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Multiple data storage vendors surfed on this weeks Kubecon conference to push out Kubernetes announcements. But first, lets kick off with a little acquisition.

P.S. Check out my stories on The Register this week.

Data protector Acronis has bought CyberLynx, a small Israeli IT security consultancy. This will increase training and solutions options for Acronis Security Services, in particular for serving managed service providers;(MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs).

Privately-held CyberLynx offers cyber consulting, penetration testing, post-event cyber forensic services and security audits.

Five mainstream storage suppliers have announced containerised app news to coincide with this weeks KubeCon.

Commvaults Metallic VM & Kubernetes Backup is available and provides SaaS data protection for containers. Protected workloads include any CNCF-Certified Kubernetes distribution with validated support for Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes, Azure Red Hat OpenShift, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), and VMware Tanzu. The Hedvig Distributed Storage Platform has been enhanced to store, protect, and migrate containers across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

NetApp is the starting member of a Rancher Labs OEM and Embedded Alliances Program, and is working to pioneer the next evolution of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) services. NetApp HCI will be the first to embed Ranchers enterprise Kubernetes management platform.

Pure Storage-owned Portworx has updated PX-Backup to v1.2 which works with any Kubernetes CSI-supporting backend. It works with Portworxs own PX-Store, Amazon EBS, Google Persistent Disk, Azure Managed Disks, VMWare Storage, Pure FlashArray, and any other CSI-compatible storage system. PX-Backup v1.2 has a usage-based billing model priced at 20 cents/node/hour.

Veritas has added Kubernetes support to InfoScale automated high-availability software, which will support multi-vendor cloud and on-premises environments. It adds high availability for containerised applications with non-disruptive scaling of persistent volumes; three storageclasses of persistent volumes (performance, resiliency and secure; and. quality of service features to provide predictable performance.

Disaster Recovery supplier Zerto is adding data protection and disaster recovery for containerised apps with the beta program of Zerto for Kubernetes (Z4K), an extension of its core Zerto Platform. The Z4K beta program includes access to a remote access hands-on lab running the Z4K beta code. The lab has no-charge, on-demand training on how to set up, configure, and manage a Z4K environment.

A Zerto-sponsored ESG survey of North American enterprises revealed that containers adoption is in full acceleration and in position to become the preferred for production deployment in 24 months. 71 per cent of survey respondents have deployed or plan to deploy container-based applications in a hybrid-cloud strategy.

Cloud providers in the VMware Partner Connect program can protect healthcare data from ransomware with free Cloudian software. For every healthcare organisation enrolled, VMware cloud service providers serving this industry receive a free 50 TB, year-long license for Cloudian object storage, including Cloudians government-certified Object Lock technology.

Datadobi has announced support for NAS file data migration to and protection on Microsoft Azure. Data integrity is fully preserved between the two locations.

DataStax has released K8ssandra, an open-source distribution of Apache Cassandra on Kubernetes. Find out more in this Register story. DataStax releases K8ssandra, the Kubernetes peace offering to the open-source community

DDNs SFA18Ks storage platform has been selected for tier 2 storage fortheFugaku supercomputer. Five SFA18KE and 25 SFA18KXE devices will provide a total effective capacity of at least 150 PB, with a minimum effective throughput of 1.5 TB/sec. They will be compute nodes for OSS (object storage servers), which serve as a gateway to other data storage units. Fugaku is a joint development with RIKEN and Fujitsu, and ranks first in the Top500 list. It goes into operation 2021.

DDNs AIA1400X all-NVMe flash storage system will be used by the University of Floridas HiPerGator supercomputer to help make it the worlds fastest AI supercomputer in academia. HiPerGator will use 4PB of storage to feed 140 NVIDIA DGX A100 systems, which contain 1,120 NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs, with data flowing through an Nvidia Mellanox HDR 200Gbit/s InfiniBand network.

Druva has added detection of unauthorised or non-compliant admin access into the backup environment and unusual data activity alerts. Users can search for and delete malicious files across endpoint backups to prevent re-infection. The software automatically creates a recovery snapshot from the last known good snapshots at the backup and file level, and scans for malware during recovery to prevent re-infection.

Druva acquired sfApex, a Salesforce developer tools and data migration service provider. Druva says its SaaS offering, combined with sfApex, delivers comprehensive SaaS data protection and management for Salesforce with granular backup and data recovery, streamlined and automated migrations, and improved tools for developers

Central Pacific Bank, a commercial bank in Hawaii, has implemented HPE Nimble Storage dHCI to support 1,000 virtual desktops, allowing expanded remote working for employees, continuity of regulatory compliance and improved performance, efficiency and cost savings overall.

