TECHNOLOGY SERVICE NEWS

QUARTERLY REPORT May 2005, Vol. 2, Issue 2 ©2005

The Tale of The Tape Storage Capacity Collides with Data Growth IT managers are facing a growing problem - literally. The amount of data they must manage is growing by 50% or more a year and a large percentage of that data - perhaps as much as 60% - is stored on desktop and laptop computers. According to the Enterprise Storage Group, storage requirements grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 61% from 2001-2005. Tapes have historically been the backup option of choice because the media was inexpensive and tape capacity was generally greater than hard disks. Today the primary archiving method for 77% of surveyed companies is backing up to tape, according to Osterman Research. But times are changing and tapeless Disk Media is now emerging as a cost effective storage solution for many businesses, with the benefits of reliability, convenience, and operational simplicity. Backup - By The Numbers 95.5% of survey respondents needed to recover from backup over the last year. (Yankee Group) Over 40% of respondents lost data due to tape backup unreliability. (Yankee Group/ Sunbelt Software) 90% of companies without a pre-existing disaster survival plan go out of business within 18 months of an adverse event. (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Data storage density increases for disks have far outpaced density increases for tapes. In fact, total capacity for typical disks has doubled every two years, while tape capacity has grown marginally. And the cost per GB for disks decreases exponentially. With storage pressures growing and downtime simply not an option. The tale of the tape may be over.