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Security seeking storage
There's one final trend worth discussing, although it doesn't fit into the storage security category. Ironically, security professionals will seek out their storage brethren for help in dealing with massive storage capacity growth in 2006.

Unbeknownst to the storage universe, security is crossing its own chasm. Security vendors are getting better at capturing and consolidating myriad security data from vulnerability scanners, log files and even surveillance cameras. As a result, security investigation is moving from real-time reaction to historical analysis--much like databases evolved from transaction processing to data warehousing. This storage-centric security movement was recently illustrated by a joint announcement from security analysis software leader SenSage Inc. and EMC's Centera. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Gray-haired storage professionals remember the capacity explosion caused by the data warehouse boom of the mid-1990s, so they should know what to expect with security data as we enter the last half of the decade. Storage chiefs should seek out the CISO and offer the storage group's help as soon as it's needed. This will make the storage team look like heroes and help to anticipate storage management problems that are sure to arise by the time we welcome in 2007.

Bottom line
The combination of data growth, intelligent storage networking and global connectivity are all the necessary ingredients

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for a security nightmare cocktail. Forget about adding just a bit of security into the storage infrastructure. In 2006, we'll see layered defenses introduced into the storage infrastructure as storage teams quickly educate themselves on advanced security concepts.

What does this mean? Storage professionals must look beyond the storage infrastructure and figure out how to fit into overall enterprise security policies, defenses and data management. The functional walls between storage and security will crumble. It's going to be a busy year!

This was first published in January 2006

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