Three Deals Symbolized Storage Trends In 2008

Three Deals Symbolized Storage Trends In 2008

The storage story of 2008 was growth: An accelerating explosion of information, much of it in the form of video, led IT Support administrators to try to make better use of their capacity and staff.
"What we'll see more of in companies is a focus on efficiency," IDC analyst Rick Villars said. They're seeking to increase the utilization of their storage capacity as well as other IT Support resources.



1. On Dec. 19, Brocade Communications and Foundry Networks completed a deal they had announced in July before navigating the roughest waters the financial and credit markets have seen in a generation. The merger, now valued at $2.6 billion, is intended to address a coming merger of SAN (storage area network) and LAN technology.



2. In April, IBM acquired Diligent Technologies, which specializes in data de-duplication for large enterprise storage systems. The company didn't reveal how much the acquisition cost, but it was a key move in a market that could grow to US$1 billion in annual revenue by 2009, according to research company The 451 Group.



3. In late February, enterprise storage giant EMC bought Pi, a provider of software and online backup services for consumers to keep track of personal information stored locally or online. The deal, which followed the company's 2007 buyout of online backup provider Mozy, was one sign of growing interest in cloud storage.