S
torage, like most IT industry sub-sectors,
is a hotbed of activity with new emerging
market trends impacting the business
environment and affecting CIO and IT
management decisions at an everincreasing pace.
Here then, are some of the big trends
and buzzwords which are making headlines within this
fast-evolving sector:
Hybrid Cloud
Although cloud is by now well-established within the industry, hybrid cloud is arguably becoming the cloud model of
choice for organisations as they realise that their needs are
best suited to a combination of public and private clouds.
According to Gartner, 2016 will be a defining year for cloud
as private cloud begins to give way to hybrid cloud, and
nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.
advantages of all-flash arrays even as costs come down,
enabling customers to deploy the right levels of performance, reliability and scalability for their specific needs
and workloads.
Data Sovereignty and PoPI
The widespread adoption of cloud computing and storage
services continues to challenge traditional geopolitical barriers. For large enterprises operating in many countries, this
leads to concerns about the various government disclosure
laws to which their data is subject.
Within the local context, the recent inception of the Protection of Personal Information Act of 2013 (PoPI) has created
a stir within the South African IT industry as companies
struggle to navigate cloud industry implications, and properly define where responsibilities lie regarding data storage,
usage and protection.
40 Gigabit Ethernet
40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) is a standard that enables the
transfer of Ethernet frames at speeds of up to 40 gigabits
per second (Gbps). Higher bandwidths allow larger data
sets to move more quickly and easily, encouraging the
growth of data and virtualisation. Although this technology
has been slow to take off, it is nonetheless growing in adoption and will continue to gather momentum within
the industry.
Converged Storage
Big Data
Another industry buzzword which seems to have been
around forever, big data has a very obvious effect on the
need for massive amounts of storage. The statistics are
staggering - A.T. Kearney forecasts global spending on big
data hardware, software and services will grow at a CAGR
of 30% through 2018, reaching a total market size of $114B.
A storage architecture that combines storage and compute
into a single entity, converged storage can result in the
development of platforms for server centric, storage centric
or hybrid workloads where applications and data come
together to improve application performance and delivery.
As converged infrastructure continues to rise in popularity
and demonstrate significant technical and business efficiencies, converged storage adds to the momentum of this
exciting new technology trend. Research firm IDC estimates
that total worldwide spending on converged infrastructure
will hit $17.8 billion in 2016, up from $4.6 billion in 2012.
The Rise of Flash Storage
All-flash arrays boast ultra-high performance, storage and
cost efficiencies, and services such as enterprise-class
availability, reliability and quality of service. Although still relatively expensive, many companies are starting to see the
References
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2613015
http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2014/06/24/roundup-of-analytics-big-data-business-intelligence-forecasts-and-market-estimates-2014/
http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/all-flash-storage-arrays,2-729.html
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/40-Gigabit-Ethernet-40GbE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converged_storage
http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/240155540/converged-infrastructure-bets-are-in-where-are-they-paying-off.htm
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