On Demand In Demand

More IT pros than ever before are reaching out for help with storage-related issues. And in the process, a new "on-demand" market is taking shape.

"On demand" is a buzzword for application-based services, such as hosted email, online backup, and managed storage. And as things heat up in data centers worldwide, these offerings are gaining momentum.

The trend toward on-demand services is evident across the news recently for instance, in Network Appliance's promise to offer Microsoft Exchange hosted services based on its StoreVault NAS.

Attendees at NetApp's North America Partner Summit in San Francisco last week say Sajai Krishnan, general manager of NetApp's StoreVault Business Unit, referred to the joint offering of Azaleos's appliance for MS Exchange with NetApp's StoreVault NAS as an upcoming incentive package for channel partners to create on-demand Exchange services. (See Energizing Exchange.)

There are other signs that on-demand is catching on. GlassHouse, which specializes in online backup services, is aiming to strengthen its position with acquisitions. (See GlassHouse Grabs Israeli Firms.)And Eric Goodwin, new CEO of email archiving software maker Fortiva, says the trend was instrumental in a recent reorg that put him in charge and moved former CEO Paul Chen into a lateral job of president of Fortiva Managed Services. (See Fortiva Names Goodwin CEO.)

A 40-year veteran of the IT market (ex-Fulcrum Technologies, FloNetworks, and Klocwork), Goodwin says he wants the chance to be part of what he sees as an on-demand surge in the making. "The next wave of email will involve hosted email systems," Goodwin says. "On-demand products and services are on the rise, and I couldn't resist the chance to be part of the opportunity."

Anticipated growth in on-demand helped motivate the purchase of application acceleration specialist Netli by Akamai for $180 million last week. (See Akamai Nets Netli for $180M.) Akamai intends to use Netli to improve its edge on other application-based service providers, such as Savvis. Netli also competes with online backup providers like IBM, LiveVault, EVault, and HP.

The same day Akamai bought Netli, HP announced the purchase of Bristol Technology. (See HP Acquires Bristol.) The move follows HP's purchase of Mercury Interactive, and it's seen as part of the company's strategy to foster sales of storage gear by adding software and wrapping it up in a services bundle. (See HP Purchases Mercury and HP Rethinks Storage Plays.)

All the activity may be a mixed blessing for storage pros. There can be unanticipated glitches when turning outside for help. (See Managed Email: Who's Watching?) But if a reasonable price and a good supplier relationship are part of the mix, services can take a load off a data center manager's mind. (See Vaalco Energy.)Bottom line? Expect ongoing activity aimed at facilitating on-demand services. And expect more of those services.

— Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch