Author: Ashley Lipscombe

Announcing Hybrid Storage

We are happy to announce that we are now able to offer a new type of storage in our Amsterdam 2 (ams2) datacenter: Hybrid Storage. This is a clever mix combining Standard Storage powered by enterprise SATA drives and a fast SSD based cache. The result is a significant boost in write performance and lower latency for access to regularly used files.

Hybrid Storage is ideally suited for servers that require a large amount of storage space and high performance but where only a small subset of the stored data is frequently accessed.

Examples include email servers and file servers (eg. ownCloud). Typically users want easy access to all their data but only work with a small subset on a daily basis. This active data is automatically cached on the SSD for fast access. Non-cached data is transparently read directly from the spinning RAID array.

The SSD cache is automatically managed by the underlying block storage layer on our Xen servers and no special configuration is required on the customer server. This makes our Hybrid Storage a simple and cost effective solution.

We have capacity available. If you are interested in testing, purchasing or migrating to a Hybrid Storage based Virtual Server, contact us on support@anu.net today!

ISO 27001 Certification

Here at Anu, we take security very seriously. Our clients put great trust in our ability to keep their data safe and this is why we only use physical facilities with ISO 27001 certification or equivalent and strict access controls.

As part of our continuous effort to enhance our security policies and maintain best practices, we as a company have started the process of becoming ISO 27001 certified. This will give our customers even more confidence that their confidential data is in safe hands.

We hope to receive our initial certification this year and will be independently audited annually afterwards. We will be able to supply a copy of our certificate and audits when they are available.

What is ISO 27001?

An Information Security Management System is a systematic and pro-active approach to effectively manage risks to the security of your company’s confidential information. The system promotes efficient management of sensitive corporate information, identifying vulnerabilities to ensure it is adequately protected against potential threats. It encompasses premises security, people, process and IT systems.

What does it means for you:
• Working with a trustworthy provider maintains your company’s own integrity with regards to the safeguarding of your data.
• Instills confidence further down the supply chain resulting in stronger customer / supplier relationships.

Find more information about ISO 27001 certification at the official International Organization for Standardization website. If you have any questions or feedback please do contact us by emailing support@anu.net.

Dallas Deployment

We continue to regularly deploy new hardware at our USA1 Datacenter located in Chicago, Illinois to meet growing demand and add capacity.

This month we have been out in Dallas, Texas setting up our second US deployment, USA2. This is exciting news for us as a company and means we are better able to serve our customers in this part of the world.

If you are interested in Dallas / US based virtual servers or if you might be interested in setting up an off site copy of one of your servers running in another location for disaster recovery purposes please do not hesitate to reach out and talk to us by email ( support@anu.net ).