In the cover story of the April 2012 issue of Storage magazine, Lauren Whitehouse outlines best practices for cloud backup integration and the various methods for doing so. Also included in this issue are articles regarding virtual server management, storage for big data, the rising cost of disk drives and more. 

This chapter from the SearchDataBackup.com Backup best practices guide explores the key backup technologies in today’s storage environment. This article identifies specific points of interest for disk backup. Download this chapter to learn all about disk storage as well as specific considerations of enterprise-class disk arrays to keep in mind. 

With Microsoft SQL Server 2008, small and mid-sized businesses have a variety of options for creating state-ofthe art strategies for ensuring high availability and disaster recovery for their databases. This article explains why upgrading to SQL Server 2008 may help IT sleep better at night. 

This article covers the top 10 tools available to help make virtualization management easier. 

Writing a corporate security policy might seem complex, but ultimately it is a collection of many small policies. These ten security policies (or sub-policies) are essential to every organization, regardless of size, location, age, mission, or the product or service produced, and are presented here (in no particular order). 

This article shows how an application grid built on Oracle Fusion Middleware can not only prevent unplanned outages, but it can improve the overall performance of mission critical business applications. 

Gartner research director, Valdis Filks, offers tips to help businesses get to grips with escalating storage costs. 

This edition of BI Trends & Strategies features a lead article by SearchCIO.com's Linda Tucci, who offers a helping hand in the quest to dismantle the dreaded data silo. The second piece outlines mobile BI, including a reference to Apple's iPad, and the final article delves into the world of performance management. 

<p>Businesses need to keep a close eye on the evolution of cloud based services to avoid wasting money and missing out on business opportunities.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> 

With a potential economic crisis looming in the Eurozone, Gartner offers a checklist of questions that CIOs and CEOs should ask each other. 

Master data management (MDM) tools are on the rise as more companies look toward ways to solve all their data needs through one system. This expert e-guide from our editorial team features two articles with exceptional insight on what vendors and trends are prevailing in the current MDM market. 

Philip Dawson, Gartner VP offers best practice advice for organisations looking to virtualise their IT infrastructure. 

The inaugural issue of BI Trends & Strategies offers sound advice to help you in ensuring your organization is on track to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of BI and analytics. In this issue, readers will learn about a big data definition and the impact it will have on BI and data warehousing, agile development methodology and more.