Ann Bednarz
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Ann Bednarz
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Hyperconvergence gathers speed in 2018
IDG Hyperconvergence is on a roll.Enterprises are shifting storage investments from legacy architectures to software-defined systems in an effort to achieve greater agility, easier provisioning and lower administrative costs. Hyperconverged systems – which combine storage, compute and network functionality in a single virtualized solution – are on their radars.Enterprise interest in hyperconverged systems as potential replacements for legacy SAN and NAS storage systems has in turn inspired major storage vendors to make hyperconvergence plays of their own, acquiring startups and building out their offerings.To read this article in full, please click here
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Micro-modular data centers set to multiply
IDG Mini data centers are sprouting up on the edges of networks – in factories, on container ships, and piggybacked on cellular base stations – as enterprises and service providers look to embed compute and storage capacity closer to where data is being generated.So-called micro-modular data centers (MMDC) aren’t new, and they’re not the only distributed edge computing solution. But they’re growing in popularity with a compound annual growth rate of 42% over the last three years, according to 451 Research. Sales of MMDCs are forecast to reach nearly $30 million in 2018 from $18 million in 2017. While the market appears small, MMDC sales in 2018 will represent about 2,000 new installations and be a part of projects that cost many times greater than that, according to the research firm.To read this article in full, please click here
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Micro-modular data centers set to multiply
IDG Mini data centers are sprouting up on the edges of networks – in factories, on container ships, and piggybacked on cellular base stations – as enterprises and service providers look to embed compute and storage capacity closer to where data is being generated.So-called micro-modular data centers (MMDC) aren’t new, and they’re not the only distributed edge computing solution. But they’re growing in popularity with a compound annual growth rate of 42% over the last three years, according to 451 Research. Sales of MMDCs are forecast to reach nearly $30 million in 2018 from $18 million in 2017. While the market appears small, MMDC sales in 2018 will represent about 2,000 new installations and be a part of projects that cost many times greater than that, according to the research firm.To read this article in full, please click here
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4 job skills that can boost networking salaries
The coming year looks promising for IT pros on the hunt for new positions. Employers are forging ahead with hiring plans, and it remains a job-seeker’s market. IT salaries are set to increase in 2018, particularly for talent that possesses hard-to-find skills.In the networking arena, certain skills will be especially lucrative – Cisco network administration, Linux/UNIX administration, VoIP administration, and Windows, according to Robert Half Technology.Job candidates with these four in-demand talents may see an additional 5% to 10% bump in starting salary, according to the recruiting and staffing specialist’s 2018 Salary Guide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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4 job skills that can boost networking salaries
The coming year looks promising for IT pros on the hunt for new positions. Employers are forging ahead with hiring plans, and it remains a job-seeker’s market. IT salaries are set to increase in 2018, particularly for talent that possesses hard-to-find skills.In the networking arena, certain skills will be especially lucrative – Cisco network administration, Linux/UNIX administration, VoIP administration, and Windows, according to Robert Half Technology.Job candidates with these four in-demand talents may see an additional 5% to 10% bump in starting salary, according to the recruiting and staffing specialist’s 2018 Salary Guide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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How network automation can speed deployments and improve security
Five years ago, IT was decentralized at the University of New Mexico. “Every school or college had their own IT, and in most cases they were completely under-resourced – a one-person shop having to do phones, apps, email, desktop, servers, storage, disaster recovery, all of that,” said Brian Pietrewicz, deputy CIO at University of New Mexico.The university transitioned to a self-service model that enables each of its more than 100 departments to deploy infrastructure and application services itself and have them managed by the now-centralized IT team.Adopting VMware’s vCloud Automation Center enabled departments to consume cloud resources, but also give the management team the ability to curtail that consumption if necessary.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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How network automation can speed deployments and improve security
Five years ago, IT was decentralized at the University of New Mexico. “Every school or college had their own IT, and in most cases they were completely under-resourced – a one-person shop having to do phones, apps, email, desktop, servers, storage, disaster recovery, all of that,” said Brian Pietrewicz, deputy CIO at University of New Mexico.The university transitioned to a self-service model that enables each of its more than 100 departments to deploy infrastructure and application services itself and have them managed by the now-centralized IT team.Adopting VMware’s vCloud Automation Center enabled departments to consume cloud resources, but also give the management team the ability to curtail that consumption if necessary.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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How network automation can speed deployments and improve security
Five years ago, IT was decentralized at the University of New Mexico. “Every school or college had their own IT, and in most cases they were completely under-resourced – a one-person shop having to do phones, apps, email, desktop, servers, storage, disaster recovery, all of that,” said Brian Pietrewicz, deputy CIO at University of New Mexico.The university transitioned to a self-service model that enables each of its more than 100 departments to deploy infrastructure and application services itself and have them managed by the now-centralized IT team.Adopting VMware’s vCloud Automation Center enabled departments to consume cloud resources, but also give the management team the ability to curtail that consumption if necessary.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Hot products at VMworld 2017
VMworld 2017Image by Thinkstock/VMwareVMworld 2017 is underway in Las Vegas, where IT pros are converging to learn about the latest in enterprise cloud, virtualization, security, and software-defined data center technologies. Here are some of the product highlights on display at the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Hot products at VMworld 2017
VMworld 2017Image by Thinkstock/VMwareVMworld 2017 is underway in Las Vegas, where IT pros are converging to learn about the latest in enterprise cloud, virtualization, security, and software-defined data center technologies. Here are some of the product highlights on display at the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Hot products at VMworld 2017
VMworld 2017Image by Thinkstock/VMwareVMworld 2017 is underway in Las Vegas, where IT pros are converging to learn about the latest in enterprise cloud, virtualization, security, and software-defined data center technologies. Here are some of the product highlights on display at the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Top storage certifications for IT pros
Skilled storage pros are in demand as enterprise IT teams take on exponential data growth and strategically migrate data assets from legacy systems to more modern options.For these professionals who are looking for a new job or aiming to advance in their current role, a certification could potentially differentiate them from other one candidates. And for hiring managers, certifications can help trim some of the risk from the recruitment process by validating to some extent expertise in areas such as network-attached storage, storage area networks, and storage configuration and operations management.Vendor neutral vs. vendor specificTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Top storage certifications for IT pros
Skilled storage pros are in demand as enterprise IT teams take on exponential data growth and strategically migrate data assets from legacy systems to more modern options.For these professionals who are looking for a new job or aiming to advance in their current role, a certification could potentially differentiate them from other one candidates. And for hiring managers, certifications can help trim some of the risk from the recruitment process by validating to some extent expertise in areas such as network-attached storage, storage area networks, and storage configuration and operations management.Vendor neutral vs. vendor specificTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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What is hyperconvergence?
