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: 800G AI data centre fabric 2026
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 + …
ZFS RAIDZ vs hardware RAID: which to use?
ZFS RAIDZ and a hardware RAID controller solve the same problem two very different ways. Here's how they compare on integrity, performance, flexibility and cost. Size either in the RAID and ZFS calcul…
Fortinet vs Cisco vs Palo Alto SD-WAN 2026: UK multi-site buyer's guide
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, and Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN are the three platforms 90% of UK multi-site SD-WAN refresh decisions consider. All three deliver SD-WAN + integrated securit…
ISO 27001:2022 Annex A control mapping for UK IT teams
ISO 27001:2022 restructured Annex A from 114 controls (2013 version) down to 93 — but the change is substantive, not cosmetic. The new structure organises controls into 4 themes: organisational (37), …
Cold archive and compliance retention storage: building a low-cost WORM tier on-prem (UK 2026)
Every organisation accumulates data it must keep but rarely touches: records held for years to meet regulation, finished projects, logs and evidence that may be needed once but must survive until then…
RAIDZ1 vs RAIDZ2 vs RAIDZ3: choosing ZFS parity
ZFS offers single, double and triple parity per vdev — RAIDZ1, RAIDZ2 and RAIDZ3. The right one depends on vdev width and drive size. Size any of them, with real ZFS slop and padding modelled, in the …
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