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The IT Report
Storage solutions for IT networks
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
By David Burns
Storage is one of the huge issues that all businesses have to face when it comes to their IT networks. There is not getting around it – globally – businesses are producing more and more data. How much? The ‘digital universe’ (i.e. the total amount of digital data produced) is expanding at an incredible rate, doubling its size every 18 months.
This means that there will be five times more information generated in 2012 than was created last year! Of course, a lot of this information is generated by employees of organisations unnecessarily, therefore it becomes a significant issue and therefore challenge for those charged with monitoring and controlling business storage.
Most of us have watched over the years as different storage methods have come and gone – first floppy disks, then hard disks, CDs and DVDs. All are now inadequate to deal with today’s requirements.
Adding to the headache of managing this growth has been the global recession, demanding and driving greater efficiencies in storage and better utilisation of storage resource. If this wasn’t challenging enough – information is set to be increasingly regulated by legislation later this year, following the international trend.
The other key consideration is of course security of information, given that it is one of, if not the most, precious assets of any organisation. Storage technology is also the core of any IT disaster recovery strategy.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and in 2010 we have a range of constantly evolving storage-related technologies which provide not only storage but relative peace of mind if the worst occurs. De-duplication has a lot of buzz around it for good reason. Simply put, it analyses back-up data and stores each unique block of data only once. This allows extra capacity to give companies more keep more backed up data and has flow on administrative cost-cutting effects such as reduced floor space, lower energy consumption etc. By 2013 de-duplication will enable businesses to reduce capacity costs by around 50%.
Data centre virtualisation has a critical part to play reducing hardware spend and providing similar administrative cost-cutting as mentioned above. Virtualising un-used storage space is a no-brainer for increasing efficiency.
Then there is ‘the cloud’ – the storage of data on the Internet instead of locally. It offers the advantage of a ‘pay-as-you-expand’ model and is set to become extremely popular especially as advances continue with its security, multi-tenancy efficiencies and refined payment models.
In terms of back-up of data– don’t forget tape. It has been around a long while, has been well-tested and currently still offers the largest capacity and best storage for backing up data. The biggest advantages are immunity from system issues such as viruses, security lapses or human error. Tape remains an affordable and practical way for many small and medium sized NZ businesses to deal with storage. Remote back up and recovery off-site using secure secondary facilities is more expensive, but ideal for businesses concerned with business continuity.
Contact Origin IT if you wish to discuss storage solutions in more detail.
David Burns is BDM for Origin IT | davidb@originit.co.nz | www.originit.co.nz
