Announcing Myriad All-Flash File and Object Storage Software

We’re excited to announce Myriad an all-flash file and object storage platform based on a modern, cloud-native software architecture that avoids the limitations of legacy NAS storage systems. It brings new levels of simplicity and adaptability to your high-performance workloads without the constraints of specialized hardware.

Key highlights include:

• Scale-out software architecture delivers consistent, low-latency performance for high-bandwidth and high-IOPs applications.
• A cloud-native microservices architecture orchestrated by Kubernetes provides a resilient, “always on” architecture, and delivers new features and fixes rapidly with less risk.
• Automated storage management allows a cluster to be scaled or modified without user intervention and the need for advanced IT skills.
• Self-healing, self-balancing software automatically rebuilds data in the background while also rebalancing data as storage clusters expand, shrink, and change.
• Inline data deduplication and compression reduce the cost of flash storage and improve data efficiencies relative to legacy storage platforms.
• Simplified data protection and recovery through built-in snapshots, clones, snapshot recovery tools, and rollback capabilities.

AI Powered Storage Market Valued $15.6 Billion in 2021 - CAGR of 26.7% from 2022 to 2031

 According to a report ($5,820) published by Allied Market Research, the global AI powered storage market valued $15.6 billion in 2021, and is anticipated to reach $162.5 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 26.7% from 2022 to 2031.

The report offers a detailed analysis of the top winning strategies, evolving market trends, market size and estimations, value chain, key investment pockets, drivers and opportunities, competitive landscape, and regional landscape. It is a source of information for new entrants, shareholders, frontrunners, and shareholders in introducing necessary strategies for the future and taking essential steps to significantly strengthen and heighten their position in the market.

It offers a detailed segmentation of the global AI powered storage market based on component, storage system, storage architecture, storage medium, end user, and region. The It provides a comprehensive analysis of every segment and their respective sub-segment with the help of graphical and tabular representation.

This analysis can essentially help market players, investors, and new entrants in determining and devising strategies based on the fastest-growing segments and highest revenue generation that is mentioned in the report.

Based on component, the hardware segment held the major market share in 2021, holding nearly three-fifths of the global AI powered storage market share, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the software segment, is expected to cite the fastest CAGR of 28.2% during the forecast period.

On the basis of storage architecture, the file and object based storage segment held the largest market share in 2021, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the global AI powered storage market share, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. Nevertheless, the object storage segment, is expected to cite the highest CAGR of 28.1% during the forecast period.

In terms of end user, the enterprises segment held the major market share in 2021, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the global AI powered storage market share, and is expected to maintain its leadership position during the forecast period. However, the government bodies segment, is expected to cite the fastest CAGR of 28.9% during the forecast period.

Based on storage medium, the HDD segment held the major market share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global AI powered storage market share. However, SSD is expected to maintain its leadership position in terms of revenue and register the highest CAGR of 28.0% during the forecast period.

Region-wise, the North American region held the major market share in 2021, holding more than two-fifths of the global AI powered storage market share and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the AsiaPac market is forecast to record the fastest CAGR of 28.3% during the assessment period.

The key players analyzed in this market report include Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Amazon Web Services, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Google, Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Intel Corporation, Lenovo Group Limited, Micron Technology, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, NetApp, Inc., The International Business Machines Corporation, Pure Storage, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Toshiba Corporation.

Key findings of the study:
• By component, the hardware segment dominated the AI powered storage market in 2021. However, the software segment is expected to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period.
• On the basis of storage system, the DAS segment dominated the AI powered storage market in 2021. However, the NAS segment is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period.
• On the basis of storage architecture, the file and object based storage segment dominated the AI powered storage market in 2021. However, the object storage segment is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

 

WW 4CQ22 HDDs Units Slip 6% at 36 Million

With units slipping 2% Q/Q to 15.35 million HDDs, an 8% reduction in sequential nearline units resulted in Seagate‘s 5% Q/Q capacity reduction to 112.52EB even as average nearline capacity held flat at 15.5TB. Performance enterprise rose 4% Q-Q while solid branded increases, illustrating improved retail spending, offset declines in other categories such as surveillance (in 3.5″ CE). Average HDD capacity of 7.3TB dipped 3% sequentially on the reduced contribution of nearline HDDs; however, Seagate posted the smallest percentage reduction for nearline unit shipments, resulting in a nearly 10 percentage point share gain to 51%. Total HDD share of 42% rose just under 1.5 percentage points Q/Q.

Toshiba’s slightly higher sequential unit shipments of 8.02 million were countered by a 19% Q/Q drop in nearline HDDs, driving a 14% reduction in total capacity shipped, falling to 31.89EB. Average nearline capacity of 13.1TB slipped only 100GB from prior quarter. Performance enterprise shipments lifted a solid 17% sequentially, indicating that OEM and channel weakness plaguing this category in prior quarters had eased. The client
categories of desktop and mobile held largely unchanged from the prior quarter but a large 57% Q/Q increase of 2.5″ CE HDDs drove a 23% total CE unit rise. Average HDD capacity of 4.0TB fell from 4.6TB in 3CQ22 on the lower nearline contribution to the total. Total HDD shipment share of 22% increased more than one percentage point Q/Q.

