We hear all the time about how enterprise storage needs are growing. In a recent EMC-sponsored report, IDC came up with some interesting figures that projected strong growth through 2010. According to the report, storage needs will reach 988 exabytes that year, while capacity will total about 600 exabytes.
While it's easy to dismiss such projections as part of an industry FUD campaign, make no mistake: The storage crunch is real. Anecdotally, Computerworld editors regularly hear from storage professionals who say that they are in a tough spot. They need more storage capacity, but in many cases they are unable to budget and plan for long-term growth. One solution many IT shops turn to as available supply decreases is to buy more network-attached storage and hook it up to the LAN.
Indeed, independent research published by The Infopro earlier this year shows that NAS capacity has more than doubled at Fortune 1000 companies in the space of a year. The chart here reflects NAS capacity among Fortune 1000 organizations that took part in the Infopro's semiannual Wave reports. The Wave 9 data is from a survey that took place between January and March of this year, and was released in the spring. It shows an average of 274 terabytes at F1000 shops -- more than double the 113 terabytes reported during the same period in early 2006.
Moreover, the survey participants -- 152 "Fortune 1000 end users" -- gave projected NAS growth rates which averaged 41% for the year, more than fibre channel SAN (37%) IP SAN (39%), and direct-attached storage (26%). Among certain sectors the existing capacity and projected growth rates were even more pronounced: The 22 "telecom and technology" organizations in the survey had an average capacity of 917 terabytes and a projected growth rate of 44%, while the 28 respondents working in the financial services industry reported an average capacity of 316 terabytes and a projected growth rate of 56%.
Sources:
Chart: Thursday's Storage TIP, F1000 Reported NAS Capacity, August 24, 2007. Wave 4 n=143, Wave 5 n=153, Wave 6 n=155, Wave 7 n=155, Wave8 n=153, Wave 9 n=152
Projected Growth Rates: TheInfoPro Wave 9 Fortune 1000 Storage Management End User Report, Spring 2007.