Among application service pro-viders that also host data are Conxion, Digex, PSINet and USInternetworking. Storage makers such as Compaq, EMC, IBM and Sun have storage services alliances with ASPs and other providers. Even energy company Enron is getting into the business. Its Broadband Services unit launched a B2B exchange on Jan. 31 that matches excess capacity owned by SSPs with corporate storage buyers. Enron has signed a deal with StorageNetworks and is negotiating similar agreements with at least six other providers, said Ravi Thuraisingham, Enron's lead storage trader.
Many analysts see a massive consolidation on the horizon.
Meantime, the amount of data that companies amass is increasing exponentially with the advent of e-business. Forrester Research predicts that companies will increase their average online storage capacities by a factor of 10 over the next five years. That means storage and associated administration will grow from 5 percent of current information systems budgets to 17 percent in 2003, the firm estimates. The business outlook for SSPs is rosy.