Many companies have dropped tape in favor of on-line archiving. This is certainly a good economic strategy and a requirement in some cases. But what's the end-game? You can storage an infinity of data on tapes and throw them in a mountain somewhere (data waste to go along with nuclear waste) at a low cost. (It's writing the tape that is expensive.) But the bits that go to the on-line archive simply require more and more storage... Who is doing the math? This is an exponential curve. Remember, for most organizations, the need for storage is doubling every 12 to 18 months (Gartner Group). This year you added 500 terabytes... Next year you don't add 500 terabytes, you add a petabyte.

How many doublings does it take before the cost of storage exceeds the company's annual revenue? I've yet to have anyone give me their plan for 5 years out. What's yours?

Tuesday, October 03, 2006 10:21:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)      Comments [0]  Observations | Storage Management