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Diversifying disk
Disk spending may still dominate storage spending, but it's not your father's storage budget. Respondents expect to buy an average of 20TB this year, but 38% of it will go toward midrange storage, and only 24% will go toward the high-end systems that used to dominate the data center (see Question 2). In fact, low-end storage accounts for 33% of disk spending. That pattern holds true even in financial services firms, where high-end systems account for only 31%, and in large companies (more than $1 billion in annual revenue), where big iron takes down 36% of disk expenditures.
| Question 2 |
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Storage area networks (SANs) continue to be the main direction for storage managers; 53% cite SANs as their primary expenditure for disk storage and 59% say the same for new applications see (Question 3). While SANs are the obvious choice for databases, no clear consensus seems to exist on how to handle file storage. The top choice is direct attached storage (DAS) at 36%, followed by consolidated network attached storage (NAS) at 33% and simply more NAS at 28% (see Question 4). However, increased use of virtualization servers to store files in a single pool also scored a 29% response. All in all, respondents are trying multiple approaches toward growing volumes of file data.
| Question 3 |
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| Question 4 |
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One area where change wasn't the order of the day was in vendor selection and perception (see Question 5). After considerable volatility in vendor choice in 2002 and 2003, the pecking order seems set not only for 2004, but also for expected choices in 2005 (although major announcements by Hitachi Data Systems [HDS] and IBM Corp. will probably influence user choices). EMC Corp., after some troubles in 2002, continues to hold onto the top spot as the primary array vendor for 25% of respondents, followed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. at 20%. Primary vendor, in the context of the survey, indicates which vendor has the most mindshare.
| Question 5 |
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