Industry Bytes - 19 Apr 2007

The Year of Green Storage

If you work in a data center, you're probably familiar with green storage,environmentally friendly storage that usesless power and physical space than conventional technologies. Gartner predictsgreen storage will be the most hyped datastorage trend in 2007. I talked to PillarData Systems' (http://www.pillardata.com) Senior Director of Marketing andStrategy Russ Kennedy and Director ofWorldwide PR Chris Drago, to learnmore about why it's important for companies to start thinking about green storage.

Drago and Kennedy provided someastonishing statistics: In 2005, Gartnerreported that US companies spent $6 billion powering data centers. Gartner alsopredicts that by the end of 2008, nearly 50percent of data centers worldwide won'thave sufficient power or cooling to supporthigh-density equipment.

Kennedy and Drago stressed that companies need to use their storage moreefficiently and think about consolidatingmultiple storage platforms. "The proliferation of different boxes can't continue,"warned Kennedy; Pillar Data Systemsasserts that the limitation of physical spaceis one of the largest challenges facing ITpros today, especially those working indensely populated regions. Insofar as everycompany with a growing need for physicalspace (or Information Lifecycle Management—ILM—storage tiers) increases powerconsumption, the need for energy efficiencywill drive the green storage movement.

Pillar Data Systems' goal is to makegreen storage as simple as possible andto help users understand what efficiencyis all about. Attaining this goal meansmaximizing application performance anddata capacity with the most efficient useof floor space and power consumption.To determine the efficiency of Pillar DataSystems' storage products, the companyuses an efficiency quotient (EQ), where EQ = capacity (GB) × performance (I/Ooperations per second—IOPS) / power(watts) × space (square meters). WhenPillar Data Systems compared its EQs withsome of its competitors' products' EQs, itfound that its products were often twiceas efficient. The relatively high EQs ofPillar's products stem from the company'sability to consolidate multiple applications and tiers of storage into single platforms. Additionally, the company is able todeliver multiple storage technologies suchas Fibre Channel and Serial ATA (SATA) from just one platform. Going forward,be sure to think about green storage, andtalk with your vendors to help you determine how efficient your storage really is.

Is storage efficiency a concern in yourorganization? Does your company plan toaddress this concern in the next couple ofyears? Tell us your thoughts at our storageforum: http://forums.windowsitpro.com/web/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=46&threadid=83847&enterthread=y.
—Blake Eno

On-Demand, Any-Level Training for SQL Server Users

Just-in-Time ( JIT) learning is always a tall order to fill. As the technology industrymoves toward a business model that demands smaller workforces utilizing broader, cross-disciplinary skill sets, on-demand technical training is increasingly necessary toproperly mobilize business. This trend is industry-wide, but it's especially pronouncedin the SQL Server arena. Anecdotal evidence gathered by SQL Server Magazine editors concludes that many DBAs and network administrators using SQL Server arenew to the database. Because of SQL Server's increasing back-end ubiquity, userswho have no previous experience are suddenly staring at a SQL Server 2005 interface and being asked to make it work with anything from Microsoft Office Accessto SharePoint technologies.

Even when CFOs want to spend the necessary money to train these users,options are limited. "In the tech training industry, your delivery options are usuallyeither a three-day seminar or a thin-content, e-learning solution," counsels AppDevProducts (http://www.appdev.com) President and CEO Craig Jensen. He says theproblem with seminars is that they tend to be expensive and time-consuming, andthat the information is "too much, too fast" to be retained. The problem with moste-solutions is that they're low-bandwidth, don't cover information deeply enough,and have no reinforcement mechanisms.

Jensen believes AppDev has developed an alternative that will let SQL Serverusers customize training programs to their specific needs, rather than choose a solution according to its delivery mechanism. AppDev has produced an updateable seriesof training modules that can be delivered in a variety of formats, and customized tofit specific job descriptions and learning styles. The service package, called KSource, isa collection of high-bandwidth, rich-content video modules led by industry experts,and reinforced with interactive labs, pre- and post-module exams, and instructor-ledcoursework. AppDev offers KSource as both an updateable hardware appliance thatcan be installed behind the company firewall, as well as a broadband, high-bandwidthstream originating from its headquarters' servers. Check out http://www.appdev.com/rs_entry.asp for a free trial run to judge the quality of the content yourself.
—Sam Davenport