Analysis & briefs
Vendor-honest intelligence across our seven coverage areas.
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Microsoft Ships Azure Local 2610 With Confidential VMs GA
Microsoft released Azure Local 2610 on October 22, 2026. The new solution version is 12.2610.1004.41, and Microsoft says new deployments now use this build. It replaces the 2609 release (12.2609.1003.7, September 11, 2026) as the current version in our VMware alternatives tracker. The headline change: confidential VMs on AMD hardware are now generally available. Who…
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ZSvirt 1.0 Explained: ZStack’s Open-Source VMware Alternative
ZSvirt is ZStack’s GPLv3, KVM-based open-source virtualization platform. This guide covers the license, architecture, key features, ZMigrate migration, support options, community activity and a pre-pilot checklist.
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SaaS Backup Explained: Episode Brief
The written companion to the Enterprise Techie episode on SaaS backup: what Microsoft, Google and Salesforce actually promise, what the 2024 UniSuper incident showed, and the native retention windows that run out.
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Ransomware Recovery Explained: Episode Brief
The written companion to the Enterprise Techie episode on ransomware recovery: the Jaguar Land Rover and Maersk cases, five layers of a recovery architecture, dated figures from Sophos and Veeam, and five questions to take to your team.
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What Is VDI? Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Explained
A vendor-neutral explainer of virtual desktop infrastructure: components, persistent vs non-persistent desktops, VDI vs RDS and DaaS, cost drivers, security and an evaluation checklist, built from NIST guidance and Amazon WorkSpaces, Citrix, Microsoft, Omnissa and Parallels documentation.
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What Is HCI? Hyperconverged Infrastructure Explained
A vendor-neutral explainer of hyperconverged infrastructure: how the distributed storage layer protects data, small-site designs with a witness, HCI vs converged vs 3-tier, disaggregated options and an evaluation checklist, built from Azure Local, Nutanix, Proxmox VE, Scale Computing and vSAN documentation.
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RTO vs RPO: Definitions, MTD, Examples and How to Set Them
The difference between RTO and RPO, defined from NIST SP 800-34 and AWS and Microsoft guidance, plus how MTD and work recovery time fit, how to set targets through a business impact analysis and how each maps to backup, replication and standby choices.
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Microsegmentation Explained: Approaches, Rollout and Tools
Microsegmentation applies fine-grained policy to east-west traffic between workloads to limit lateral movement. This vendor-neutral brief, built on CISA, NIST and NSA guidance, compares enforcement approaches and covers rollout, failure points, zero trust fit and an evaluation checklist.
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Ransomware Recovery Plan: A Runbook Built on CISA and NIST
A phase-by-phase ransomware recovery runbook built on CISA, NIST, NCSC and FBI guidance, from offline backups and first-hour isolation to identity-first rebuilds, clean-environment validation and what OFAC says about paying.
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SIEM vs XDR vs SOAR: What Each Does and How to Choose
A vendor-neutral comparison of SIEM, XDR and SOAR: what each does, how data retention and compliance logging differ, how vendors price them, and how to combine them by team size and compliance needs.