Report: Midmarket storage pros favor single-vendor strategy - Storage Technology Magazine - Page 1

Report: Midmarket storage pros favor single-vendor strategy

Fueled by capacity expansion and the need for improved data protection, medium-sized companies are predicted to increase their 2008 storage budgets by 10%, according to the "Midmarket Storage Update: 2007" published recently by Forrester Research.

"That's not just inflation," says Forrester senior analyst Michael Speyer. "That's new investment dollars."

With a seemingly nonstop flurry of product announcements aimed at the midmarket, it's clear there's plenty of competition for those dollars. Vendors of all sizes are aware that medium-sized businesses have smaller IT staffs and budgets, which creates a demand for increased automation and improved management capabilities.

In the midmarket, says Speyer, storage decision makers have shown they prefer a single-vendor strategy.

Sixty-four percent of midmarket companies in the Forrester Research survey purchase storage from a single vendor as opposed to 33% of larger companies. Forrester defines a midmarket company as having somewhere between 100 and 999 employees.

Dell (49%) and Hewlett-Packard (34%) were the most commonly preferred storage vendors named by the 91 North American decision-makers surveyed, with IBM (13%) and Sun (1%) rounding out the top four. When making purchasing decisions, peer reviews and recommendations--rather than resellers--topped the list of influencers, notes Speyer.

"For small businesses

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register for SearchStorage.com, you’ll also receive targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest topics, the latest news and the biggest challenges you face as a storage professional today.

    Rich Castagna, Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchStorage.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchStorage.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

in particular, peers ranked very high," he notes. After that, trailing far behind peers and colleagues as influencers, is the value-added reseller.

When asked about the most important factors used to evaluate their storage vendors, price fell to fifth place on the list of priorities among midmarket respondents. Overall quality, post-sales service, first-hand experience and product features all rated higher than price tags.

This was first published in November 2007

Join the conversationComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.
    Back to top