Are you ready for what’s next in enterprise storage?
The enterprise storage landscape is constantly reshaping itself. The change is driven by expanding storage needs, emerging technologies and evolving storage architectures. As organizations and their storage requirements shift and change, so does the technology underpinning their efforts to effectively maintain, manage and protect their data. As we look to the future, what kinds of evolution can we expect to see along the enterprise storage horizon? Let’s have a look.
What is enterprise storage?
First, let’s define what we mean when we talk about enterprise storage. Enterprise storage provides a digital means of housing large amounts of mission-critical data in a centralized repository and enabling data sharing, data management and data protection across an organization. The current enterprise storage landscape includes on-premises storage, cloud storage and hybrid cloud storage, as well as software-defined storage, which can run either in the cloud or on-premises.
- On-premises storage keeps data “local” by storing it on in-house servers, computers and other hardware devices managed by the organization rather than a third-party storage provider.
- Cloud storage frees up infrastructure by relocating data to the cloud, typically through a cloud storage provider, which maintains client data on its own servers, makes it secure and accessible anytime and anywhere, and allows for scaling capacity up or down as needed.
- Hybrid cloud storage enables organizations to keep data on-site and off, supplementing internal storage with cloud storage using either a cloud storage gateway appliance or an API.
- Software-defined storage (SDS) is an architecture that decouples the storage software from the underlying hardware. This allows it to be run on industry-standard x86 servers, either on-premises or in the cloud.
Technology trends disrupting enterprise storage
Increasing cloud adoption is one of the most significant trends currently disrupting enterprise storage. Over the next few years, the global cloud storage market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 18.5%.1 Additionally, industry analysts have projected that enterprise data production, which is currently growing at a rate of 23%, will reach an overall volume of 175 zettabytes by 2025.2 For reference, one zettabyte is equal to roughly a trillion gigabytes.
Amid these rising storage market tides, object storage is emerging as the cloud storage method of choice for many organizations, with 80% of organizations agreeing in recent survey conducted by the research firm IDC.3 Object storage is a type of cloud storage expressly architected for large amounts of unstructured data, such as images, video, audio, sensor data and machine learning data. Object storage accommodates a wide array of data types and offers options for metadata classification that can make retrieving and analyzing data easier and more efficient.
Two kinds of storage in one: hybrid cloud storage
As previously mentioned, hybrid cloud storage enables organizations to supplement their internal data storage with cloud storage using a cloud storage gateway appliance or an API. According to a recent survey conducted by data storage provider NetApp, more than three-quarters of IT decision-makers say their organization plans to operate in a hybrid cloud environment for the foreseeable future.4 At the same time, only 17% expect their organization to eventually migrate all IT to the cloud. 4
Additionally, those surveyed listed the most important business benefits of hybrid cloud adoption as follows: 4
- Faster innovation (26%)
- Increased responsiveness to customers (25%)
- Increased collaboration (22%)
Respondents also indicated that their primary reason for operating in a hybrid cloud model is to improve infrastructure flexibility and scale (27%). Optimizing costs (21%) and improving data accessibility (13%) rounded out the top three drivers.
Meanwhile, technology trends driving hybrid cloud adoption include:
- Data Protection: Data protection software encompasses a variety of tools and processes used to shield data from unauthorized access, manipulation and theft.
- Hybrid Production: Hybrid production tools integrate both on-premises and cloud resources to support the same workload.
- Data Tiering: Data tiering applications enable the movement of data between different tiers, allowing organizations to move unused data to a secondary storage system.
Five ways a distributor like Arrow can help
Choosing and executing an appropriate enterprise storage strategy does not have to be complicated. Here are five ways in which a distributor like Arrow can help support storage-related decision-making:
- Assist in assessing an organization’s unique storage needs.
- Compare and contrast on-premises, cloud and hybrid cloud storage models.
- Familiarize you with emerging storage technologies.
- Emphasize company growth as a driver of storage growth.
- Encourage you and your customers to develop a forward-looking storage plan.
Arrow can help you become your customer’s storage expert so you can assess their storage needs and stay ahead of the continually evolving enterprise storage technology landscape. Our storage experts will connect you with the right vendors and guide you toward services that will help you optimize your enterprise storage strategy. Get started with Arrow today.
