Data Storage Market Expected to Grow

The data storage market in midsized enterprises is projected to grow by 35 percent in 2005, according to IT researcher and consultancy Info-Tech Research Group. Meanwhile, spending on data storage will outpace spending on servers, telephony and even security software, according to the results of a poll of more than 1,400 IT decision makers. Info-Tech said that storage area networks are currently the hottest segment of the storage market, and it expects them to grow roughly 40 percent within midsized enterprises in 2005. IT decision-makers participating in the survey cited regulatory pressures such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, continuity planning, and the popularity of multimedia as drivers of data storage growth. "We expect the demand for SANs to increase sharply as vendors move down-market from their current Fortune 1,000 focus," said Dr. Curtis Gittens, senior research analyst at Info Tech. "As prices continue their sharp decline and SAN products become more commoditized, storage technology becomes increasingly accessible to midsized companies."