Cloud storage provider Backblaze has kicked off a Network Stats blog series explaining how Backblaze is connected to the internet and what that means for customers. The first post covers how it joined the Equinix Silicon Valley (SV1) Internet Exchange, bringing it closer to thousands of their customers and 278 peering networks. Many of the networks that participate on this IX are logically close to a lot of their customers. The participants are some of the well known ISPs that serve homes, offices, and business in the region, including Comcast, Google Fiber, Sprint, and Verizon. You can read the stats on its performance so far here.
…
The Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute is using storage infrastructure provided by Zstor GmbH for its for its Lustre Object Storage Servers (OSSs). This CIB224NVG4 2-Node Server configuration is in a 2U format with 24 DapuStor Roealsen5 NVMe Gen4 SSDs. The SSDs are built with DapuStor DP600 controller firmware with 3D eTLC NAND Flash. The 2-node server ensures data availability even during hardware failures. It also facilitates fast NVMe switched access to the Object Storage Targets on the storage array from the two internal Object Storage Servers. These servers are accessible over a 200Gbit/sec InfiniBand network, optimizing data flow within the system.
…
SW RAID supplier Xinnor and DapuStor have worked together to validate the performance of the RAID group created by combining DapuStor’s R5101 enterprise NVMe SSD with Xinnor’s xiRAID technology. They used a Tencent Starlake as test server, equipped with AMD Epyc 7352 24-Core CPU and 4 x R5101 NVMe SSDs. In random read tests, the RAID group achieved 97%+ of the raw disks’ IOPS, while in random write tests, the RAID 5 and RAID 6 configurations achieved over 45% of the raw disks’ IOPS, claimed to be an extraordinary outcome considering the inherent overhead in parity code calculation and placement. The tests also compared xiRAID with Linux mdraid, revealing six times better performance of xiRAID in both random read and write as well as better CPU utilization.
…
DataStax, describing itself as the company that powers generative AI applications with real-time, scalable data, announced the launch of SwiftieGPT – an AI-powered chatbot that knows everything about Taylor Swift. Timed with the award-winning artist’s 34th birthday, SwiftieGPT provides Taylor Swift fans – better known as “Swifties” – with access to any and all publicly available data via a conversational bot that knows Taylor all too well. SwiftieGPT is powered by the DataStax Astra DB vector database. It’s a retrieval augmented generation (RAG) chatbot using a combination of generative AI and JavaScript technologies.
SwiftieGPT pulls publicly available data about Taylor Swift from across the web. That data is split into small, semantically meaningful chunks using a document transformer on LangChain. Using embedding models from Cohere, the content is turned into vectors, which are stored in Astra DB. Created using the Astra Assistants API, the chat experience is built using Next.js and the website is published to Vercel.
…
Steve Santamaria, CEO of optical storage startup Folio Photonics, tells us that “in 2024, there will be a transformation in how we store and archive data with the emergence of optical storage and an alternative to active archiving systems. This trend will be driven by the growing demand for storage solutions that are not only long-lasting and secure but also energy-efficient. The invention, giving rise to a new generation of optical storage, will gain traction, especially in sectors where stringent data retention rules are in place, thanks to its durability and resistance to environmental wear and tear. By incorporating state-of-the-art optical storage into active archiving, we’re looking at a viable, environmentally conscious alternative to conventional storage methods, bolstering data access and security. This movement is a testament to the increasing emphasis on both data preservation and environmental stewardship.”
…
IBM is buying Software AG’s cloud-native StreamSets data integration software and its webMethods API management and integration software for $2.33 billion in cash, according to Reuters. Software AG is 93.3 percent owned by the Silver Lake private equity business. StreamSets will help with data ingestion by IBM’s WatsonX AI platform. The deal should complete in Q2 2024.
…
Infinidat CMO Eric Herzog blogged: “Infinidat had a big, bold year: 30 awards and recognitions; five new solutions; double-digit growth in bookings; expanded 5-star channel partner program; positive ROI delivery for enterprise customers in only 11 months, and top scores from large enterprise customers for innovation and white glove service in customer reviews on the Gartner Peer Insights site. How sweet it is!” He reviewed the year and concluded: “To use a sports analogy, we’re at the top of our game.”
…
Kioxia’s CM7 series and CD8P series NVMe SSDs have passed certification testing for PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 specification compliance. The CM7 Series and CD8P Series drives can now be found on the PCI-SIG Integrator’s List.
…
Lenovo has expanded its hybrid cloud platform for AI with new ThinkAgile hyper-converged systems and ThinkSystem servers that advance cloud deployment, hybrid connectivity and AI capabilities, powered by the next (fifth) generation of Intel Xeon Scalable Processors. The new Lenovo ThinkAgile hybrid cloud systems are engineered to boost AI performance and build cloud agility by delivering more compute and faster memory to its market-leading portfolio when and where it is needed.
…
Israel’s K2view, a supplier of AI-driven operational data management, announced the appointment of Ronen Schwartz as CEO. Most recently, Schwartz served as senior vice president and general manager of Cloud Storage at NetApp, growing the business 12-fold, to become the majority of the $600 million NetApp Cloud division.
…
Round and round we go. VAST Data’s regional sales manager Southern Europe (France, Italy, Spain & Portugal) Vincent Gilbert has joined Nutanix as as its sales leader for France and NW Africa. He has a circular CV as he was at Nutanix from August 2011 in various sales positions to July 2019, then sales manager for France at Qumulo, August 2019 to June 2022, then VAST Data until this month, and is now back at Nutanix again.
…
US IT provider National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) is using StorMagic’s SvSAN to manage billing and accounting applications. It previously used Dell EMC’s PowerEdge VRTX onsite at eight of its member sites, until these systems met their end of life state and were replaced. NISC realized a 50 percent reduction in Oracle hardware and software licensing costs, resulting in $22,610 in initial cost savings and $3,610 annually, per site.
