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Following on from our overview analysis of the market for hybrid and other emerging disk technologies in the last issue, this time we have an in-depth article based on a recent Toshiba white paper, which traces the development of the company's own hybrid technologies, from re-designing the HDD circuit board to accommodate multiple layers and small sized SDRAM, to detailed benchmark comparisons of read times and application start-up.

For anyone considering a strategy involving hybrid systems, this article offers a great place to start. As that piece concludes: "The development of a Hybrid drive containing three storage levels comprising SDRAM, NAND memory, and magnetic disk answers the need for many users of fast, high capacity storage. By utilising an algorithm that controls how and where data is stored and cached, SSD-comparable performance can be achieved for repetitive access cycles such as OS access times during PC boot sequences."

Elsewhere we look at the medium often regarded as a 'poor relation' to HDD and SSD media, tape systems. In a special focus we offer not one but two fascinating opinions on the state of the tape sector - and both broadly agree that the many and repeated suggestions that 'tape is dead' are premature and factually ill-informed. Mark O'Malley of Quantum suggests: "Use of tape as a storage tier in the cloud is starting to gather momentum. Service providers with large cloud-based data centres are waking up to the economic benefits of storing data on tape. Very large tape libraries are being used in these environments to either back up primary data in the cloud, or as a storage tier for 'cold' data that has not been accessed for a long time."

Lastly, this final issue of 2013 also features a wealth of business success stories from a variety of sectors: case studies include local councils and NHS Trusts, as well as global technology suppliers Orange Business Services. Whatever your industry we hope to include 'real life' stories that reflect your interests. As ever we'd love to hear what you think about the views expressed in the magazine - feel free to email me at the address below with any comments. See you all next year!

David Tyler
david.tyler@btc.co.uk