HPE and StorMagic have announced a joint hyperconverged edge system, with StorMagic SvSAN validated with HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems. SvSAN runs on any hypervisor as a guest virtual machine to enable highly-available shared storage and virtualisation with two Edgeline servers per site. Active-active synchronous mirroring creates a copy of data on both servers, eliminating downtime.

Microsofts Azure HPC team has used the BeeOND (BeeGFS On Demand) filesystem, 300 HBv2 virtual machines and 250TB of NVMe SSD capacity to reach 1.46 TB/sec of read throughput and 456GB/sec of write bandwidth. They claim this is at least 3.6 higher read performance than that demonstrated or claimed elsewhere on the public cloud.

Pure Storage has had an episode of minor lay-offitis with people leaving, we heard, in New Zealand and elsewhere. A Pure spokesperson said: We undertook a minor workforce rebalancing initiative in one function to align our employees with company priorities and areas that are strategic to the business.The employees affected by this initiative were encouraged to seek other open positions within the company and we also put support in place to aid them through the workforce transition if seeking a new role outside of Pure.

Pure Storage has announced the Pure Validated Design (PVD) program to help partners deliver simplified deployments. PVDs are available, for Commvault data protection and Vertica for analytics. More PVDs will arrive in the coming months.

Storj Labs has announced Velero (data recovery and migration in K8s environments) and Docker Registry integrations with its Tardigrade Decentralised Cloud Storage Service, launched earlier this year. Tardigrades network capacity has grown from 22PB to 78PB and the user count from 3,600 to 11,200. Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland are new Tardigrade storage partners.

WekaIO has set up a validation and certification program to help server partners certify their hardware running the Weka File System (WekaFS) with Nvidia DGX A100. It has also published a reference architecture for using Weka with the DGX A100.

Original post:
Storage suppliers go Kubernetes crazy in this week's roundup - Blocks and Files

Free plugins, then. They say theres no such thing as a free lunch, and as a society were conditioned to be (often rightly) sceptical when were offered something for nothing. When it comes to music software, though, the dream is a reality - you really can pick up pro quality plugins for free with no strings attached.

Why might a developer let you download one of its creations without you paying for the privilege, though? Well, there are actually a multitude of reasons why programers create and distribute so-called freeware.

Often, free plugins act as promotion for an expanded paid version of the same plugin, or as an entry-point to the rest of a developers range. Sometimes, freeware plugins are older versions of a recently updated product; sometimes theyre created as a learning exercise for the developer; and sometimes theyre simply a labour of love.

Whatever the reasons, the result is that the internet is awash with quality synths, effects and production tools that can be had for free (or, in a few cases, in exchange for an email address). Seeing as theres such a volume of excellent freeware tools out there, well drill down into each of the categories below with more in-depth guides in the coming weeks. To start. though, lets take a whistle-stop tour of the music production worlds most unmissable freebies.

As impressive as all the plugins included here are, they do often lack some of the bells-and-whistles of paid-for plugins - niceties like expansive preset libraries, expanded feature sets or regular, substantial updates. When youre ready to shell out, be sure to check out our guide to the best VST plugins to make sure youre spending your money in the right places.

Dont forget, also, that every issue of our sister magazine Computer Music comes with an expansive library of free instruments, effects and much more. Pick up a copy or subscribe to get your hands on the full CM Software Library.

DiscoDSP OB-XdMac/PC/Linux (Paid iOS version also available) | VST/AU

Lets caveat this with an acknowledgement of subjectivity: there are numerous excellent freeware synths out there, and depending on your tastes, needs and musical leanings, you could make a convincing case for any number of them being the best. That said, though, this recently updated Oberheim OB-X emulation undoubtedly counts as a must-have freeware instrument no matter what genre youre working in.

OB-Xd is a rich and thick sounding analogue-style synth that not only sounds good by the standards of a freebie synth, but holds its own against commercial plugins. While it might lack some of the bells and whistles of big name emulations like Arturias V Collection - such as onboard effects, sequencing or an extensive preset library - OB-Xd does build on the design of its hardware inspiration with a morphing filter and voice variation controls.

The original OB-X was a powerful, versatile polysynth beloved for its meaty sounds and easy-to-use interface, and the OB-Xd brings an authentic recreation into your DAW for free. A must-download!

AudioSpillage MiniSpillageMac | AU

This cutdown version of the impressive DrumSpillage is a slick and stellar-sounding percussion synth. While it trims the 13 sounds of the paid version down to just three synthesis algorithms, theres still a surprising breadth of tones that can be coaxed out of its engine.