Hyperconvergence is an IT framework that combines storage, computing and networking into a single system in an effort to reduce data center complexity and increase scalability. Hyperconverged platforms include a hypervisor for virtualized computing, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking, and they typically run on standard, off-the-shelf servers. Multiple nodes can be clustered together to create pools of shared compute and storage resources, designed for convenient consumption. The use of commodity hardware, supported by a single vendor, yields an infrastructure that's designed to be more flexible and simpler to manage than traditional enterprise storage infrastructure. For IT leaders who are embarking on data center modernization projects, hyperconvergence can provide the agility of public cloud infrastructure without relinquishing control of hardware on their own premises.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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What is hyperconvergence?
Hyperconvergence is an IT framework that combines storage, computing and networking into a single system in an effort to reduce data center complexity and increase scalability. Hyperconverged platforms include a hypervisor for virtualized computing, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking, and they typically run on standard, off-the-shelf servers. Multiple nodes can be clustered together to create pools of shared compute and storage resources, designed for convenient consumption. The use of commodity hardware, supported by a single vendor, yields an infrastructure that's designed to be more flexible and simpler to manage than traditional enterprise storage infrastructure. For IT leaders who are embarking on data center modernization projects, hyperconvergence can provide the agility of public cloud infrastructure without relinquishing control of hardware on their own premises.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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What is hyperconvergence?
Hyperconvergence is an IT framework that combines storage, computing and networking into a single system in an effort to reduce data center complexity and increase scalability. Hyperconverged platforms include a hypervisor for virtualized computing, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking, and they typically run on standard, off-the-shelf servers. Multiple nodes can be clustered together to create pools of shared compute and storage resources, designed for convenient consumption. The use of commodity hardware, supported by a single vendor, yields an infrastructure that's designed to be more flexible and simpler to manage than traditional enterprise storage infrastructure. For IT leaders who are embarking on data center modernization projects, hyperconvergence can provide the agility of public cloud infrastructure without relinquishing control of hardware on their own premises.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Housing developer builds resiliency with DRaaS
When Steve Werner joined Milhaus, the company was gearing up for a growth spurt that took it from roughly 80 employees in 2015 to more than 270 employees today. Upgrading the company’s IT infrastructure was a priority for Werner, who is the first director of technology at the Indianapolis-based company, which designs, builds and manages luxury apartments in urban areas.“They went from a very small business to a pretty good sized business in a short amount of time. But we were still running on small business hardware, with a small business backup plan,” Werner says. The company’s IT gear was running in an old server closet with no air conditioning. “It couldn’t handle all that we were adding to it,” Werner says. “Everything was about to melt down.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Life as an IT contractor
The upside of life as an IT contractor is alluring. You get to be your own boss, accept only the jobs you want, and work flexible hours. With each assignment comes the opportunity to learn new skills and gain exposure to different environments.But there are obvious sacrifices – job security and paid vacations, for starters. As an IT contractor, you’re also often responsible for your own benefits (healthcare, retirement), paying taxes, and marketing yourself for the next gig.Tech pros who successfully balance the pros and cons of contracting play an important role in the IT world. They provide manpower when workloads spike and can bring key expertise or niche skills to a team. In recent years, companies have increasingly relied on a contingent workforce to augment their full-time staff. According to new survey data from IT staffing and services firm TEKsystems, 26% of IT hiring managers expect to increase headcount for contingent workers in the second half of 2017 (another 46% report that headcount will remain the same for temporary workers, and 13% say it will decrease).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Tools that increase IT efficiency pave the way for digital transformations
Inflexible IT architectures can be a barrier to organizational change. As companies embark on digital transformations aimed at improving their business, the pressure is on IT to reduce complexity and increase the efficiency of enterprise systems and applications. Fave Raves is an annual feature from Network World that invites IT pros to share hands-on assessments of products they love. Several tools that enable organizations to simplify their infrastructure and automate key tasks ranked among the favorites in 2017 and recent years. Here’s what IT pros had to say, in their own words. For more enterprise favorites, check out the full Fave Raves collection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Tools that increase IT efficiency pave the way for digital transformations
Inflexible IT architectures can be a barrier to organizational change. As companies embark on digital transformations aimed at improving their business, the pressure is on IT to reduce complexity and increase the efficiency of enterprise systems and applications. Fave Raves is an annual feature from Network World that invites IT pros to share hands-on assessments of products they love. Several tools that enable organizations to simplify their infrastructure and automate key tasks ranked among the favorites in 2017 and recent years. Here’s what IT pros had to say, in their own words. For more enterprise favorites, check out the full Fave Raves collection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here