madness. Take the changes in the media and storage trade show landscape for example. This month should have marked the annual passage for vendors and customers at Long Beach, California for Storage World Conference. Many of us used to wait to see who would keynote the event, who would be hosting a party at the Queen Mary or who would launch a new product....