Western Digital experienced a large 44% drop in sequential nearline HDD unit shipments with the segment’s capacity shipments cut nearly in half over the same period. The nearline reductions followed on the heels of the company’s competitors’ declines in the prior quarter. Total unit shipments of 12.89 million HDDs and 81.28EB fell 12% and plunged 37% Q/Q, respectively. Nearline shipments of 3.41 million and 52.83EB cut its market share to 32% for units and 33% for capacity shipped – all markedly lower Q/Q. Solid client HDD increases in desktop and mobile were driven by healthier seasonal branded sales, while market-wide surveillance demand weakness cut the company’s 3.5″ CE units. Average HDD capacity of 6.3TB plunged 28% sequentially while total market share shed nearly 3 percentage points from the prior quarter, falling to just under 36%

Is Air Gap on your Superhero IT Utility Belt?

Each day IT admins work diligently behind the scenes to keep their systems running, their workforce productive, and their customers happy. But they are also secretly Caped Crusaders ever vigilant for the next cyber threat to their IT infrastructure.

Here’s three reasons why Air Gap should be a part of your Superhero Utility Belt. Air gap is any IT system, digital device, or storage media such as tape or hard drive disk (HDD) that is disconnected from the network, making it automatically “air gap” protected from malware.

1. Air Gap is a Cloak of Invisibility - There are countless ways ransomware infiltrates and seeks out IT systems to paralyze, corrupt, and steal data. Air gaped systems or media can’t be remotely hacked, turned on/off, encrypted, or wiped - because the ransomware can’t see it.

2. Air Gap can be Immutable - Sadly companies often do pay ransoms, only to find that their data is irreversibly corrupted or deleted. Data storage that supports WORM software prevents ransomware from modifying, encrypting, or deleting data. AES-256 encryption further adds another layer of data protection.

3. Air Gap is the Deep Freeze of Cloud Storage - Most cloud vendors offer cold storage solutions (tape or disks) where inactive data is stored offline (air gaped) indefinitely for backup, disaster recovery or regulatory compliance. Offline cold storage systems are not only the most cost-effective solutions, they also add the benefit of isolating huge amounts of replicated business data from cyberattacks.

 

ATTO Technology Announces Support for Apple’s Latest Operating System macOS 12 Monterey

All ATTO adapters, software, and utilities have been tested and validated with the new OS

 

ATTO Technology, Inc., today announced its hardware and software fully support the latest operating system from Apple, macOS 12 Monterey.

Rigorous performance evaluations have been done to ensure all ATTO products perform at the highest level with macOS 12. All ATTO adapters, software, and utilities have been tested and are already validated with Monterey. The tests were passed on both M1 and Intel®-based Apple machines.

“We’ve been working with Apple for many decades, now, and those deep roots show in how we were able to validate our products before Monterey was officially released,” said Timothy J. Klein, president and CEO, ATTO Technology. “Our goal was to make sure Mac users have what they need from us to keep producing the incredible things they do without missing a beat.”

ATTO Technology is a network and storage connectivity manufacturer whose products power high-performance, demanding workflows for media and entertainment, government, education, and scientific users. From Thunderbolt™ to Ethernet, Fibre Channel to SAS/SATA, ATTO products are the highest performing, most reliable and easiest to use connectivity solutions available for Mac environments.

Apple is the platform of choice for creative professionals who work with demanding design and digital production workflows where team collaboration is often essential. Digital assets continue to evolve in complexity, size and number which naturally leads to more and more data moving through networks. ATTO Technology supplies the connectivity purpose made to address these challenges.

Data density and complexity typify most workflows today, like in science and education where Apple computers are popular and widely used. The same technology from ATTO that Hollywood studios rely upon is equally effective across all industries.

Products in the ATTO portfolio supporting macOS 12 Monterey include:

• ATTO Celerity™ 32Gb/s (Gen 7 and Gen 6), 16Gb/s (Gen 6) and 8Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) with ATTO MultiPath Director
• ATTO ExpressSAS® GT 12Gb SAS HBAs
• Thunderbolt 3 and 2 enabled ATTO ThunderLink adapters
• ATTO FastFrame™ 10/25/40/50/100GbE SmartNICs
• Software including ATTO 360 Tuning Software, ATTO Xtend SAN iSCSI Initiator, ATTO ConfigTool, XstreamVIEW, Express NAV and QuickNAV

 

Quantum: Fiscal 1Q22 Financial Results - Sales up 22% Y/Y

 

Quantum Corporation announced financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2021. 

