NETWORK STORAGE: Market Democratization

In the last
couple of years, the demand for storage and related solutions has
increased manifolds due to digital explosion. As of today, data is
increasingly becoming the key business differentiator wherein
managing data is the single biggest challenge for IT teams
along with security. Individuals and organizations have to deal with
high volumes of data on a day-to-day basis and for these communities,
high capacity storage is now a requisite. Such requirements are key
factors that lead to a surge in adoption and deployment of storage
solutions across verticals.

MARKET
TRENDS

Deal sizes
are growing all the time and margins are under pressure. IT budgets
are growing between 10% and 20% but data is growing at 100%. Many
organizations are adding more capacity due to cheaper disk price and
complicating the environment leading to manageability challenges. In
such a scenario, the vendors are re-looking at their storage
architecture and opting for solutions which are flexible, scalable,
and manageable over time. Thus, these circumstances are providing
ample business opportunities for the solution providers to offer
their expertise in this area to organizations across the country. In
recent times, data storage has emerged as one of the most discussed
issues across many industries. What has been observed is that many
vendors are coming up with ideas to utilize the existing storage
capacity to the fullest and better manageability. However, solution
providers, who are deploying the solutions are fine tuning and
tweaking the systems to offer a better ecosystem that are cost
effective and efficient while providing quality services. Industry
heads were of the opinion that the solution providers who can offer
effective solutions are gaining significant market share along with
profits. The latest trend in this space is indeed virtualization,
back up and archival. Sriram S,
CEO, iValue InfoSolutions said, “Storage virtualization,
de-duplication at source and
destination, tiered storage, cross platform backup and archival were
some of the technologies in demand on the storage front.”

Adding to
this, Col. Balwinder Singh, director, Targus Technologies said,
“Enterprise solid state drives (SSD) for faster access of data and
information, digital storage, storage consolidation and
virtualization, SaaS, backup and archival were the technologies
that were in demand last year.”

While,
Haresh
Gala, director, Network Techlab said, “In-demand solutions in the
storage segment were related to fast cache, de-duplication, and big
data managebility.” Most of the
solution providers said that there has been a definite and
commendable increase in
demand for storage solutions across verticals. BFSI, telecom and IT/
ITeS are the
key verticals leading the adoption of storage solutions in the
country. Commenting on this, Sriram said, “BFSI was the biggest
vertical followed by ITeS and
e-governance. Media is a new fast emerging vertical. Digital data is
doubling every 12 months in many of the enterprises driving demand.
Compliance and data growth are driving demand at BFSI/ITeS.” On similar
lines, Gala said, “The verticals that contributed most to our
storage business are BFSI, logistics, transport, telecom and power.”

Government
and PSUs have also been utilizing storage solutions. Solution
providers like Micropoint Computers have been offering its expertise
to Bhabha Atomic Research Center. Recently, the solution provider had
deployed high-end storage solutions to Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation and Nuclear Power Corporation of India. Commenting on the
industry trend, Singh said, “The vertical which has contributed
maximum is telecom foll o wed by government and PSUs. We are also
witnessing demands from verticals like BFSI, IT/ ITeS and media.”

FUTURE
OUTLOOK

Storage
virtualization, tie red storage, de-duplication, DRM, replication
solution for DR/HA, archiving solutions to meet compliance on data
retention, VTLs are the current hot trends in storage from technology
and business adoption front. Adding to this, Sriram said, “We
expect cloud based offerings gaining traction moving forward
especially with SMB/SME customers.” Also, SaaS and in particular,
various sub-trends in storage such as backup-as-a-service and
archival-as-a-service and digital content repository would be a key
factor for fueling overall storage growth in 2011 and 2012. Singh
added, “Efficient capacity utilization and storage virtualization would
also be
the key drivers in 2011-12.”

Adding to
this, Gala said, “De-duplication and cloud related deployments will
see an upward trend in the next fiscal.” The industry leaders
clearly indicate that there is going to be definitely a significant
increase in demand for storage solution across verticals. The Indian
market offers the right scope for business in this space. Commenting
on this, Singh said, “Storage is a highly matured market. In such
market conditions, low priced solutions will not work for a longer
duration. So stealing and surviving is not at all easy. The solution
provider needs to understand the business needs of the client and
suggest the best possible solution, which will build and nurture
strong business relationships. There are specialized players in the
market aligning with the OEM in the beginning is the key.”

Targus now
intends to focus more on media and entertainment. The primary reason
being data storage is the key factor for content creation, editing,
distribution and reception wherein digital distribution is a key
component in the growth and development of this industry. While,
Network Techlab is going to put in its resources to tap the
opportunities arising in power, logistics and transport and retail
industry.

FINAL
VERDICT

In this
industry where the competition is cut throat, the winners are defined
by their focus, innovation, and quality of support and service.
Targus Technologies has proven that it has all the qualities that one
can identify with a solution champ. The solution provider offers the
right blend of technology and innovation at its best while addressing
the needs of its customers.