The thinking: If it ain't broke, why fix it? New storage technology may well be faster, more reliable for
data protection, simpler to manage and more flexible, but companies on tight
budgets aren’t moving their precious data off their old methods—at least for
now.
That’s the conclusion of a report from Enterprise Strategy Group, a Milford,
Mass., consultancy. According to the
January report, titled "ESG Research: Data Protection Market Trends,"
41 percent of companies with 100 employees and 43 percent of companies with 100
to 1,000 employees still use NAS (network-attached storage), while 25 percent
of companies with less than 100 employees use SANs (storage area networks),
versus 51 percent of companies with 100 to 1,000 employees.
What’s more, 36 percent of smaller companies are still backing data up directly
to tape, with 42 percent backing up to a mix of disk and tape, while 39 percent
of midmarket companies (100-1,000 employees) back up directly to tape and 42
percent back up to a mix of disk and tape.
What’s keeping older backup technologies ensconced is that they’re easy to
implement, and, quite simply, businesses have already shelled out the money for
them, said ESG analyst Lauren Whitehouse.
“Organizations don't throw out the baby with the bathwater,” she said. “If
NAS is working, then why get rid of it and spend money on the next new thing?”
Businesses
with limited IT staff often skimp on backup. Click here for tips on setting up
a successful data protection strategy.
The same thing is true with DAS (direct-attached storage) technology, still
a favorite over SANs for many small and midsize companies. Simply put, some
organizations get by with DAS or internal server storage because it works for
them, even though it may not be the most cost-effective long-term strategy,
Whitehouse said.
The numbers do show, however, that SANs—especially iSCSI SANs—are growing in
popularity, especially in smaller organizations. Ease of implementation and
management, as well as cost, are helping adoption, she noted.
A similar thought process occurs with tape. “Organizations that have made
investments in tape aren’t going to get rid of it just because there is another
option,” Whitehouse said. “They will use the infrastructure component until the
lease runs out, it is depreciated, or it fails. Many have made investments in
processes, training, disaster recovery response and more around tape
processes.”
At the same time, the report clearly shows that the storage volumes of
companies with less than 1,000 employees are growing exponentially, while
tolerance for downtime has decreased. More than one in 10 organizations with
less than 1,000 employees now report total storage volumes in excess of 25TB;
one-third have 6TB to 25TB and more than half have 5TB or less.
Click
here for tips on getting the biggest bang for your buck with online backup.
ESG Research also found that 58 percent of the smallest companies and 64
percent of midsize companies can withstand 4 hours or less of downtime before
the interruption results in revenue loss or has a significant impact on
business.
Finally, the study found that only 27 percent of small companies and 29
percent of midsize companies have confidence that their current data protection
process adequately protects data.
“Backup and recovery processes are not flawless,” Whitehouse said. “The
research shows that there is still a 15 percent chance, give or take, that
either will fail. There is also a low adoption rate for things like backup
reporting tools that provide visibility into success/failure and the ‘whys’
behind them. As long as that chance exists, there will be low confidence.”