1FQ22 financial summary and recent highlights

• Revenue grew 22% Y/Y to $89.1 million
• GAAP net loss was $4.2 million, or ($0.07) per share; adjusted non-GAAP net income was $0.1 million, or $0.00 per diluted share
• Adjusted EBITDA increased $4.0 million Y/Y to $5.4 million
• Software and subscription customers grew more than 20% sequentially, while bookings were up 2x
• Refinanced outstanding term debt, saving $7 million in annualized interest expense
• Acquired the video surveillance portfolio and assets from Pivot3, adding over 500 customers

Jamie Lerner, chairman and CEO, commented: “Demand in the first fiscal quarter continued to be strong, with a significant sequential increase in customer orders. A large majority of these orders were from hyperscale customers for products that are most affected by the current supply constraints. This dynamic has caused our backlog to reach unprecedented levels. Historically, our backlog has been 5% or less of our reported quarterly revenue. As of 1FQ22, our backlog has grown to $30 million, compared to approximately $14 million in the previous quarter and $2 million in the year-ago period. While not all backlog represents potential revenue in the following quarter, it demonstrates how robust demand is across our business, while also providing us significantly higher levels of visibility. 
 
“Although the industry supply constraints have created near-term revenue headwinds, we continue to make progress on our long-term business transformation. Following the quarter close, we announced the acquisition of Pivot3’s video surveillance portfolio and assets, which is key step towards establishing a strong share position in the video surveillance market with a leading portfolio of hardware and software solutions. This acquisition will add over 500 customers and is projected to be slightly accretive to EBITDA through the remainder of fiscal 2022. More recently, we successfully refinanced our remaining outstanding term debt, allowing for more favorable borrowing terms and reducing future cash interest expense to help drive improvements to our bottom line.”

He concluded: “I am very pleased with our team’s continued execution and the increasing demand we are seeing for our products and software solutions. We are building upon our market share leadership position in the hyperscale market. Overall, I’m confident we are taking the right steps to position the company for long-term sustainable growth and profitability. And with the recent refinance of debt now behind us, we have completed an important milestone in our financial and business transformation, providing greater operating flexibility on our path to becoming the leader in video and unstructured data storage solutions.” 

1FQ22 vs. 4FQ21

• Revenue was $89.1 million representing a decrease of 4% sequentially from $92.4 million last quarter.
• Gross profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was $37.3 million, or 42% of revenue, compared to $38.9 million, or 42% of revenue, in the prior quarter.
• Total operating expenses were $37.3 million, or 42% of revenue, compared to $36.6 million, or 40% of revenue, in the prior quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $25.8 million in the quarter, compared to $24.1 million in the fourth fiscal quarter 2021. R&D expenses were $11.3 million compared to $11.7 million last quarter.
• GAAP net loss was $4.2 million, or ($0.07) per share, compared to a net loss of $17.5 million, or ($0.35) per share, in 4FQ21 which included a debt extinguishment charge of $14.8 million related to the early retirement of $92.3 million of a senior secured term loan. Excluding stock compensation, restructuring charges and other non-recurring costs, non-GAAP adjusted net income was $0.1 million, or $0.00 per basic and diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $2.1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, last quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $5.4 million, compared to $8.3 million in the prior quarter.

Balance sheet and liquidity 

• Cash and cash equivalents of $24.6 million as of June 30, 2021, compared to $33.1 million as of March 31, 2021. Both balances include $5.0 million in restricted cash required under the company’s Credit Agreements, and $0.5 million and $0.7 million of short-term restricted cash as of June 30, 2021, and March 31, 2021, respectively.
• Outstanding long-term debt as of June 30, 2021, was $81.3 million, net of $8.8 million in unamortized debt issuance costs and $11.9 million in current portion of long-term debt. This compares to $90.9 million of outstanding debt as of March 31, 2021, net of $9.7 million in unamortized debt issuance costs and $1.9 million in current portion of long-term debt.
• Total interest expense was $3.9 million, compared to $5.7 million for the three ended June 30, 2021, and March 31, 2021, respectively.

Outlook
Given the continued uncertainties in the supply chain for 2FQ22, the company expects the following guidance range:

• Revenues of $88 million +/- $4 million (includes $2 million forecasted contribution from Pivot3 acquisition)
• Non-GAAP adjusted net loss of $2 million, plus or minus $1 million
• Non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share of $0.04, plus or minus $0.02
• Adjusted EBITDA of $2 million, plus or minus $1 million

For FY22, the company expects the following revenue guidance range:

• Revenues of $380 to $420 million, determined by the timing of supply chain improvements
• Guidance excludes Pivot3 revenue for fiscal year 2022

Seagate Lifts 4FQ21 Revenue Guidance From $2.85 to $2.95 Billion Plus or Minus $150 Million

 

On urging enterprise drive and crypto farming demand

Seagate Technology Holdings plc increased its revenue and earnings guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter ending July 2, 2021.

“Strong, broad-based demand for our products into the mass capacity markets and distribution channel is driving upside to our fourth quarter outlook,” said Dave Mosley, CEO. “We are excited by the positive momentum we are seeing globally and leveraging the agility of our manufacturing operations to address the rapidly changing demand environment.”