| Top Business Concerns | | | | becomes centralized. This signals IT's understanding |
| A consistent challenge within the IT organization in | | | | that customer satisfaction is an important part of |
| 2007 is the need to keep cost down. Management is | | | | their mandate. |
| not asking IT not to spend money - but to spend it | | | | One of the biggest selling points of storage |
| like nothing more is coming. In other words, spend | | | | consolidation (and the whole premise behind the |
| where it will bring the most benefit in the shortest | | | | success of network attached storage and storage |
| possible time. | | | | area network) is the idea of storage underutilization |
| So should you wonder then that a recent survey of | | | | and server proliferation. In the days when the only |
| IT practitioners across India showed exactly this | | | | option is direct attached storage, companies would |
| market condition? | | | | buy additional servers because the server has |
| Referring to chart 1, 64 percent of companies | | | | reached its storage limits. |
| surveyed say they are expanding to new markets | | | | Storage consolidation allows for companies to buy |
| and new geographies. Second in the list of business | | | | additional storage without increasing the number of |
| concerns is competition. About 57.1 percent say that | | | | servers on the data center. Survey respondents put |
| competition is a constant worry for them, both in the | | | | better storage utilization as the third most important |
| current markets where they are and in the new | | | | benefit of consolidation with 52.5 percent affirming |
| markets they are eyeing to penetrate or already | | | | this. |
| entering. | | | | The fourth most important benefit (42.2 percent) is a |
| In the process of expanding, engaging new potential | | | | strong selling point to both technology and business |
| customers, and staving off competition, companies | | | | managers - the idea of standardizing on specific |
| must keep close watch over how they spend their | | | | technologies and processes. By standardizing on a |
| limited resources. Prudent spending in the face of | | | | few instead of many, companies are able to simplify |
| competition and the need to keep growing revenue | | | | the management of their infrastructure. |
| to demonstrate shareholder value is pushing 56.7 | | | | Why Say NO to Consolidation? |
| percent to constantly monitor cost. | | | | You start to wonder with all the benefits of storage |
| Closely trailing these top 3 concerns is the imperative | | | | consolidation, why would companies choose to ignore |
| to raise productivity with 53.9 percent continually | | | | this path? Over 70 percent of respondents listed |
| looking for ways to raise productivity. | | | | "limited understanding of the technology and its |
| Top IT Challenges in 2007-2008 | | | | benefits" as the single biggest hindrance to agreeing |
| The issues facing IT managers reflect the business | | | | to consolidate their storage infrastructure. |
| concerns of their companies. Because any failure on | | | | This correlates to lack of in-house expertise as the |
| the part of IT is a showstopper, IT managers put | | | | second most cited reason (63.8 percent) for not |
| security (52 percent) as their number one priority | | | | taking the consolidation path. |
| (see chart 2). | | | | Any storage consolidation project will involve costs, |
| The second (48.3 percent) and fourth (40.4 percent) | | | | from redesigning the data center, to migrating |
| challenges are related. The rapid proliferation of new | | | | content hosted on siloes of compute servers onto |
| and emerging technologies coupled with the | | | | storage-only platforms. With concerns over keeping |
| imperative to keep costs down means that IT must | | | | cost down, it is no surprise that "perceived high |
| be sure about what where IT investments are going. | | | | project cost" is third on the list at 59.7 percent. |
| The old adage "no one gets fired for buying IBM" is | | | | Lack of standards (49.2 percent) and Lack of |
| no longer valid. The IT management chain (top to | | | | management support (42 percent) round out the |
| bottom) share the responsibility of ensuring that the | | | | objections to undertaking a storage consolidation |
| right choice is made each time. | | | | exercise. |
| The perennial shortage of qualified staff ranks as the | | | | Profile of Respondents |
| third IT challenge among companies in India with 45.2 | | | | The respondents to the survey represent mid to |
| percent claiming that keeping qualified staff is just as | | | | senior IT managers working for large enterprises in |
| difficult as finding them. | | | | the India. Enterprise Innovation received 631 |
| Current IT Initiatives in Place | | | | responses majority. While only 24.9 percent point to |
| In a bizarre twist of fate, the top three IT initiatives | | | | their role as being the final decision maker with |
| currently in place are all about availability. Close to 75 | | | | regards to storage strategies and acquisitions, 32.8 |
| percent of respondents say they have a backup | | | | percent influence the choices made by their |
| restore strategy in place. Security comes a close 72.7 | | | | company. A further 25.8 percent evaluate the |
| percent. Because business continuity often involves | | | | technologies from which decisions are made. As |
| other departments or business units, the third most | | | | expected only 16.5 percent point to external forces |
| deploy IT initiative (business continuity and disaster | | | | as guiding any storage acquisition indicating the level |
| recovery) is a distant 47.4 percent. | | | | of trust management places on local talent. |
| Wireless connectivity bested network storage by 0.2 | | | | Predicting what you need in the future is always a |
| percent as the fourth most commonly deployed IT | | | | challenge. This is more acute when it comes to |
| initiative at 44.8 percent. | | | | storage. While IT has no problem projecting the |
| Business benefits of Storage Consolidation | | | | server computing requirements based on ongoing and |
| How easy is it to explain to a non-technical person | | | | future IT projects, storage requirements are often |
| the merits of migrating from a proprietary platform | | | | dictated by how successful campaigns are as well as |
| to one that supports Open standards? In the same | | | | target audience. |
| token explaining the complexity of consolidating | | | | When a global bank launched its first online IPO |
| storage and servers to the uninitiated (and possibly | | | | product in Hong Kong, it quickly realized that it |
| uninterested) presents a challenge in itself. | | | | underestimated its storage requirements forcing the |
| That said, 57.6 percent of IT respondents say that | | | | bank to review future storage purchase. |
| simplifying the management of the data center is the | | | | This reflects the changing market dynamics. In the |
| number one benefit that can be derived from a | | | | survey close to 30 percent of respondents have no |
| storage consolidation exercise. | | | | idea as to when their next storage purchase will be. |
| This is followed by 53.4 percent seeing an | | | | But 58.6 percent believe that they have to purchase |
| improvement in service levels to users as data | | | | new storage within a 12-month window. |