Storage UPDATE Survey Results, Part 1

I'll depart from the standard column format for a couple of weeks to report some results of the Windows 2000 Magazine Storage UPDATE survey that—with your help—we just completed. Thanks to the 172 people who took time to answer the survey, which ran online from March 8 through April 7. Because we asked several similar questions in a Storage UPDATE survey in June 2000, we have some interesting trending data to offer.

Who Responded to the Storage UPDATE Survey?
First, to put the results in perspective, I'll describe survey respondents. Primarily, those of you who responded are practitioners. The breakdown by title is as follows: System Administrator/Manager, 30.6 percent; Network Administrator/Manager, 22 percent; CIO, 10 percent; Data Center Manager, 9 percent; Departmental Administrator, 9 percent; Storage Administrator/Manager, 6 percent; and CEO/President, 3 percent. Also, of survey respondents, those who work in all-Windows shops comprise 48 percent; those who work in a largely Windows shop comprise 40 percent. Only 12 percent work in primarily non-Windows environments. Also, whereas in the June 2000 survey, 25 percent of respondents worked in the storage industry, this year, only about 13 percent do.

In general, respondents comprise a set of skilled practitioners who work on Windows-based networks and have an interest in storage. That response base means that the survey data comes from people working in organizations that use the technology. The answers to questions about what software packages you use probably represent actual packages in use rather than number of boxes shipped out the door.

Checking Results Against Storage Deployment Trends
Analysts note two trends that currently drive the Windows storage market (and the storage market in general): a shift in dollars spent from server assets to storage assets and a shift from distributed or server-based storage to shared or networked storage. This survey set out to test the trends. The first trend predicts movement from 75 percent server/25 percent storage in 2000 to 25 percent storage/75 percent server in 2002. Our responses indicate that the 35 percent of expenditures representing storage today will increase to 41 percent in 2002, 46 percent in 2003, and 47 percent in 2004. Our survey also shows that Windows networks still comprise a server-based storage market, but one that's changing rapidly. Although the Storage UPDATE survey numbers clearly support this trend, they indicate that the trend might not be as marked as some analysts believe, at least not within the survey market segment.

Analysts also predict that shared storage will comprise about 65 percent of the market by 2004. Our survey indicates that the percent of organizations using shared storage will grow from 28 percent today to 34 percent in 2002, 44 percent in 2003, and 51 percent in 2004. Again, Storage UPDATE survey numbers clearly support the trend, but—again—the trend might not be as strong as some analysts think in this market segment.

Although we couldn't measure enterprise storage trends accurately (we didn't get a top bounding number), as a lower limit, the average enterprise will grow from 1TB to about 4TB between 2001 and 2004. You reported your desktop storage at 23GB today, and estimated that it would increase to 27GB in 2002, 32GB in 2003, and 34GB in 2004. (I wonder whether you're underestimating the impact of larger disk sizes and the natural cycle of PC replacement.) The average client data size in a well-managed enterprise was estimated at 545MB.

Software Numbers
To the question, "What backup software do you use? (Check all that apply)," you answered as follows (for comparison, the June 2000 results follow in parentheses):

The results indicate a major increase in all network backup software with substantial gains for both CA ARCserveIT and VERITAS NetBackup. Legato has done well, with Tivoli ADSL and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Omniback also increasing their shares.

To the question, "What kinds of backup routines do you use (Please mark all that apply)," you answered as follows:

To the question "What network management software does your company use? (Check all that apply)," you answered as follows:

Clearly, HP OpenView is the favorite framework. The percentages are consistent with those from the June 2000 survey. At that time, the more detailed response to "Other" indicated that about 50 percent used Systems Management Server (SMS). This year, we unfortunately didn't explore "Other" further.

Finally, in answer to the question, "Do you use software management or quota software in your company? (Check all that apply)," you answered as follows:

Several of these questions have been plotted. Click each topic of interest in the left column.

Next week, I'll report about Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS), where there were some intriguing survey results.