The Bass Drum generator combines pitch sweeps and frequency modulation to shape hard-hitting, speaker-shaking kick tones, while the Hi-Hat module blends multiple oscillators, noise and resonant filters to fashion an assortment of metallic, machine-like sounds. The final piece of the puzzle is the Wood Drum, which models a variety of toms, wooden knocks and mid-range perc sounds.

Filters, distortion and modulators round out the package, offering up movement and flexibility that mean MiniSpillage is more than just a simple one-trick, static drum generator.

TAL-Reverb-4Mac/PC/Linux | VST/AU/AAX

How could we do a round-up of the best free plugins without including Togu Audio Line somewhere? The Swiss developer is one of the best-known names in freeware thanks to its generous crop of impressive, vintage-inspired downloads (and its paid plugins are very much worth your money, too).

TAL-Reverb-4 is a retro-leaning plate reverb with broad size and diffuse controls that allow it to go from tight echoes all the way up to epic drawn-out ambience. An onboard modulation section adds movement, for authentic 80s-sounding wobbly reverb, and high and low EQs help tame and shape the effect. TAL-Reverb-4 is simple but highly effective on a variety of audio sources - download this one and it could easily become your go-to verb.

ValhallaDSP SuperMassiveMac/PC | VST/AU/AAX

ValhallaDSP makes some of the best commercial reverb and delay plugins going, but the developer has also treated us to several must-have freebies over the years, such as the excellent Freq Echo and Space Modulator. SuperMassive is Valhallas latest freeware offering and its undoubtedly one of the most slick and powerful free effects weve ever tried.

Straddling the line between echo unit and reverb, SuperMassive is a stereo, multi-mode delay capable of generating extreme feedback and dense washes of repeats. This plugin is perfect for inspiring sound design ideas.

With multiple delay types on offer, a decent crop of presets, an interactive help guide and, most notably, gorgeous sound, this would be a must-have even if it wasnt free!

Ignite Amps PTEQ-XMac/PC | VST/AU/AAX

Alongside the likes of the LA-2A compressor and Roland Space Echo, Pultec EQs are one of the most regularly-emulated hardware effects, and any modern producer worth their salt should have one in their digital toolkit. Fortunately, thanks to Ignite Amps, its possible to add a quality Pultec to your arsenal for free.

PTEQ-X is more than just one Pultec EQ; in fact, it features models of the brands three best-known hardware effects. That includes the EQP-1A, known for the famous Pultec trick that lets users cut and boost around the same low-end frequency, which can work wonders for adding definition to bass and kick sounds.

Audiomodern FilterstepMac/PC/iOS | VST/AU/AAX/AUv3

Filterstep is a sequencer-focused multimode filter with low-, high- and band-pass modes. The sequencer element has an adjustable length that goes up to 64 steps, each equipped with a slider to set the filter cutoff level. It can cycle through steps in several directions - forward, backward and back-and-forth - and offers randomisation and smoothing tools to help fine-tune sequences.

The resonant filter sounds good enough to make this worth a download for that alone, but the ability to set up rhythmic patterns and automated sequences makes this indispensable.

Filterstep is a great tool for everything from classic sidechain-style ducking to glitchy rhythmic effects.

Audio Damage RoughRider 3Mac/PC/Linux/iOS | VST/AU/AAX/AUv3

An undeniable freeware classic, Roughrider is - according to its developer - one of the most downloaded dynamics plugins of all time. Its not hard to see why this is such a popular freebie; this is a characterful and easy-to-use compressor, that has only got better and better over its three iterations and decade-plus lifespan.

Version three now features a sidechain input, improved metering and a new full bandwidth button which allows users to turn off the analogue-style warming. Roughrider 3 can also be downloaded in AUv3 format for iOS (or a new M1 Mac).

Softube Saturation KnobMac/PC | VST/AU/AAX

The world loves a one-knob plugin, and Softubes popular saturator is a classic of the genre. While its not the most out-there or destructive distortion going, its ability to add subtle mid-range grit and natural, melodic degradation to sounds makes it an indispensable production tool.

Simplicity is key to Saturation Knobs popularity - there are no sub-menus or alternate UI views here; simply load the plugin on to the desired track and crank the knob to add a touch of grit. The only other control is a switch to adjust which frequencies the effect targets.

A simple and satisfying tool for quickly adding character to drums, synths, vocals and more.

Blue Cat Audio Chorus/Phaser/FlangerMac/PC | VST/AU/AAX

OK, were breaking our own rules here and bundling three plugins in under a single best slot, but Blue Cat Audios trio of vintage-inspired modulation effects is essentially three variations on a shared concept. Each takes its cues from vintage hardware, replicating a classic, analogue-style take on a staple modulation effect.

