2007 - a good year to go iSCSI?
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Download our report here Executive briefing It has been a long struggle, but with IP-based SANs finally achieving parity of sorts with Fibre Channel SANs, 2007 could at last be "The Year of iSCSI".â¦
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Having received a renewed boost from those who see it moving out of niche markets, iSCSI (Internet SCSI) may finally be getting some much-needed respect.
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The past few years have seen companies doing everything they can to reduce costs. From outsourcing and offshoring to RIFs (reductions in force), the byword has been, âCut expenses.â But if most of the economists are right, 2005 will be a much better year, and companies will go back to concentrating on increasing revenue.
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The Motley Fool - I've made no secret of my admiration for IBM (NYSE: IBM - News). Recently, I picked it as the best blue chip of 2007, and as I stated in that article, the company's strength begins with its impressive research and development program.
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(InfoWorld) - As we gaze toward the vista of 2007, we find our e-mail inbox inundated with IT predictions for the new year from analysts, vendors and consultants. From those predictions and our own prognostications we present our forecast for the top IT stories in the year ahead: Pun aside, Vista With fanfare, Microsoft Corp. will garner headlines early in the year as it releases itsVista OS to home users, possibly even at the end of January as currently scheduled, avoiding another delay or three. The release splash will give way to headlines that enterprises are following through on analyst predictions and comments from wary IT administrators and are waiting to upgrade. Then will come the security-risk headlines, followed no doubt by the patch headlines. Content kings We'll go with the forecast of analyst Leonard Fuld of Fuld & Associates in Boston that an ongoing story and trend we'll follow in 2007 will be "the world of information and how it's monetized." And we'll put our money on Google Inc. to continue to lead the pack.Â The YouTube Inc. acquisition will be but the tip of that iceberg. Google will scoop up other content providers with an eye on their advertising revenue or potential advertising revenue. "There will be other mega deals," Fuld said in a recent interview. News Corp. undoubtedly will be another company to watch in 2007 when it comes to content, with mergers among more traditional media companies that find themselves increasingly forced to compete with Internet content providers, not to mention the blogosphere and specialty content providers. Along those lines, Internet-delivered TV is going to find its feet in 2007. We've heard that before, but it's got to happen some year and we think the new year will be it. It might even go as far as the prediction of IP (Internet Protocol) communications guru Jeff Pulver: "Every TV network, film studio and content creator will start to adopt a direct to the Internet and direct to the PDA strategy." Hacker's paradise Malware, spyware, viruses, worms (oh, my!) will continue to cause major headaches for enterprises, government agencies and ordinary tech users. McAfee Inc. is among the security vendors predicting that hackers are going to target MP3 files, and we can't think of any reason they won't. They're also likely to plant bombs in Internet video links because surfers don't think twice about clicking on a multimedia link, as McAfee predicts. There will be at least a couple of cybersecurity threats related toÂ alleged terrorist plots, perhaps even by al-Qaeda itself, but the threats will be unsubstantiated and uncorroborated and we'll soon enough find other things to worry about. Spam spam spam spam It's going to get worse before it gets better. (Yes, we know we said this last year and we expect we'll say it again at the end of next year.) We'll be so bold as to say the way it will get better is that ISPs (Internet service providers) will make it terms of service that users adequately protect their computers (see also "Hacker's paradise above") and ISPs will (gasp!) cancel accounts of users whose computers are overtaken by spam-sending zombies. Meanwhile, prosecutions will continue under various national and state laws aimed at putting a lid on spammers. Who's Zuning who? Apple Computer Inc. will continue to dominate the market for personal entertainment devices. OK, we know that's a big "duh!" But it will be an ongoing story in 2007.