This week’s News Bits we look at a number of small announcements, small in terms of the content, not the impact they have. Dell refreshes its laptops, monitors, and mobile workstations. Samsung begins mass production of 10nm-class 16Gb LPDDR4X DRAM for automobiles. Cohesity launches cloud backup solution. NAKIVO releases Backup & Recovery v7.4. Pivot3 has tremendous first quarter. Cisco intends to acquire Accompany. Iron Mountain releases Iron Cloud Critical Protection and Recovery. Excelero awarded new patent. Kaseya intends to merge with Unitrends.
This week’s News Bits we look at a number of small announcements, small in terms of the content, not the impact they have. Dell refreshes its laptops, monitors, and mobile workstations. Samsung begins mass production of 10nm-class 16Gb LPDDR4X DRAM for automobiles. Cohesity launches cloud backup solution. NAKIVO releases Backup & Recovery v7.4. Pivot3 has tremendous first quarter. Cisco intends to acquire Accompany. Iron Mountain releases Iron Cloud Critical Protection and Recovery. Excelero awarded new patent. Kaseya intends to merge with Unitrends.
Dell Refreshes Its Laptops, Monitors, & Mobile Workstations
Dell has refreshed its Latitude laptops, OptiPlex desktops and all-in-ones, and some of its mobile Precision Workstations. The computers are mainly refreshed with the latest Intel CPUs amongst other things to bump up performance. The company is also releasing its P-series monitors with thinner panel profiles, smaller bases, USB-C options, and better cable managements options.
- The Dell Latitude 500 Series laptops, both 5491 and 5591 are expected to be available on May 17, 2018 starting at $899 and $999 respectively.
- On the Display front, the Dell P2719H, P2419H, P2219H are expected to be available on June 25, 2018 and the P2719HC, P2419HC and P2219HC are expected to be available on July 23, 2018. Pricing starts at $229.99.
- The new OptiPlex models are expected to be available on May 22, 2018 with the 5060 Micro starting at $599.99, the 7460 AIO starts at $1,129, and the 7760 AIO starts at $1,299.
Samsung Begins Mass Production Of 10nm-class 16Gb LPDDR4X DRAM For Automobiles
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced that it is now mass producing 10-nanometer (nm)-class 16-gigabit (Gb) LPDDR4X DRAM for automobiles. The latest version is Automotive Grade 1-compliant, raising the high-end threshold to 125°C. Even at the upper end of its temperature range, the DRAM can still process speeds at 4,266Mbps.
Cohesity Launches Cloud Backup Solution
Cohesity has added CloudSpin to its DataPlatform. This will give companies “instant access” to their backup data in the cloud for text/dev. Cohesity’s DataPlatform Cloud Edition also comes with DataProtect and according to the company, creates the first modern, web-scale backup solution to integrate with public cloud snapshot APIs to deliver automated data protection. These new features can turn backups from inert to viable resources.
NAKIVO Releases Backup & Recovery v7.4
NAKIVO released the latest version of its Backup & Recovery solution, version 7.4. Enhancements include:
- Automated VM Failover: NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 can help restore business activities in case of disaster without unnecessary delays. Automated VM Failover is performed by first replicating VMs to the DR location and then running a single failover job. As a result, the workloads are transferred to the DR location near-instantly, minimizing downtime. The process is fully automated with the help of network mapping and re-IP rules, which eliminate the need for manual reconfiguration of replicas.
- File Recovery to Source (Beta): NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 allows for recovering accidentally deleted or corrupted files directly to their source VMs or a different location. The recovery is quick and performed from deduplicated VM backups, without recovering the entire VM first.
- Enhanced AWS EC2 Instance Backup: NAKIVO Backup & Replication can be used to protect AWS EC2 instances and store the backups onsite or in the cloud. Starting from v7.4, the number of recovery points per EC2 instance is increased to 1,000, bringing greater reliability and more recovery options.
- Bandwidth Throttling: By default, NAKIVO Backup & Replication uses the available bandwidth to run jobs at the highest speed possible. However, during business hours, network administrators may want to limit the bandwidth used by data protection processes. NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 allows such limits to be set on a per-job basis, ensuring enough bandwidth is available for other business applications.
- Self-Backup: If something happens to the VM or physical server hosting the VM backup software, a new instance of NAKIVO Backup & Replication can be installed in under 1 minute. However, manually reconfiguring all of the backup settings might be time-consuming. To simplify the process, NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 automatically backs up the entire scope of settings made in the product’s web interface and saves such self-backups in available backup repositories. Once a new instance is installed, NAKIVO Backup & Replication can import all the previously established settings from the backup repository, including jobs, inventory, schedules, and preferences.
