IBM announced that it plans to introduce some solid state storage systems geared towards OLTP applications such as reserveations and financial trading systems. More like on always-on type applications. What isn';t now a days anyway. To accomplish this in a 12 month period, IBM is going to be bringing out, it seems, a new controller specifically for solid state drives. Usually companies just use the standard controllers used for normal hard drives. Sounds interesting to me. Read more at IBM Plans Breakthrough Solid-State Storage System 'Quicksilver'

I've been down this road too often. Overland Storage has let a whopping 53 employees go yesterday in a attept to trim costs and look to the future. While 53 employees do't seem like much, it is 13% of Overland's work force. When I was last laid off by a storage company, 900 employees where laid off. Think it might have been .5% of the workforce. Big difference. The 900 were not even missed. But 53 or 13 leaves something more noticible.

But to put it in perspective, these layoffs were said to save about 10 million a year, there are still 345 workers, and certain projects will just be put on hold. Stock is down 59% and in my opinion my be the time to buy.

What USB is in your pocket? Does it matter to you? Most consumers think that all USB drives are created equal. This couldn not be further from the truth. Performance, options, USB standard, etc. all play a critical role in how you should look at your USB drive. If you even think you are experiencing performance hits when you copy files to your USB drive, it just might be time to look at what else is out there. AND what is coming up in the near future. Take a read on Computerworld's article: Not all USB drives are created equal. It just might have you opening up your wallet.

Forget about land speed records, how about SanDisk's setting of a new speed record of 30 megabytes per second for SD flash memory cards with the introduction of the SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition line of SDHC Cards. NOW THAT's EXCITING!

Today, SanDisk announces that it has increased the speed limit on digital photography by 50 percent. This extreem boost in performance will enable consumers, when used in a digital camera such as the newly announced Nikon D90 DSLR camera, shoot like the pros with DSLRs using continuous shooting mode, and shortening the time spent offloading images.
The new cards, expected to be available worldwide in September in 4-gigabyte (GB)2, 8GB and 16GB capacities. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is U.S. $64.99 for the 4GB card, US $109.99 for the 8GB card, and U.S. $179.99 for the 16GB card.

Take a speed-check at the press release at SANDISK BOOSTS SD CARD SPEED BY FIFTY PERCENT - SETS NEW SPEED RECORD FOR SD FLASH MEMORY CARDS

If you're new the the continuous data protection (CDP) game, continuous is the KEY word here. Most of us are familiar with CDP on Windows machines where changes are made and copies are automatically performed-capturing every change of data over time. The benefit here, as opposed to backups taken at a particular time, being you can restore to any point in time. Quite handy.

While CDP technology is not new to the Windows market, R1Soft currently offers the only CDP product that works cross-platform, for Linux and Windows. Since most IT environments are mixed-platforms, the need for a solution capable of supporting both platforms is strong and growing.

For your enjoyment, a current press release for the version just released: R1Soft Releases Windows 2.0 Continuous Data Protection Software

Also, there a trials you might want to give a go.

Imagine leaving work for the weekend, early no doubt, with big plans for a friday night. To leave early you know that the work just isn't complete yet so you save a few spreadsheets to a USB thumb drive and head for your car. Without ever leaving home you begin your friday night whatevers and the next thing that happens is you're waking up saturday afternoon. Needing to work on those spreadsheets before monday you frantically look for you USB drive-never to be found.

Now the question of leaking valuable information, code, and sales figures races through your head. What to do? Nothing...it's too late.

This is why companies like DriveSentry are releaseing products to help secure data on USB drives, laptops, PDAs, etc. Take a read and a look at the PR: Explosive Growth in Portable Storage Devices leads to Major Concerns over Data Security