DM May-Jun 2023

Dm STRATEGY: STORAGE
"IN THE CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS CONTEXT, REALISING THE INTRINSIC
AND LATENT VALUE OF DATA HAS BECOME ONE OF TODAY'S MISSION-
CRITICAL PRIORITIES IN THE FIGHT TO STAY RELEVANT IN RAPIDLY
CHANGING MARKETS. FOR EACH ORGANISATION, ADDRESSING THE
OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE EFFECTIVE EXPLOITATION OF DATA CAN BRING IS
GROUNDED ON DEVELOPING A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT
DATASETS THEY CREATE AND COLLECT, HOW OFTEN THEY NEED TO ACCESS
THEM, AND HOW LONG THEY NEED TO RETAIN THEM."
good place, the next step is to consider
where data should be stored based on
each use case. A decision about storing
data on-premises or in the cloud, for
example, should be based on a range of
criteria, including performance, cost,
security, and compliance, among others.
This can be seen very much as a 'horses
for courses' argument, with nonpermanent
workloads requiring highperformance
access best suited to one of
the public cloud providers. In contrast,
more sensitive data such as that
containing Personally Identifiable
Information (PII), data that is subject to
compliance requirements, or legacy data
may be best located in on-premises
environments.
ON-PREMISES, CLOUD, OR HYBRID
In each situation, organisations should
evaluate the pros and cons of every option.
While public cloud offers immense
flexibility, for instance, some organisations
have found it to be an expensive long-term
option. In April this year, for example,
OFCOM proposed referring the UK cloud
market to the Competition and Markets
Authority for investigation, one of the
reasons being the "high fees for
transferring data out." In its statement,
OFCOM argues that "The cost of egress
fees can discourage customers from using
services from more than one cloud provider
or to switch to an alternative provider."
With these considerations addressed,
data strategy decision-makers also need to
look at issues such as the speed, security,
and sustainability of the solutions on offer.
For on-premises environments, this should
focus on choosing the right backup
solution, such as tape, disk, or a mix of
technologies. The choice of technology
and vendor will depend on data access
needs, whether offline capabilities are
required, and whether each product on
the shortlist fits the available budget.
For example, disk-based storage offers
faster performance than tape, but in
contrast, tape is more suited to air-gapped
backup use cases where an extra layer of
security is required by storing the data
offline. In addition, tape also helps deliver
better environmental performance
because it requires less power, doesn't
need as much cooling and, therefore,
emits less CO2 than disk-based storage.
Disk or Solid State Drive (SSD) solutions,
in contrast, offer much faster read/write
speeds than tape systems while offering
easier data mobility and integration
options. As a result of these various pros
and cons, many organisations opt for a
combination of multiple technologies to
match their specific needs relating to each
business requirement and dataset.
Ultimately, the choice of storage
technology is an issue that should be kept
under regular review, not least because of
the speed of innovation, which continues
to drive product and service
development forward. For instance, the
emergence of software-defined all-flash
storage platforms designed for the
enterprise is giving organisations the
ability to implement cloud-native file and
object storage software without the
constraints associated with legacy
hardware-centric systems.
STORAGE IN THE ERA OF BIG DATA
Given that more than double the amount
of data will be created in the next five
years than was in the previous ten,
according to IDC, most enterprises
continue to store this data on systems that
were designed 20 years ago. Many of
these technologies can't take advantage of
the latest flash and memory technologies
available today, while even more recent allflash
file and object storage solutions rely
on specialised hardware and won't run
natively in the cloud, leading to trade-offs,
compromises, and complexity.
Whatever their priorities, organisations
must carefully consider their unique data
storage needs, taking into account the
volume and type of data, compliance
requirements, and performance demands.
Get it right, and a well-planned storage
strategy can help organisations effectively
manage and secure their data whilst
staying agile in a rapidly evolving
technology and business landscape.
More info: www.quantum.com
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