News

• Microsoft calls for cloud computing transparency

  Cloud computing vendors need to band together to create rules on privacy and security or face the prospect of having the U.S. Congress pass regulations, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said Wednesday.

• Netgear Stora: your terabyte for the web

  It’s been a busy few days for the whole idea of networked hard drives that provide direct Internet connections so you can get to them from everywhere. Last week, Seagate introduced DockStar, a $99 add-on for its FreeAgent Go drives that provides browser-based access to their contents. And today Netgear launched Stora, an all-in-one network drive with Web access.

• Amazon's data shipping goes both ways now

  Amazon Web Services has expanded a shipping service for large data sets on its S3 cloud storage platform so customers can get their content back instead of just sending it.

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  Users set to ditch tape for online storage

  Users are set to ditch tape as a storage medium as one in 10 businesses have lost data following a failure of a tape backup system.

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  EMC introduces x86-based Symmetrix array for cloud storage

  EMC Corp. Tuesday unveiled a high-end Symmetrix storage array that is based on Intel Corp.'s x86 quad-core processors and integrates VMware's APIs to automate the provisioning of storage for virtual machines across multiple tiers of disk drives, from solid-state to SATA.

• Trade organization looks to simplify cloud storage

  The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has formed the Cloud Storage Technical Work Group, which will develop standards, interfaces and best practices for storing data in the cloud, it announced on Tuesday.

• Facebook rolls out storage system to handle photo stores

  Needing to better deal with 50 billion files worth of photos, engineers at Facebook are installing a new photo storage system they say is 50% faster than traditional systems.

• The Planet bundles hosted NAS, cloud storage

  Hosting company The Planet has teamed up with Nirvanix to bundle widely available cloud storage with high-speed hosted capacity.

• Demand for online backup services will grow, EMC chief says

  EMC expects demand for its Mozy online backup service to continue growing, despite the challenging business environment and weak consumer demand, the company's top executive said.

• HP shuts down Upline online storage service

  Hewlett-Packard Monday said it has closed down its online backup service after less than a year of operation.

• Symantec to deliver cloud-based backup service

  Symantec will begin offering an online storage service targeted at consumers by the end of next month.

• Startup Ctera will offer cloud storage through carriers

  Startup storage vendor Ctera is looking to service-provider networks as the best place for home and small-business backup and will go through them to sell an appliance that combines local and cloud storage.

• EMC forms Decho subsidiary, targets consumers' 'digital echo'

  Fresh off the debut of EMC's enterprise cloud storage platform, the vendor has formed a new company known as Decho to help consumers manage personal information in the Internet cloud.

• EMC, Lenovo offer unlimited SMB backup service

  Lenovo and EMC this week announced an effort to free small businesses from the hassles of data backup by offering an unlimited Mozy storage service for Lenovo's SL series laptops.