Storage Management Strategies for the CIO
Access "Adopting an internal service provider or utility model"
This article is part of the Vol. 4 No. 5 July 2005 issue of How HP is reloading its storage strategy
Storage costs have reached a point where they attract significant attention from senior management. As a result, storage budgets are being carefully scrutinized, and managers are facing unprecedented pressure to reduce costs. While it's possible to cut budget line items here and there, addressing the systemic problem of rising storage costs requires a more strategic solution. One effective approach is to adopt an internal service provider or utility model. Conceptually, this shift to a consolidated model based on standardized tiers of services makes sense--it drives efficiency through standardization and improved utilization, reduces risk by providing predictability and consistency, and ensures higher levels of service with offerings aligned with business needs. This final element, alignment with business needs, is the key to a successful transition to an internal service provider model, but it can also be one of the biggest challenges. It requires teamwork and strong cooperation across a number of functions within the organization. This means not only ... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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- Definition: Short stroking
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HP reassures the faithful
With a bevy of new products, including a long-awaited refresh of its EVA arrays, Hewlett-Packard is trying to convince its users and critics that the company really is committed to storage.
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How DBAs view storage
Storage magazine's exclusive poll gives you the lowdown on how DBAs and storage pros view storage. We detail each group's areas of concern, spotlight their differences and find some common ground.
- Survey Says: iSCSI will erode Fibre Channel sales
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Traffic to remote offices eases up
Brighter days are ahead for remote office workers
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Tape is not about to go away
Tape gets an image boost
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- Half-terabyte drives on tap
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Data classification: Getting started
by Karl Langdon and John Merryman
Classifying data and knowing how its value changes over time will improve service levels, create a better working relationship with business units and reduce costs. (This tip is part of our Storage 101 tip series.)
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Clustering comes to NAS
by Alex Barrett, Trends Editor
Fed up with monolithic NAS boxes that don't scale? Clustering provides a way out of the management headache that's being perpetuated by some industry players.
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Switching storage vendors
Many storage managers would rather push their existing storage to the max rather than install a new vendor's equipment. Three companies describe how they changed vendors with as little pain as possible.
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Object-based backup
Object-based backup products back up only the data that has changed, reducing storage and bandwidth issues.
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Big storage in small packages
IT departments thirsty for storage capacity
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Columns
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Adopting an internal service provider or utility model
by James Damoulakis
Aligning policies and processes is a significant stride toward building a consolidated service provider model.
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When consolidation doesn't bring integration
by Mark Schlack
When consolidation doesn't bring integration
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Storage Bin: The new vendor conundrum
Security and privacy are giant data issues. Vendors who speak the new "solutions" language, and deliver products that offer encryption functionality, will steal market share from those who don't.
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Snapshot: Disaster recovery plan development
Do you have a DR plan?
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Storage security basics
Is your firm focusing on performance and availability instead of security? Do you consider security "someone else's job"? If you answered "Yes" to these questions, you need a storage security wake-up call.
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Adopting an internal service provider or utility model
by James Damoulakis
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