- Global Search: Trying to manually find a VM, replica, or job in a large virtual infrastructure can be a daunting task. NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 introduces a convenient Global Search feature that facilitates finding any item, such as a job, a repository, or a transporter. There is also the option to instantly perform individual or bulk actions on such items directly from the search results page.
- Flash VM Boot for Hyper-V: Flash VM Boot can near-instantly boot virtual machines directly from deduplicated and compressed VM backups. Such VMs can then be used for sandbox testing or other purposes. NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 extends support of Flash VM Boot to Hyper-V VMs.
- Screenshot Verification for Hyper-V: Having VM backups or replicas does not guarantee their recoverability. To ensure VMs can be recovered, NAKIVO Backup & Replication includes the Screenshot Verification feature. After each backup or replication job, the product can automatically test-recover the VM and take a screenshot of the operating system. Such OS screenshot is then attached to a report and sent via email. Starting with NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4, the Screenshot Verification feature is available for Hyper-V as well as VMware VMs.
- Log Truncation for Microsoft SQL Server 2017: NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 was designed to save space not only in the backup repository; the product can also truncate Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs on the source VM. These logs are truncated automatically after each successful VM backup or replication job, preventing them from taking all available disk space and causing a server crash.
- Instant Object Recovery for Microsoft SQL Server 2017: NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 allows instant recovery of Microsoft SQL Server objects, such as tables and databases. The granular recovery is performed from deduplicated backups, without requiring the full VM to be recovered first, which saves a considerable amount of time.
- Live Chat with Technical Support: The convenient web interface of NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 now includes a built-in live chat with NAKIVO’s Technical Support team. Customers can get answers to their questions and receive assistance without leaving the product’s interface.
Pivot3 Has Tremendous First Quarter
Pivot3 has seen 60% annual growth in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same time last year. Other developments include:
- Announcement of Pivot3 Cloud Edition on Amazon Web Services, enabling customers to simplify, optimize and automate their use of multi-cloud environments. This is part of Pivot3’s strategy to unify on-premises and public cloud infrastructures and address the many challenges IT faces in reducing costs while improving agility.
- Launch of the Pivot3 Acuity X3 Series HCI solution, which brings enterprise-grade features to a wider range of use cases – including remote and branch offices, edge computing, small-to-medium sized businesses and enterprises – that require a smaller datacenter footprint.
- More than 60-percent increase in bookings in Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017, with the average sale price increasing by 74 percent over the same time period. Sixty-seven percent of its Q1 sales were comprised of large enterprise and Fortune 1000 customers.
- Increase in customers using HCI to support multiple mixed-application workloads, with a 56-percent increase from Q4 2017 to Q1 2018. Pivot3 also saw continued momentum with Internet of things smart city and safe city use cases, with governments and regional agencies using Pivot3 HCI to help increase public safety and operate more efficiently.
- Growth of the Pivot3 Global Channel Partner Program, with deal registrations from the channel increasing by more than 255 percent in Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017, and a 76-percent increase in new partners from Q4 2017 to Q1 2018.
- Growth of its Lenovo relationship worldwide, with more than 100-percent expansion of joint sales over the prior quarter and expansion of the Lenovo-based portfolio of products.
- Recognized as a Challenger in the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Hyperconverged Infrastructure by Gartner, Inc. based on the company’s ability to execute and completeness of vision.
- Earned a 5-Star rating in CRN’s Partner Program Guide for the fourth consecutive year.
- Recognized on JMP Securities’ Super 70 list of the hottest privately-held companies in the cybersecurity, data management and communications infrastructure industries.
Cisco Intends To Acquire Accompany
Cisco announced that it intends to acquire the AI-intelligence company, Accompany. The acquisition will strengthen Cisco’s AI portfolio and will bring Accompay founder, Amy Chang, to the Cisco team. Cisco will acquire Accompany for $270 million in cash and assumed equity awards.
Iron Mountain Releases Iron Cloud Critical Protection & Recovery
Iron Mountain announced a managed data protection solution to safeguard and restore critical data, providing confidence in recovery in the event of malicious denial of access attack, Iron Cloud Critical Protection and Recovery (CPR). CPR proactively protects vital data through secure isolation and can provide cricital availability of clean data if a company is hit by a cyberattack. CPR is available as part of Iron Mountain's Iron Cloud purpose-built portfolio of cloud-based solutions
Excelero Awarded New Patent
Excelero announced that it has been awarded its second U.S. patent (#9,971,519) governing a technique of performing NVMe access directly from a chip. This new technology will be leveraged in its Flagship NVMesh Server SAN product, specifically in the new SmartNIC-based versions.
Kaseya Intends To Merge With Unitrends
The IT infrastructure management solutions company, Kaseya, announced that it will be merging with Unitrends. This will rounded out that company by adding Unitrends backup and continuity solution under one house. Both companies will operate under their respective brands.
