Now that data has become indispensable to companies, they have to embrace new technologies to ensure they store and manage it efficiently, says Frans Nijeboer, Dimension Data`s manager for data centre and storage solutions.
Businesses already retain hefty amounts of data and present and future legislation will demand they retain even more and sometimes for longer periods of time.
This, he says, is a good case for them to get smarter with storage solutions and how they maximise its capacity.
"Information is a company asset and thus should be effectively utilised. However, companies should remember that data is just data until you put it into context with an application, thereafter information can develop to being knowledge and further to intelligence," says Nijeboer.
Both business and regulatory requirements should determine the type and amount of storage a company puts in place, he comments.
Nijeboer says that in line with the ever-increasing amount of data being generated by companies, vendors are also building a lot more capacity into their mobile and fixed devices. Even media such as DVD are expected to be available with 50GB capacity before the end of next year.
However, he notes that virtualisation is the way to go, adding that it simplifies the management of complex infrastructure. Research group Meta predicts that by 2008, network functionality will become a service to storage.
"Companies must also always bear in mind that data preservation and presentation are two of the major functions of storage," notes Nijeboer.
Recent research also shows a tremendous fall in storage prices. Hard drive-based storage used to be much cheaper than that of flash-based technology, but the gap between the two is fast getting smaller while the overall price continues to fall.
In as far as architecture is concerned, he says storage area networks are a given and here to stay. All that companies have to ensure is that they build scalable architectures with relevant intelligence integrated into them.
On the issue of building heterogeneous or homogeneous systems, Nijeboer says green fields are better for uniform technology whereas already existing systems can opt for varied vendor products depending on which product is more suitable for the task.
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