Analysis & briefs
Vendor-honest intelligence across our seven coverage areas.
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RTO and RPO Benchmarks: What Recovery Targets Are Realistic?
Tier-by-tier RTO and RPO benchmarks for 2026 — what recovery targets are actually achievable, which technology delivers each tier, and why most declared RTOs collapse under testing.
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vSphere 8 Support Ends October 2027: Your Decision Timeline
vSphere 8 hits End of General Support on October 11, 2027 — and with migrations running 18 to 48 months, the pay-or-leave decision is due in 2026. The three options, with a quarter-by-quarter timeline.
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Rubrik vs Cohesity in 2026: Two Cyber-Resilience Playbooks
Cohesity is now a portfolio, not a product — and Rubrik is running a different race entirely. Where each platform wins, where each frustrates, and what NetBackup customers should do at renewal.
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The 3-2-1-1-0 Backup Rule: How to Actually Implement It
What the 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule actually requires in 2026: an immutable copy attackers cannot delete, a real distinction from air gaps, and zero-error recovery verification — with Veeam, Object First, Wasabi, and Rubrik compared.
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Microsoft 365 Backup: What Microsoft Covers — and What It Won’t
Microsoft now sells its own M365 backup — but native copies share the tenant’s fate. How Veeam, Druva, Keepit, and AvePoint differ, and how to decide by threat model.
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DRaaS Pricing in 2026: What Disaster Recovery Really Costs
DRaaS providers hide pricing behind discovery calls. Here are the real 2026 benchmarks — per-VM rates, what a 30-VM environment costs, and how Expedient, Zerto, 11:11 Systems, and Cohesity structure the bill.
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Pure Storage vs NetApp in 2026: Picking Your All-Flash Platform
Pure Storage (now Everpure) vs NetApp in 2026: data-reduction guarantees, first-party cloud file services, refresh economics, and a decision framework for your all-flash shortlist.
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Nutanix vs VMware: The Real 3-Year TCO Math in 2026
Published 2026 models put VCF 30–60% above a comparable Nutanix stack on 3-year TCO — but migration eats 12–30% of that saving. Here is the honest break-even.
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Veeam vs Rubrik in 2026: Architecture, Cost, and Recovery
A neutral analyst comparison of Veeam and Rubrik as of mid-2026: v13’s hardened Linux appliance versus Rubrik’s immutable-by-design Atlas platform, with TCO scenarios at 100TB and 1PB.
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VMware Licensing 2026: What Broadcom Changed, What It Costs
Broadcom’s per-core subscriptions, 16 and 72-core minimums, and the end of standalone vSphere decoded — plus what renewal quotes really look like in 2026 and how to respond.