Hardware RAID vs software RAID vs HBA passthrough: the 2026 decision (UK)
The storage controller is one of the quietest decisions in a server build and one of the easiest to get wrong, because the right answer flipped in the last few years. For decades the reflex was to buy…
DSP Toolkit 2026 submission guide for NHS organisations
The Data Security and Protection (DSP) Toolkit is the annual mandatory submission for any UK organisation accessing NHS data. The 2025-26 version refreshed multiple assertions, increased evidence expe…
New vs refurbished enterprise servers: the 2026 economics for UK buyers
New versus refurbished is usually argued on instinct - new feels safe, refurbished feels cheap - when it is really a numbers question. Over a five-year life, the gap between the two is driven by purch…
AWS vs Azure for UK mid-market 2026: how to choose your primary cloud
For UK mid-market organisations (100-2,000 employees), the cloud decision is almost always AWS or Azure (or both — multi-cloud is the norm at this size). Google Cloud sits behind both in UK enterprise…
Is RAID 5 dead? URE risk on rebuild, explained
“RAID 5 is dead” is a headline about a real failure mode: an unrecoverable read error during a rebuild. It is not dead everywhere — but on large drives the maths is unkind. See the risk for your own a…
HPE GreenLake explained: consumption-based hardware and the real CapEx vs OpEx maths (UK 2026)
HPE GreenLake promises the cloud's pay-for-what-you-use model on hardware that lives in your own data centre or colocation space. For finance teams tired of large upfront capital outlays, that is an a…
Server BMC and firmware security in 2026: the attack surface beneath the OS
Every server has a small computer inside it that almost no security programme watches: the baseboard management controller. The BMC - iDRAC on Dell, iLO on HPE, XCC on Lenovo - runs before the operati…
Arista vs Cisco vs Juniper for 800G AI fabric (2026): UK data centre networking buyer's guide
AI training clusters and large-language-model inference workloads have pushed data centre networking into 800G as the new default. Arista 7060X6, Cisco Nexus 9332D-H2R, and Juniper QFX5240 are the thr…
iDRAC vs iLO vs XClarity: comparing server management controllers in 2026 (UK)
Every enterprise server has a small computer inside it whose only job is to manage the server itself, and which one you get depends on the brand: Dell ships iDRAC, HPE ships iLO, Lenovo ships XClarity…
Microsoft 365 licensing optimisation: 8 common UK wastes
Microsoft 365 licensing waste is endemic in UK mid-market — Servnet audits typically find 15-30% over-licensing on first review. This is the 8-point checklist that identifies the most-common wastes + …
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