Turn to Vintage Chorus for rich, stereo thickness; use the Vintage Flanger for weird robotic tones; and fire up Vintage Phaser for deep, churning modulation. All three plugins come equipped with controls for adjusting the depth, stereo width and tonal qualities of the effect. You can download all three, plus an excellent EQ, amp sim and more, in Blue Cats Free Pack.

Audio Blast InstalooperMac/PC/Linux | VST/AU

As its name suggests, Instalooper is a plugin designed for on-the-fly looping of audio. This is more than just a virtual looper pedal though, thanks to five onboard effects that allow users to warp, mangle and glitch-up loops for cool creative results.

The plugin features four loop lanes, each of which can capture a different tempo-synced loop of audio, with pitch and reverse controls to manipulate playback. The effect options feature a phaser, bit crusher, high-pass filter, auto panner and warping Time Expander.

This freebie is great for live use - try mapping its loop triggers and effect controls to a MIDI device in order to get hands-on with some improvised loop mangling!

See more here:
The best free VST plugins 2020: must-have freeware synths, drum machines and effects - MusicRadar

SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cloudian today announced that eligible cloud providers in the VMware Partner Connect program can now protect healthcare data from ransomware with free software from Cloudian. For every healthcare organization enrolled, VMware cloud service providers serving this industry receive a free 50 TB, year-long license for Cloudian object storage software, including Cloudians government-certified Object Lock technology that protects stored data from ransomware tampering by making it immutable. As a result, cloud service providers in the program that serve the healthcare industry can offer free ransomware protection to their customers for a more secure backup solution.

Todays announcement addresses the unprecedented ransomware attacks on hospitals and other healthcare providers already reeling from the effects of the COVID pandemic. Hackers are taking advantage of this to create even more havoc by locking down access to key data and extorting victims to regain access. Reinforcing its data storage leadership, Cloudian is offering VMware cloud service providers and their healthcare customers a way to overcome the ransomware threat and safeguard their data.

As an example, Green Cloud Technologies, a VMware cloud service provider partner, now offers US-based healthcare providers 50 TB of its Secure Object Storage powered by Cloudianincluding ransomware protectionfor one year at no charge.

Cloudian and VMware provide a great foundation for protecting against the increasing ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations, said Keith Coker, CEO of Green Cloud. With Object Lock, backup data is made immutable and, therefore, invulnerable to hacker encryption or deletion. In the event of a ransomware attack, we can quickly and easily recover an uninfected copy of a customers data.

Cloudian offers Object Lock as part of its HyperStore object storage platform. Limitlessly scalable and highly cost-effective, HyperStore also provides industry-leading security features beyond just Object Lock data immutability. These features include secure shell, integrated firewall, RBAC/IAM access controls, AES-256 server-side encryption for data at rest and SSL for data in transit, as well as certification with U.S. Department of Defense and SEC Rule 17a-4(f) security requirements.

VMware is committed to helping our VMware cloud providers and their customers meet evolving data protection needs with advanced services built on the VMware Cloud Provider Platform, said Rajeev Bhardwaj, vice president of products, Cloud Service Business Unit, at VMware. We are thrilled to continue working closely with Cloudian, a key ecosystem partner dedicated to helping partners and critical healthcare customers tackle the scourge of ransomware.

Cloud service providers seeking more information on Cloudians free healthcare ransomware protection offering can visit cloudian.com/free50-healthcare.

Healthcare providers can contact Cloudian at stopransomware@cloudian.com or Green Cloud at stopransomware@gogreencloud.com.

About Green Cloud TechnologiesGreen Cloud is one of the largest independent channel-only cloud IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) providers in the country that sells cloud infrastructure products to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Value-Added Resellers (VARs) who need turn-key, cloud-based infrastructure solutions. Learn more atwww.gogreencloud.com.

About CloudianCloudian is the most widely deployed independent provider of object storage systems, with the industrys most advanced S3 compatibility and an extensive partnership ecosystem. Its award-winning flagship solution, HyperStore, provides limitless scalability and cloud-like technology, flexibility and economics in the data center. Cloudians global data fabric architecture enables enterprises to store, find and protect object and file data seamlessly across sites, both on-premises and in public clouds, within a single, unified platform. Learn more atcloudian.com.

VMware and VMware Partner Connect are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions.

U.S. Media ContactJordan Tewell 10Fold Communicationscloudian@10fold.com+1 415-666-6066

EMEA Media Contact Will McCurdyRed Lorry Yellow Lorrycloudian@rlyl.com+44 (0) 20 7403 8878

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Cloudian Partners With VMware Cloud Providers to Offer Free Ransomware Protection to Healthcare Organizations - GlobeNewswire

Tesla Model 3 owner Glenn Fischbach also owns a 2017 Ford Focus Electric and today shared a very stark contrast in how updates are delivered between the two automakers.

