Opinion: 2006 -- The year corporations embraced new technology

Computerworld - Thanksgiving offered all of us a chance to reflect and give thanks for the many blessings that we experienced throughout the year. However, companies that took advantage of what the storage industry had to offer in 2006 should have plenty for which to give thanks, because 2006 represented a watershed year for the corporate adoption of new storage technologies. Three technologies that they should be especially thankful for are:

SATA drives. Serial Advanced Technology Attachment drives are becoming to storage what mashed potatoes are to Thanksgiving dinner. Faster backups, successful recoveries and online e-mail archives were most corporations' problem applications two years ago. Now, thanks to the affordability, capacity and reliability of SATA drives, more companies are making the drives an integral part of their storage strategies while watching these problems disappear.

Wide-are file services (WAFS). Most companies had few good options when it came to protecting files located at remote offices. However, with WAFS technologies, companies can centralize the protection and distribution of files to remote offices. The best part is remote offices see little or no difference in their day-to-day operations, while corporations eliminate the management hassle associated with these files.

VMware Inc. Sure, VMware is a company and not a technology, but multiple storage vendors have told me VMware has done more to advance the concept of storage virtualization among their potential customers than any analyst firm or marketing campaign ever has. And with the benefits that virtualized storage will eventually bring to users, I for one am giving VMware an extra helping of thanks.

How companies were affected by specific storage technologies obviously varied according to what they adopted, but in 2006, there was much to be thankful for. Let's hope the close of 2007 brings us as much to be thankful for as 2006 did.