* Karp’s crystal fishbowl
The 59th Rule of Acquisition tells us that “free advice is seldom cheap.”
The 59th Rule of Acquisition tells us that “free advice is seldom cheap.”
It’s that time of year again, the hour when I gaze into Karp’s crystal fishbowl and look for major trends coming down the pike for storage in 2007. I have chanted the mantras. My eyes have pierced the mirk. My mind has achieved clarity. Here then are a few things you are going to see during the coming year.
Trend #1: Consolidation.
Enterprises will look to consolidate IT by going with fewer vendors, particularly when it comes to storage. I know the vendor lock-in question is an issue, but large IT shops will have a chance to achieve two significant goals through consolidation. First, they will have a better shot at lowering CAPEX, as distributing purchasing across fewer vendors should result in more advantageous bargaining with the vendors they do use. Second, they will look for OPEX reductions, taking advantage of the fact that simpler environments – fewer types of machines – will make for simpler storage management. That, when coupled with the easier contract management that will result from dealing with fewer vendors, should deliver significant cost savings when it comes to managing month-to-month expenditures. The lock-in concern is a real one but these other issues are compelling, and for many companies they will more than balance out the scales.
(If your company is looking into this, I’d be very interested in hearing from you to find out what you think the biggest issues are going to be. Vendor lock-in of course is an obvious one, but there are many others. Do you expect to save equipment costs by doing this? Are you hoping for a simpler infrastructure and lower OPEX? Send a quick note on this topic to me at mkarp@emausa.com).
Trend #2: The return of the service providers!
Their baaaack. We all remember a favorite (or not-so-favorite) storage service provider (SSP) that went bust during the dot-bomb collapse in 2000, but those guys were for the most part just selling storage. A new breed of SSP has emerged, selling services that go far beyond just disk space, which is why last year at this time I predicted a reemergence for SSPs.
This year the trend will continue. At least two specific groups of SSP will prevail: those that provide sophisticated services based around regulatory compliance and, at the other end of the spectrum, those that offer basic IT assistance to smaller businesses. There is a crying need for both categories of service, and those companies able to provide them in a non-intrusive way (which is to say, the services look like they are being offered locally) will do a good business in the next 12 months and far beyond.
Next time, a bit more on what to expect.