Fischbach received a letter from Ford alerting him to the fact that his 3 year old vehicle was Due for a Map Update! In 2020, most services are delivered over the internet, including software updates. From your phone, to your gaming console and your desktop operating system, updates are delivered for free for the life of the device.

Being a Tesla owner, Fischbach is very familiar with this also being the experience in his Model 3, however the other vehicle in his garage has a very different experience.

In the detailed letter, Ford explains the 2017 Ford Focus (electric) is due for a Sync 3 Navigation Map Update. The letter continues to detail the advantages of the update.

Improve your driving experience with optimized route recommendations, real-time traffic updates, and advice on local points of interest. Did you see that new coffee shop on the way to work? Well show you.

Stay safe and informed with the latest road construction updates, one-way street changes, and new speed limit restrictions. Be prepared for that 45-mph zone near the grocery store that was just reduced to 35mph.

Save time and money thanks to fewer lost miles and less wasted gas looking for your destination, so you can spend more time enjoying the journey.

So the update sounds like something you definitely want, so how does Glenn get the update? Well heres where things get ugly.

Ford wants owners like Glenn to schedule an appointment with their nearest Ford Dealership and take his car in to have the software update applied.

In 2020, its pretty unacceptable and incredibly inconvenient (especially in the middle of a pandemic) to require a physical appointment.

There is another option for customers wanting this map update, thats to have a pre-loaded USB shipped to them directly. Presumably owners can handle plugging in a drive, accepting a couple of prompts on the display and waiting for it to update, this isnt something that requires Ford expertise.

Not only do you have to request this, then wait for this drive to be delivered to you, but Ford wants to charge you US$149.00 (A$204.03) for the privilege. Obviously, thats ridiculous in todays context when software updates are delivered for free. Id really love to hear Ford try to justify this price tag.

Obviously, theres some work involved in updating Maps, but that gets amortised across the entire Sync 3 fleet, of which there are millions of cars. The actual USB drive is dirt cheap, with a 32GB USB drive costing just A$6.19 from Office Works. Even the time taken to copy the software to a USB drive and get that shipped out could in no way justify the price tag.

Later in the Model 3 Facebook group post, Glenn confirmed he has no intention of paying for the update, which Id expect goes for every other 2017 Focus Electric owner.

Compared to the free, over-the-air updates delivered by Tesla, this is a night and day experience between the automakers.

As Ford prepares to begin customer deliveries of their second and most import EV program, the Mach-E, I really hope theyve had a severe rethink on OTA updates because this certainly wont fly.

I had a software update in my Model 3 yesterday. For those unfamiliar with how simple things can be, let me detail the Tesla way. A notification is sent to your phone, via the Tesla app. This alerts you that an update is available.

If your car is connected to WiFi (like it is in your garage), you simply tap to install the update now.

Around 25 minutes later youre notified the installation is complete and when you next enter your car, the release notes are presented on the display.

Tesla does an excellent job at making this regularly (usually monthly) update process, simple, free and convenient.

Comparing the two experiences here shows how Tesla changed consumer expectations in whats possible and then quickly after, whats expected in a modern vehicle.

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Ford wants US$150 for a map update, Tesla really did change the game with free OTA updates - techAU

After experiencing a snag on Apple Mac devices with M1 silicon chip, Google was set to roll out a compatible version of Chrome for new macOS products on Wednesday.

Google rolled out the new Chrome version on Tuesday but it crashed unexpectedly on new Mac devices with Apple silicon chips.

"We hit a bit of a snag with our rollout of the M1-native build of Chrome, so to keep our users in a good place, we paused that rollout and will pick it up again tomorrow. If you already have the M1 build, we have a workaround," Mark Chang, a Chrome product manager, said in a tweet on Wednesday.

"We've discovered that the version of Chrome made available for download today may crash unexpectedly.

"This should only affect users who have installed Chrome today, and only on new macOS devices with an Apple processor," the company said in a support page.

Google said its team has identified a fix and will be making it available soon.

Apple's first Apple Silicon-based Macs with its new M1 processor include the new fanless MacBook Air and updates to both the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini.

Apple has also released macOS Big Sur as a free software update which is the biggest Mac update in years and brings new design enhancements to Safari, Messages, Maps, and privacy, and is engineered for Apple's powerful in-house M1 chip.

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Google to fix new Chrome version for Apple Macs with M1 chip - Mumbai Mirror