Â Microsoft's Zune won't have much traction. Some analysts, Fuld included, think that "Microsoft will gain share." We can roll with that, but we think it will be a limited gain because Apple's iPod is so solidly entrenched and because it's just not as cool to have any other kind of personal entertainment device, even if iPod users are locked into getting their music from iTunes. Scandals aplenty At least some of the defendants in theÂ Hewlett-Packard Co. spying scandal will cut plea agreements, trying to avoid prison time or reduce sentences. The scandal will, however, be in the headlines off and on throughout the new year, as will other corporate scandals. On a related note, U.S. legislators are expected to soon make it illegal to use "pretexting" -- pretending to be someone else to obtain their telephone records -- but we also envision lawmakers will make it illegal to obtain other personal records in such a manner. Other scandals will ensue in the new year. We won't go so far out on this limb as to say which companies and executives those will involve -- the crystal ball gets a little cloudy in that regard. Wi-Fi heaven Urbanites, even in some smaller cities, and travelers to those cities, will enjoy the global boon of municipal Wi-Fi networks, which will continue to get up and running throughout 2007. Just the other day, we stayed in close touch with a friend stuck in an airport as he made gate change after gate change, losing contact only when he boarded the plane. Soon enough, the stretches of disconnection will be even briefer for many of us. Whether that will make us happier or more harried has yet to be seen, butÂ the Wi-Fi Universe is going to unfold in the new year. That level of connectivity will lead hardware vendors to release smaller devices with keyboards that are actually usable and both mobile professionals and gadget lovers will embrace the new gizmos, which will give Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry real competition. Open-source lovefest continues Increasing numbers of computer users, includingÂ governments globally, will switch to Linux and open-source applications, particularly as an option to Windows Vista. Microsoft will continue to cozy up to open-source vendors. Red Hat Inc. will survive the coziness of its competitors with the software monolith. The open-source community will continue to be vocal about that sort of coziness, expressing concern and even outright disdain as open source becomes more mainstream. But the community will manage to keep its edge because it doesn't have to deal with bureaucracy and hierarchy. Web 3.0 and beyond We're hearing murmurs regardingÂ Web 3.0. Apparently, pundits are skipping right over Web. 2.5, even before Web 2.0 is fully realized. One thing is for certain: the Web is where it's at. Collaboration, wikis, blogs, mashups, user-generated applications are all going to be big in 2007. And the debate over definitions and what exactly is Web. 2.0 or 3.0 or ... will continue throughout the new year and beyond. Consolidation galore Besides mergers and acquisitions among the content providers, we see more consolidation throughout IT markets.Â Oracle Corp. will continue to be a big spender.Â CA Inc. will dabble in acquisitions. Microsoft, as always, will buy companies with interesting technologies. This could be the year that Gateway Inc. gets bought. Ditto for Palm Inc. The communications provider market is bound to have fewer players by the end of 2007 as companies try to keep up with the competition, offering VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), wireless, Internet and other services all in one package. Analyst Jeff Kagan predicts "this next wave of competition will be the hottest we have seen since the mid 1990's. And even hotter." He sees separate devices such as cell phones and landline phones and TVs working together. "When the phone rings, we'll be able to see who's calling on the television screen and answer it on the TV or on the computer or on the phone because it will all share the same network." The new year, he says, will be the turning point for all of that to happen.
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Even small servers can be virtual iSCSI storage DataCore says a new entry level version of its SANmelody iSCSI storage software can turn a basic x86 server into a virtualised IP-based SAN, with features such as automated thin-provisioning and reuse of spare disk capacity.â¦
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Here's a bit of advice for those of you planning IT budgets. For the next five to 10 years, set aside 10 percent to comply with new government regulations, both from the United States and from other governments in your major markets.
