All-In-One Computing, Tape Library Backup Bundle and Cable Management Top Blogs in 2011

Today is the last business day of 2011 and with it DCIG brings you our top three (3) most read and referenced blog entries.  Each blog entry is compelling and timeless.  What we find ironic about these blogs is that even as topics like "cloud," "deduplication," and  "virtualization" generate a great deal of buzz, simple blog entries on storage, backup and data center cable labeling outperform them.  These simple blogs are foundational for IT leaders and practitioners.

#3 - Data Center Management 101 Part I (Cable Management), by Tim Anderson.  Year after year this blog entry continues to be a top read and referenced blog though this year it falls from the top spot it has occupied the last three years.  However it is the 4th year in a row that it has appeared in DCIG's Top 10 most viewed blog entries.

I met with Mr. Anderson at Fall 2011 SNW.  He told me that others often asked him to share his insight on cable management and he was glad to have found a forum to share this information. Mr. Anderson's thoughts on cable labeling have continued to be widely appreciated by many others over the years, bringing this blog to the number 3 spot in 2011.

This blog entry, and its complementary Part II, covers:

• Philosophy of 3am office visits
• Labeling and cabling impact on cooling
• Best practices for cable, server, storage, and network device labeling

#2 - Backup Software - Tape Library Combo Runs Counter to Current Disk-Based Backup Craze, By Jerome Wendt.  This blog entry covers hot topics for 2011 as well as traditional backup and tape systems. This blog was written in 2009 as a product announcement complement by Spectra Logic and Symantec. The blog context is product models must be developed to encourage adoption of new technology.

In this context, new technologies include disk to disk appliances and deduplication, while retaining support for tape and tape system improvements. Spectra Logic's Senior Product Manager, Kevin Dudak, explained [in 2009] that among Spectra Logic's customer base there is still a lot of confusion around deduplication.

The blog details three major themes:

1. IT practitioners do not like to upgrade their backup software
2. Tape is not dead, dying or even on life support - it is ALIVE
3. Deduplication continues to be crucial in backup redesign

#1 - Prerequisites for Introducing All-in-One Computing into Enterprise IT, by Jerome Wendt.  This year's #1 blog entry was written in 2008 when big data, cloud computing and scale-out storage were emerging topics. Mr. Wendt starts this blog by talking about consumer oriented use of IT.  Like this blog, this year has exposed Consumerization of IT (CoIT) as a demanding trend in the Enterprise.

COIT is generally defined as consuming applications and content within your work life the same way you do it in your personal life.  For enterprises to deliver equivalent capabilities they require technologies deliver on prerequisites that keep IT managers up at night.  Mr. Wendt covered those in the 2008 piece focused on a scale-out storage product NEC HYDRAstor. Those prerequisites garnered top attention in 2011. They are listed here and detailed in the blog entry:

• The ability to sustain multiple, concurrent points of failure.
• Can measure and forecast how much of the hardware resources each function on the device will use.
• Can scale to permit the introduction of the appropriate resources.

From all of us at DCIG to all of our readers, thanks for a great 2011.  We raise our glass to a Happy New Year with good tidings of peace, prosperity and hope for 2012.

Blog entries ranked numbers 4 - 7 in terms of viewership on DCIG's site in 2011
Blog entries ranked numbers 8 - 10 in terms of viewership on DCIGs site in 2011