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What the analysts are saying Gartner IDC - SNS

What the analysts are saying
Date: Friday 1 February 2008
Author: Not Specified

"Plus
ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" would seem to be a neat enough
summary of analyst expectations for the storage industry in 2008. No
one is brave, or foolish, enough to select some hitherto unheard of
storage networking technology and predict great things for it over the
coming year, and yet, if one thing is a betting certainty, at some
stage during 2008 a brand new technology or methodology will hit the
headlines. CDP, iSCSI, ILM, green IT, branch office consolidation,
compliance, MAID, virtualisation, de-duplication…Is 2008 the year that
managed services, for example, finally hit the big league?

.....

However, when IDC actually presents some of its key predictions, we should sit up and take notice:
•
Online storage services (storage-as-a-service) such as online backup,
archiving, and replication will be accepted as a viable option.
•
New role-based storage systems will enable vendors to target specific
storage and data management issues, but will require tighter
integration between the content-generating application and storage
layer.
• Solid state disks will become more viable for mainstream storage solutions as a result of declining price points.
• Virtual servers (e.g., VMware) will emerge as the killer application for iSCSI.
•
Vendors will create more attractive "all in one" solutions using an
integrated server and storage approach to address the lucrative SMB
market.

....

Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that the total IT global outsourcing
market, of which storage is but a part, will grow by some eight per
cent during 2008, but cautions that end users face challenges before
they are ready to embrace this outside help.