News
Topic: Servers
Microsoft Azure: Any way and anywhere you want it
When Microsoft first announced its Azure cloud service, there were plenty of sceptical comments about enterprises not being interested until there was a way they could run it themselves. The advantage OpenStack could claim was that you had a choice of hosts whereas with Microsoft's hybrid cloud your choice was Azure or DIY cloud with the Windows Azure Pack. With all of them, you get the same development model, the same data model, the same virtualisation, the same network model, the same deployment tools, the same management options.
Is Google Waging War On Email Marketers?
But now, with changes to how images display in emails, Google has taken away marketers' ability to track the success of campaigns. When companies send marketing blasts to customers, they can collect a gamut of information by affixing images with unique identifiers. A way to help users prioritize important emails, the feature hid company and marketing emails under a secondary "promotions" tab, and emails from social networks were given the same treatment with a "social" tab.
Competition heats up SMR drives
In September Seagate announced sales of a million SMR drives - I didn't know they'd sold any - and is planning a 5TB SMR drive for next year. The big issue: SMR drives are very sensitive to vibration - only 2 can run concurrently in a 30 drive shelf - which is probably why there's no marketing aimed at consumer or enterprise prospects. The Storage Bits take I've been agitating for specialized archive disks for years and it looks like we're getting close.
Cybersecurity in 2014: A roundup of predictions
One of the many signs that the year is drawing to a close is the appearance of predictions for the coming 12 months by security vendors and analysts. Sophisticated threat actors will continue to hide behind traditional mass-market crimeware tools to make identification and attribution hard for network defenders More attack binaries will use stolen or valid code signatures Mobile malware will further complicate the threat landscape Java zero-day exploits may be less prevalent Browser-based vulnerabilities may be more common Malware authors will adopt stealthier techniques for command-and-control (CnC) communications Watering-hole attacks and social media targeting will increasingly supplant spear-phishing emails More malware will fill the supply chain. More details on FireEye's 2014 predictions.