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Forrester Research has revised projections for IT investment in 2008 down from previous research published in October, predicting the year ahead will be a slow one both in the U.S. and globally.In the report, &quot;U.S. And Global IT Spending And Purchases In 2008: Will The Grinch Of A Slowing US Economy Steal The Presents Of A Stronger 2008 IT Market?&quot; Forrester said it expects U.S. IT investment growth to slow slightly to 4.8 percent in 2008 from 5.3 percent in 2007. Previously, the research firm had predicted U.S. IT spending growth would be about 8 percent in 2008, led by software and network equipment.The areas hardest hit by the downturn will be computer and communications equipment and IT services, the latter being typically the first to get hit, said principal analyst Andrew Bartels. &quot;The first things CIOs cut are consultants and contractors,&quot; he said. &quot;They are readily delayable and cancellable items in the portfolio of spending.&quot;Despite this outlook, there is some good news for next year&#39;s U.S. IT market. According to Bartels, the slowdown in 2008 will happen mainly from the first quarter to the third quarter with growth in the fourth quarter of the year that will continue into 2009.In its year-end report, Forrester defines IT investment as spending in computer equipment, communications equipment and software. It adds spending in two other segments -- IT services and outsourcing and IT staff salary and benefits -- for its definition of IT spending.CIOs in the U.S. should plan conservative budgets because of the possibility that the economy will go into recession, Bartels said.However, there are technologies on the horizon that CIOs should prepare to implement in 2009, so they have the difficult task in 2008 of juggling conservatism and an eye to the future, Bartels said. Those emerging technologies include unified communications infrastructure and dynamic business applications. If they can, CIOs will increase spending and investments toward the end of 2008 and in 2009 to prepare for these technologies, he said.&quot;It&#39;s important CIOs ... don&#39;t get so cautious they&#39;re not ready for the next wave,&quot; Bartels said.Global IT purchases also are expected to slow slightly in 2008, from 12 percent in 2007 to 9 percent in 2008, but the U.S. market is expected to perform competitively despite the slowdown. The Asia-Pacific region, as it was in 2007, will remain an outstanding market in 2008, a year in which it may approach the U.S. in terms of size, Bartels said.&quot;Asia-Pacific is starting to become a factor in the market,&quot; he said. &quot;A year from now, we&#39;ll be able to say it&#39;s a stone&#39;s throw from the size of the U.S. market and may well pass it in 2009.&quot;In 2007, Asia-Pacific surpassed Europe in market size in terms of IT purchases, and that measure is expected to grow in Asia-Pacific by 15 percent in 2008, according to Forrester. IT purchases in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Europe will grow 5 percent to 7 percent next year, while in the Eastern Europe/Middle East/Africa region, purchases are expected to grow the same rate as in Asia-Pacific.The strength of Asia-Pacific is good news for U.S. technology vendors, as they&#39;ve &quot;been able to overcome a sluggish technology economy in U.S. with the Asian market,&quot; Bartels said.
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In 2007, the brokersâ customers did reasonably well. The brokers did not. How could that happen?
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BERLIN, Dec 20 (IPS) - For the European Union, 2007 was a year rich in  events, but poor on results. Next year promises to be as  turbulent as this one, and probably as unremarkable in its  outcome.
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This looks like the *real* beginning of the end for Itanium. The workstation market is two-fold. There are those that use workstations for computing tasks (scientific, visualization, whatever) and those that
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iStor claims speed record for single-chip iSCSI controller An iSCSI developer said it has bucked the trend towards using standard servers to power storage appliances, instead using specialist chips that it designed itself.â¦
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The beginning of the year is traditionally a time to look back, and, for the brave of heart, to make a few predictions looking forward.  Lacking the requisite bravery, I'll just quote something that the Economist wrote recently: Rejoice: the embrace of âopennessâ by firms that have grown fat on closed, proprietary technology is something weâll see more of in 2008.  Now, had this "fearless prediction" been made a year ago, I would have been impressed, because 2007 has turned out to be the year when everyone, it seems, wants to be open. read more
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(Source: LeftHand Networks)  Combine LeftHand SAN/iQ clustering software with the world's top selling enterprise server platforms like the HP DL380 to create a cost-effective, yet powerful iSCSI SAN.
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Even amid all the market turmoil, 2007 is shaping up as a decent year for mutual fund investors. International stock funds are up 8.3 percent, and US stock funds are up 4.6 percent.
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InfoWorld - Crossroads Systems has announced it is collaborating with iVivity to develop new gateway and intelligent iSCSI storage systems. The new products will provide intelligent Crossroads storage routing software in a hardware platform based on iVivity's iDiSXsilicon technology.
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US IT spending will grow by seven per cent next year, according to a study out yesterday from IT analysts Forrester Research. Forrester predicts that spending on IT goods, services, and staff will remain at seven per cent over the next three years.