Recent data storage statistics tell us something that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The data storage needs of small to medium sized businesses continue to grow at a rapid pace, and in order to keep up with their own demand, companies are spending more to ensure the safety of their critical information. But while there’s a need to ramp up spending, there’s always need to find economical solutions that provide the best bang for that all-important buck. Here are a couple of ways small to medium sized companies are dealing with that challenge.
Scale Out Storage Solutions: One of the long standing hesitations SMBs preparing to make the jump to SAN Architectures have is the initial cost of entry. Traditionally monolithic storage systems require an organization to plan for a fixed amount of growth before they have to add a second, separately managed, system. Sure, you can buy a chassis that is partially populated and add drives later. But in the end this only accommodates capacity growth and does not address performance scaling or management overhead. Scale-Out architectures inherently scale both capacity and growth simultaneously, and provide a centrally managed system. This allows you to start small (and pay small) without having to worry about your growth path.
All-in-One Devices – For those companies that aren’t ready to abandon traditional methods to meet their data storage needs, there are all-inclusive storage appliances being made available that take all backup, archive and data transfer duties and dumb them down to the point where someone without a degree in computer programming can operate them with relative ease. These devices are naturally more highly desirable for those who want a simplistic approach to the complex issue of data storage without having to keep a permanent on-site IT staff.
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