Come together? Not now...in IT

September 18, 2009 -- Apologies for the blog title, but the recent tsunami of Beatles media hype has Abbey Road rattling around in my head. All puns aside, TheInfoPro (TIP) just released some interesting research regarding the organizational dynamics in the data center. The most interesting bit may be that most users believe there is an upside to maintaining separate data and networking management groups.

It's interesting to me because experts have predicted that different management groups within IT will eventual merge as the lines between the server, storage and network domains blur. But, as technologies such as server virtualization and unified networking emerge, end users seem to be taking an opposing view.

In its first "Organizational Dynamics Study," TIP looked at the structural issues facing IT organizations. According to the firm, "the study gives insight into the impact that technology and financial considerations will have on the evolution of storage organizations and shows ranges and optimal cost levels of support staffing."

Some snapshots of the research reveal:

• 54%of study respondents see a significant or major impact on addressing storage needs because of server virtualization.

• 78% of respondents said they do not expect storage and networking teams to combine.

• 77% said they do not have a separate virtualization group.

• 60% of respondents said their organization sees major operational benefit in having a separate data management group.

Myron Kerstetter, TheInfoPro's Managing Director of Organizational Studies says: "Looking toward the future, we found that important shifts in the organizational structure will occur in the next three to five years, particularly in the larger storage groups. But despite the hype, many organizations did not expect the creation of formal virtualization teams or the merging of storage and networking groups."

We'd love to hear your take on the topic. Shoot us an e-mail with your opinions.

More information on TIP's latest research can be found on their website.

TIP: SRM tech making a comeback

June 18, 2009 – According to the most recent Storage Study from independent research firm TheInfoPro (TIP), storage resource management (SRM) tools are in the midst of a comeback as enterprises attempt to boost utilization in tough economic times.

TheInfoPro's most recent study, which is based on data gathered from interviews with 250 IT pros at Fortune 1000 and medium-sized enterprise organizations, revealed that managing storage growth, capacity forecasting and storage reporting, and managing costs are the "top pain points" facing end users.

Enter: SRM.

A few tidbits from a press release on TIP's latest Storage Management Technology Heat Index – a barometer of the user needs and planned spending:

• Top technologies on the F1000 Storage Management Technology Heat Index include capacity planning and forecasting, storage performance monitoring and storage resource management – with capacity planning and forecasting jumping nine spots from number 11 six months ago to the number one technology on the index.

• Top technologies on the MSE Storage Management Technology Heat Index include capacity planning and forecasting, information lifecycle management, disk-to-disk and email archiving.

• Top Technologies on the European Storage Management Technology Heat Index include storage resource management, email archiving and thin provisioning.