The need to effectively store and manage data, and comply with legislation, represent key drivers behind the storage space and expected growth within this market.
The increase in the volume of data, almost on an exponential basis, is helping to ensure technology vendors and service providers pay closer attention to the development of storage technology and related business requirements.
The past practice of spreading data at random and trying to match hard drive space on the file server to adequately manage data is long gone. Storage resource management, strategic allocation of areas, integration of storage devices and virtualisation now define this much-publicised area of ICT.
Legislation has been introduced to govern critical business operations such as archiving and risk management, among others. It is forcing businesses to direct their focus onto storage infrastructure, product, processes and best practices.
This legislation includes the Promotion of Access to Information Act, the Electronic Communication and Transactions Act, the King II Report as well as the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act.
According to the Access to Information Act, businesses are required to archive data for a period of five years. The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act is designed to regulate the monitoring and management of electronic communication.
In terms of storage and the direction of the market, the emphasis is now on scalability and the need to go external. The underlying principle is to ensure that more critical data is prioritised.
The trend is virtualisation or the virtual management of storage in order to effectively manage data and align infrastructure accordingly. It is particularly relevant when two or more applications run off the same storage device - quicker access can be given to more important data.
Storage is certainly one area of the market that continues to demonstrate growth and activity as far as technology investment is concerned.
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Gauteng-based Annex Distribution is a leading distributor of building block solutions to sub-Saharan Africa.
The company features a line card of recognised brand names including 3Com, AMD, BenQ, Creative Technologies, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hynix, IBM, Intel, LG, Matrox, MSI, Samsung and Tyan Computer Corporation
Through established partnerships with international specialist suppliers, Annex is positioned to provide value-add service and support for clients to ensure they remain in the forefront of ICT requirements and e-commerce.
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