PARTNERS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Part of the Lynchpin Media team , Manda Banda has more than 20 years of experience working for channel publications . He shares the knowledge he has learnt during that time in this monthly column for Intelligent Tech Channels .
The enterprise storage charm
Manda Banda , Managing Editor , Intelligent Tech Channels
Manda Banda is also Lynchpin Media ’ s Managing Editor of Intelligent CIO Middle East and Intelligent CIO Africa magazines .
Enterprise storage is a centralised repository for business information that provides common data management , protection , and data sharing functions through connections to computer systems . For resellers and solution providers , the enterprise storage market has never been more mature than it is now . If you are not selling storage , now is the right time to jump on the enterprise storage and services bandwagon .
If you are a reseller , solution provider or VAR not selling storage , now is the right time to jump onto the enterprise storage and services bandwagon . The Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) enterprise storage market has been constantly evolving and has seen significant growth over the last two years . The growth was accelerated mainly as a result of organisations of all types and size driving Digital Transformation agendas , remote work , and e-commerce offerings amid the pandemic , thereby contributing to the development of the data storage market through increased infrastructure investments . For channel partners serving the broader MEA market , it ’ s important to note that verticals that led this wide-scale adoption include public sector undertakings , banking and finance , and the education sector among others .
According to Future Market Insights , the MEA data storage market is projected to reach US $ 8,431.3 million by 2025 . This according to the research firm , is mainly driven by the emergence of data from the data centre to the Edge to the cloud with the majority of future data expected to be generated at the Edge .
That being the case , the enterprise storage market , while being disrupted , is seeing some steady growth in MEA . For example , many customers are throwing out their enterprise centralised storage landscape and converged infrastructure storage investments . Equally , there is surprisingly a drive to enterprise serverbased storage , even from a footprint perspective . There is also a move to software-defined storage ( SDS ) and infrastructure , of which storage is a part . In short , what I can determine from this shift is that customers are moving towards a more integrated form of storage in the market . So , where does this leave the channel partner ?
There is no denying the impact cloud storage has – and will continue to have – within enterprises , as it offers scalability and accessibility to many organisations .
However , I believe that having a “ hybrid ” storage infrastructure , has never been
There is no denying the impact cloud storage has – and will continue to have – within enterprises , as it offers scalability and accessibility to many organisations . more important , with more sophisticated applications and uses such as AI , IoT , Industry 4.0 , to name a few . In turn , this has increased the demands for higher speeds and lower latency .
So , having business-critical data physically closer to the environments in which it is used ensures that these technologies are working effectively and leaves room for more flexibility and individual choices in terms of security features .
With the enterprise storage market witnessing growth channel partners should lookout for key technologies that not only stand them in good stead with their offerings to customers but are able to implement these solutions competently and with confidence
Clearly , the growth the enterprise storage market is witnessing is being driven by business innovation which in turn is being driven by innovation in applications and data . Therefore , as a reseller , you should be focused on technologies that help you harness your client ’ s data . You need to stop thinking of the storage layer as a silo but rather as an essential aspect that supports your customer ’ s data layer alongside their application layer . As a solution provider in this segment , you should also be aligning yourself to technologies that streamline storage architectures in terms of unified storage . To stay ahead of the game and competitors in this space , you need to maximise your storage opportunity within a customer footprint and focus more on overarching or unified storage technologies .
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