virtualization Archives -

Blogging ain’t easy, but surveys are

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

Anyone can do it, right? Blog that is, all you need is an Internet connected device and an opinion. Since the beginning of this year I have 34 posts before this one for a respectable pace, though my pace has slowed considerably of late. Overcoming physics is not generally easy, which explains why I have not been able to figure out a way through some parasitic drag to maintain a brisk pace. No shortage of opinions, got Internet too, so it must be the presence of multiple activities in relative proximity contributing to some of my personal interference drag.

Someone who makes blogging look very easy also happens to be working with Drobo to host a live event later this week Friday 9/21: no PPT, several survey questions, lots of analysis and advice from Scott Lowe (@otherscottlowe). Everyone is welcome, and if you are a smaller shop (<250 users), we especially welcome your input! Participants will be entered to win a Drobo B800i iSCSI SAN system, providing you with >30TB of storage! It’s a $2,999 value and perfect for a virtualization lab at home (and your personal data and media . REGISTER NOW for the live chat.… Continue Reading

Validation for Drobo B1200i in real-world testing

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

Drobo is known as a cool company with cool storage. At events, countless folks stop by telling us they would love one for their house. And if they’re in IT, they soon realize that they also want it for work. For IT applications though, technology has to be more than cool. It has to work; and especially in SMB shops, they want to know it has been tested by a reliable third party. Working with ESG, we have a report with that validation. So, you can skip this blog and go straight to reading the report.… Continue Reading

Hyper-V is like Prego, it’s in there

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 1 Comment

With a very Italian name, you might wonder why I’m making reference to a bottled spaghetti sauce. I use it when it goes on sale, though I dramatically enhance it with two different meats, crimini mushrooms, and sweet onions, bolstered with stewed tomatoes and a can of paste, simmered with chili flakes and a kicker of sriracha sauce. Maybe if I used Prego it would already be “in there”, but the prep is still pretty easy,

The word “prego” is an Italian word that means “you are welcome.”… Continue Reading

Reality is in the eye of the beholder

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

Technology has altered reality. Sporting events can be more vivid and higher impact on a 60+in HD flat panel compared to seeing the event live. Technology discussions can be faster and more interactive over the web using a live demo with displays and webcams compared to sitting in a room with a whiteboard. Technology enables new ways of doing things that really are better – not necessarily avatars and CGI – but a more efficient version of what is real.

Some real and really good analysis was posted today from someone with a very keen eye on reality for storage customers. Matt Prigge posted to his Information Overload column @ InfoWorld.com on “How to avoid a forklift storage upgrade.” … Continue Reading

Drobo-Veeam promos extended to Q2 by popular demand

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

Well, the people spoke and we gave away a lot of Veeam software in Q1. Because we want you to have the most affordable VM backup solution on the market, we’ve decided to extend the offer to Q2. Actually there are two Q2 offers in effect until June 30:

Buy a Drobo iSCSI SAN array (B800i or B1200i) and get a FREE 90-day trial of Veeam Backup & Replication v6
Buy TWO Drobo iSCSI SAN B800i arrays or ONE B1200i, and get Veeam Essentials Standard Edition FREE (2 socket version) – click here to find out how to get your FREE Veeam software.… Continue Reading

My favorite city-state for business and dining pleasure

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

I was south of the equator in my last post and this post is coming from north of it. Well, just 85 miles north of the equator in Singapore, where VMware held its Partner Exchange event for south Asia, a great chance to connect with resellers. The event represents a melting pot of VMware partners across the region, in keeping with the renowned food culture in Singapore that mixes Chinese, Malay, Indian, Japanese, and Thai with western cooking.… Continue Reading

Small is the new huge

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

I was not trying to be overly personal in the last post, but it was relevant to the discussion … personality can be relevant, well sort of. In addition to being heterogeneous, I’ve never been physically taller than 5’6” and thus shorter than average most everywhere, and these days I have a smaller number of fully operational hair follicles. I am thus predisposed to believing that small is the new huge. I’m also a fitting spokesperson for the small box, big storage company. I am not just a Drobo VP … you know how the rest goes … I’m a home Drobo user as well.… Continue Reading

Toronto VMUG – The storage scrum

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

My last post started with a Canadian reference, and this one continues the Canadian theme. Drobo was a sponsor at the VMware Users Group (VMUG) in Toronto, the biggest city in Canada and lesser known as #5 in size for the whole of North America. It was a great chance to meet up with current Drobo B1200i users such as the University of Toronto, and connect with many new folks to talk about the latest technology.

Why the storage scrum? It’s not related to the Canadian Rugby League, of which the first 4 domestic teams hail from the Toronto area. Hockey is tops in Toronto but did not pair well with the word “storage”. Moreover, with 18 of 29 sponsors in the storage space, it seemed that the discussion was tightly centered on storage, its role in virtualized environments, and the continued journey to the cloud.… Continue Reading

Where replication belongs – not where you’d think

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Mario Blandini • 0 Comments

According to Merriam-Webster, to belong is “to be suitable, appropriate, or advantageous,” for example, “a dictionary belongs in every home.” And Drobo belongs in any group of vendors you’re considering when looking for business storage. Some may say we don’t pass the suitability / appropriate test, specifically without support for storage-based replication. The reality for SMBs is that replication does not really belong on the end devices such as storage arrays – it is far more appropriate and much more advantageous for replication to exist on a server.

Tag Archives: virtualization