Smarter Storage Technology Ahead in 2010

D igital data has experienced explosive growth over the past few years and evidence suggests that this trend will continue. Whether it comes from camera phones, e-mail, or collaborative work projects, volumes of digital data are engulfing individuals’ personal and professional lives. To remain productive members of society, individuals must figure out where to put this data and how to make it useful. Moreover, government regulations on storage, such as the SarbanesOxley Act of 2002 (http:// www.sec.gov/spotlight/ sarbanes-oxley.htm) have spurred the need for businesses to better manage and store data. The percentage of IT budgets that companies allocate to data storage technologies has increased in the past few years, as has the amount of time companies dedicate to operating and managing this equipment. Companies have also begun instituting content management strategies to address the proliferation of digital data.All of these developments have been a boon to the data storage industry.As the world becomes more digitized, data storage will become increasingly relevant to the individual, the IT community, and the economy.Data storage will undoubtedly continue to be a big issue in the near future, but in five years, expect continued demand for capacity, proliferation of new form factors (sizes and shapes of storage devices), and new governmental regulations. A perfunctory view of the data storage industry reveals all the typical signs of every dynamic technology market: battles over standards, large established players facing the commoditization of their cash cows,venture capitalists chasing game-changing ideas, industry researchers inventing and touting new buzzwords, and marketers brandishing acronyms like ILM (information lifecycle management), SRM (storage resource management), and the ever timeless TCO (total cost of ownership). As I watched multiple expert presentations at a recent storage industry conference, I had a feeling of déjà vu, and the Led Zeppelin tune,“The Song Remains the Same” drifted into my thoughts.The conference presenters continually said that technology was becoming too complex and that better tools were necessary to manage products from different vendors. One consultant reminded the crowd that an equal focus on people, processes, and technology was important.The phrase,“operational best practices” bounced from one slide presentation to another. Finally, one “visionary” passionately sang the praises of virtualization— technology that would enable the pooling and management of servers and storage devices to support shifting needs.