Able-One Blog

by Todd Cox, Chief Technology Officer and Lead IT Architect 

To say that cyber crime is no small issue would be an understatement. According to the 2013 Norton Report, the cost of cyber crime hit Canadians to the tune of $3 billion in 2012 - which was double the year before. While that is only a small percentage of the $113 billion global number, it clearly highlights the pervasiveness of this issue.  If you don’t think it will affect you, think again - the numbers show that 42% of adults experienced cyber crime last year alone.

By the end of 2013 it is expected that there will be 1.4 billion smart phones in use world wide. To put this in perspective, that is one smart phone for every five people! In a recent survey, 50% of smart phone users sleep within arm’s reach of their phone, showing that smart phones have truly become an extension of everyday life. What is particularly alarming is that 60% of Canadian users are not aware that security solutions even exist for their mobile devices.

It’s not just phones that pose hazards, social media sites have become a favourite for cyber crime, with almost half of users not signing out after using these sites. Not to mention passwords that are weak & easily guessed, rarely updated, and the same on multiple sites. This means if there is a breach on any site, like the one Adobe recently had (http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/customer-alert.html?promoid=KHQGF) many of an individual's accounts could be in danger – if the same password is used on multiple personal logins, what about on their business accounts? What happens when they are connected to the corporate network when they access these sites? The weakest link in any cyber security risk posture are the individual users.

What does this mean for business? For a start, it is important to understand that the impact and cost of cyber crime is not just a technology discussion, but truly a whole-business conversation:

• What is our current risk & how exposed are we? 

• What policies and procedures do we need to put in place to deal with security, BYOD and business continuity? 

• How well does our current technology protect our corporate assets, maximize our organizational up-time and comply with industry regulations? How can we keep up with rapidly changing security risks with the budget we have?

• Technology is a key component to prevent cybercrime but what happens when there is a breach? Whose liability is it? What provisions should we include in our contracts with service providers?

• What about our residual risk – do we need insurance and how much?

Sources :

http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/about/presskits/b-norton-report-2013.en_ca.pdf

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dashboard/cybercrime-costs-canadians-us-3-billion-last-190238986.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-billion-smartphones-in-the-world-22013-2

by Todd Cox, Chief Technology Officer and Lead IT Architect 

Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions on IBM's new announcement regarding the Storwize V3700... essentially the little brother to the Storwize V7000. While at first glance, the products seem very similar in terms of functionality, there are several important issues to consider when evaluating the two solutions:

External Virtualization

While the V3700 has the concept of internal virtualization and disk pools like it's older brother, there is no external virtualization capability with the V3700. This means that I cannot front end older fibre channel based disk subsystems like I can with the V7000. This functionality really sets the V7000 apart from the competition, allowing my customers to extend the useful life of their aging storage assets already on the floor. Even if you don't buy into virtualizing older storage subsystems, this capability greatly aids in the migration of data through built in migration wizards.

Unified Option

One of the best features of the V7000 is the unified option which combines block and file-based subsystems into one full-function solution. With the V7000 unified comes Active Cloud Engine; functionality that allows me to tier my files across multiple media types based on straightforwardpolicies. ACE allows me to reduce the 

cost of my overall storage footprint by storing files on the right type of media based on file type or usage pattern. The V3700 does not have a unified option and is block-based storage only. So no Active Cloud Engine either.

by Todd Cox, Chief Technology Officer and Lead IT Architect

When I ask Chief Information Officers what their biggest source of frustration is around storage and storage management, clearly it involves managing the growth of storage and really getting to the "true" price per terabyte on the floor. The true cost of enterprise disk has nothing to do with the price of the hardware, as most storage vendors are buying their disk drives from the same manufacturers. The real value of storage in the data center today is the software functionality that is built into their offerings, allowing for truly efficient management of their storage environment. Functionality like compression, de-duplication and storage tiering become critical strategies when looking to drive down the price per usable terabyte.

Big Data

Unstructured file system data, sometimes called "big data" is driving many of our customers' expanding storage needs. Often I see clients storing information that has not been accessed for 12 months or more, yet it is sitting on very expensive disk. Why do companies do this? Simply, they have neither the tools to identify obsolete or orphaned data, nor policies in place for dealing with this dilemma. There must be a better way, you say? You're right, there is. Through technologies like tiering and information lifecycle management (ILM) data can live on the appropriate media type, which ultimately drives down the overall cost of storage on the floor.

Virtualization

Virtualization is a common theme in the server space and certainly internal virtualization is not new to the storage world; the concept of external virtualization is much less common however. What if you could "front-end" your existing storage with all of the new functionality and availability of your new enterprise storage purchase, thereby increasing the useful life of assets that you already own? Sounds too good to be true, right?

These concepts and technologies will be discussed in much more detail next Wednesday, December 12th as I present #TheFutureofStorage webinar. We will examine storage trends in the industry and talk frankly about driving costs out of enterprise storage. I hope you can join me!!

Click here to register for the Future of Storage Webinar Invitation

By Grant Sojnocki President, Able-One Systems

In our first blog post we talked about the growing problem of heat management in the data center, and discussed why traditional methods for cooling are no longer economic or environmentally friendly options. 

Carrying on with this topic, in this post, we’re going to focus on a disruptive, new technology that removes the heat at the point of need --the back of the rack -- in a very energy efficient manner.

Able-One Systems is now an authorized reseller for OptiCool^™ Technologies, an emerging leader in cooling solutions. OptiCool^™ was recently identified by Gartner in two research publications in July -- the "Hype Cycle for Power & Cooling Technologies, 2012," by John R. Phelps, and the "Hype Cycle for Server Technologies, 2012," by John R. Phelps and Mike Chuba. Gartner positions the rack-cooling and liquid cooling technologies markets, which OptiCool™ is a leader, as "early mainstream" and assigns a technology benefit rating of "high."  

The OptiCool^™ cooling solution has many benefits over room-based and row-based cooling:

• Exceptional energy efficiency - up to 95% less in room cooling energy required
• Exceptional space efficiency - up to 90% less cooling footprint required
• Exceptional for high density – Increased in-rack cooling capacity by 500%
• Flexible cooling redundancy options including in rack redundancy

OptiCool delivers a highly practical cooling solution for existing facilities and new construction.  The bottom-line is OptiCool^™ will use less energy, less space, increase cooling capacity and reduce noise levels, offering s a very attractive new cooling option with a very strong return on investment.

See OptiCool™ in Action!  

Meet up with our team, and learn more about the OptiCool™  cooling solution at the Toronto DatacenterDynamics Converged Event, happening November 27^th at the Allstream Centre. You can find us at booth #11.