Sam’s SAN Diary

I helped edit a series that ran in VAR Business called Sam’s SAN Diary. It is written by Sam Blumenstyk, the technology operations manager at Schulte Roth & Zabel, a Manhattan law firm that’s typical of midsize companies in general. Blumenstyk was in the midst of a major upgrade to his company’s storage infrastructure, and built his first storage-area network (SAN). I asked him to keep a diary of the trials and tribulations, and he has graciously agreed to share this with VAR Business readers. Each week you’ll hear from Sam about how he assembles his solution, which vendors he favors, how he decides between using VARs or direct-vendor reps at various stages of the project, and the ups and downs of implementing the storage technology.

Sam Blumenstyk

This Web-only column is a unique opportunity for VARs to learn how to break into the SAN marketplace and understand the mind of the customer, as well as to read in near real-time the forces and decisions that are faced by a typical IT manager. Sam’s diary is also a great way to understand the storage marketplace as well as some of the challenges that customers have to overcome to install their first SAN. — David Strom

Here is a link to the various episodes as Sam installs his first SAN.

Managing wireless networks for the enterprise

The great thing about wireless networks is the freedom to
roam about your campus, home, or office. The trouble is this
freedom comes at a price, and enterprise network
administrators are finding out that managing all this
mobility is messy and fraught with multiple complicating
factors, making wireless networks more of a burden than
dealing with wired connections.

The reasons have to do with a combination of poor tools and
the ad hoc nature of wireless networks themselves. The good
news is that many vendors are stepping up to the plate with
new products that can make some of this pain go away.

I got to see some of these products as one of the “Best in
Show” judges in the wireless category at the Networld+Interop
show in Las Vegas.

You can read the entire essay here.