Companies of all sizes have come to realize that, in this new data-driven economy, information residing within their computer storage resources can be a valuable competitive asset. And Internet infrastructure and e-business demands are fueling explosive data storage requirements. Industry experts estimate that the demand for data storage capacity is increasing by as much as 50 percent to 100 percent each year. According to Forrester Research, corporations plan to spend about four times more for storage by 2003 than they did in 1999, with the average company expected to have about 150 terabytes of data versus about 15 terabytes today. Clearly, businesses of all types are grappling with this phenomenal growth and are focused on deploying the right storage solution.
Internet businesses are, therefore, tailoring storage solutions to meet their specific demands.
The majority of Internet infrastructure customers are looking for a storage solution that delivers high availability and reliability, scalability, performance, disaster recovery, and cost-effective investment protection. These requirements become absolutely mission critical in the Internet environment. The Internet is never closed. In other words, it does not shut down for holidays, inventory, or re-stocking. Any misstep, site outage, or other hiccup in availability can translate into a loss of market share, revenue, and market valuation.