Analysis & briefs
Vendor-honest intelligence across our seven coverage areas.
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Kubernetes Backup in 2026: Veeam Kasten vs. Rubrik
Veeam Kasten or Rubrik for Kubernetes backup? A vendor-honest 2026 comparison: side-by-side capabilities, honest downsides for both, and the OpenShift Virtualization factor deciding more deals than either vendor admits.
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Buy or Rent GPUs? The 2026 Break-Even Math
The buy-vs-rent GPU crossover sits at roughly 60–70% sustained utilization in 2026. The break-even math, AWS and Google Cloud Blackwell pricing, and a decision rule finance will accept.
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Self-Hosted LLM vs. API in 2026: The Real Cost per Token
The break-even math on self-hosting LLMs vs. paying per token, with real mid-2026 numbers: where 8x H100 pods win, where falling API prices win, and the hidden costs on both sides.
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Zscaler vs. Palo Alto SASE in 2026: How to Pick
Zscaler and Palo Alto now represent genuinely different SASE bets — pure cloud-proxy zero trust vs. single-vendor platform consolidation. A neutral decision framework with pricing, downsides, and thresholds.
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Nutanix External Storage: AHV Without the HCI Rip-and-Replace
Nutanix external storage support — Pure Storage over NVMe/TCP, Dell PowerFlex, NetApp ONTAP in early access, and the FlashStack with Nutanix launch — removes the forced array write-off from every VMware-exit business case. Here is what changed and who should still buy integrated HCI nodes.
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Phishing Click Rate Benchmarks 2026: KnowBe4 Data by Industry
KnowBe4’s 2026 benchmarks put the untrained phishing click rate at 33.2%, with healthcare at 42.7%. Here are the numbers by industry — and the thresholds that tell you whether your program is working.
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Kubernetes Backup in 2026: Kasten, Portworx, or Velero?
A decision guide to Kubernetes backup in 2026: Veeam Kasten, Portworx PX-Backup, or Velero — plus the KubeVirt VM wrinkle and the CSI snapshot prerequisite that derails most first deployments.
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Can Your Storage Array Detect Ransomware? NetApp vs Pure
NetApp’s ARP/AI detects ransomware at the array; Pure’s SafeMode makes snapshots indestructible. Neither is enough alone — here is how the layers actually fit together.
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On-Prem S3 Object Storage After MinIO: A Buyer’s Guide
MinIO’s repo is archived and thousands of deployments are stranded. Here is the post-MinIO decision guide for on-prem S3: Scality ARTESCA, Cloudian, Object First, AIStor, and the community options.
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Is Proxmox Enterprise-Ready? A 2026 Assessment
Veeam support killed the biggest objection to Proxmox VE. An honest 2026 scorecard: where it holds up against vSphere, where it still trails, and what to pilot first.