Dave Raffo
Consulting Analyst
Dave Raffo is a Consulting Analyst at DCIG. Dave has been a technology analyst and journalist for 30 years. He covered cloud storage, storage-as-a-service and integrated infrastructure as a senior analyst at Evaluator Group and Futurum Group before joining DCIG. He previously spent more than 25 years as a tech journalist, including 18 years coverage enterprise storage and data protection.
Dave worked for 13 years at TechTarget as Editorial Director and Executive News Editor for storage, data protection and converged infrastructure. During that time, he led TechTarget’s storage coverage. In 2020, Dave won an American Society of Business Professional Editors (ASBPE) national award for column writing.
His previous jobs covering technology include news editor at Byte and Switch, managing editor of EdTech Magazine, and features and new products editor at Windows Magazine. Before turning to technology, he was an editor and sports reporter for United Press International in New York for 12 years. A New Jersey native, Dave currently lives in northern Virginia.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Journalism from William Patterson University.
HYCU aiR Repositions Backups as Operational Intelligence Assets
For decades, organizations viewed backup primarily as insurance. They protected data so they could recover after accidental deletion, corruption, hardware failures, or ransomware attacks. While this model remains necessary, it increasingly fails to address a broader challenge. They must also understand and govern their rapidly expanding SaaS and cloud data environments. HYCU aiR now enables backup to address these broader requirements.
DCIG TOP 3 Best of NAB Show 2026 – Storage Category
Each year, the NAB Show in Las Vegas provides a window into how storage solutions continue to evolve. In 2026, AI pipelines, long-term data retention
Backup Brick Wall Exists When Adopting VMware Alternatives
Organizations exploring alternatives to VMware now face an unexpected obstacle: backup. Cost pressures and hardware constraints may drive change. However, many discover their existing data protection strategies do not translate easily to new platforms. This gap introduces risk and complexity at the exact moment they seek flexibility and control. Even after identifying viable VMware alternatives and securing infrastructure, organizations often stall when they address backup integration. Their existing tools rely on tightly coupled VMware APIs and mature features that alternatives lack. As a result, backup becomes a critical barrier, forces redesigns, delays adoption, and undermines confidence in migration strategies.
Nutanix’s Support for External Storage Systems Comes with Qualifications
Finding and adopting an alternative to VMware represents a top priority for many enterprises, regardless of their size. So, it was no surprise this topic was top of mind for many attendees at the recent Nutanix .NEXT conference. However, up to 80 percent of enterprises utilize external storage in conjunction with some of their VMware deployments. That helps explain why Nutanix continues to prioritize supporting more external storage systems. That said, Nutanix’s existing and announced support for external storage systems comes with specific qualifications for which enterprises must account.
Classifying HCI Solutions in a Diversified Market
The HCI market has changed in ways that make classification difficult. Some providers offer turnkey appliances. Others align their solutions to specific virtualization stacks or package software with partner hardware. That complexity makes DCIG’s TOP 5 research valuable, as it helps end users identify leading solutions while understanding the broader HCI landscape.