IDC Sees Interest in Services

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Storage-as-a-service is more than just a viable alternative, according to two new IDC multi-client studies. An IDC survey of 812 firms reveals that demand for online storage services is very strong in small, mid-size, and large firms that are facing budgetary and IT staffing pressures. These companies are evaluating online services for backup/disaster recovery, long-term record retention, business continuity, and availability. On the consumer front, the storage-as-a-service opportunity is exploding as individuals need to store fast growing volumes of digital data. They are increasingly considering online services, as an alternative to a product purchase, for backing up, sharing, and preserving data long term. In both the commercial and consumer segments, the availability of storage-as-a-service is disrupting traditional storage software markets as it changes how individuals and firms access storage capacity and procure software functions. But, more importantly, storage-as-a-service is a precursor to the longer term cloud storage and cloud computing opportunity, IDC reveals.

"As consumers and business organizations continue to generate vast amounts of data and seek optimum methods to store and protect them, the growth of storage capacities delivered through storage-as-a-service offerings will outpace traditional storage architectures," said Brad Nisbet, program manager for Storage and Data Management Services at IDC. "With storage-as-a-service capacity growing over 65% from 174 petabytes in 2007 to over 2.1 exabytes in 2012, the market is rife with opportunity."

IDC