Storage Rages

March 5, 2009

ComputerWorld’s “Virtualization the Top Trend over the Next 5 Years” here underscores a potential opportunity that most traditional search and content processing vendors won’t be able to handle with their here-and-now solutions.

“Storage technology is similar to insurance in the financial services industry. In times of a recession, you have to manage your risk. Storage protects what you have and reduces risk,” said Steve Ingledew, managing director of Millward Brown Research’s Technology Practice.

What is interesting about this quote from the ComputerWorld article is that storage itself becomes a risk. Are most search and content processing systems up to task of managing massive repositories of digital information? The answer, in my opinion, is, “Sort of.” Autonomy moved to buy Interwoven to bolster its enterprise information and eDiscovery footprint.  Specialists such as Clearwell Systems and Stratify (Iron Mountain) are farther along than most search and content processing companies. But when the volume of data gets into the tera and peta range, the here-and-now systems may not be up to the task.

With storage booming, there are some major opportunities for companies such as Aster Data, InfoBright, and Perfect Search. Unfamiliar with these companies? One may become the next big thing in data management. Google was on my short list, but the company seems to have lost some zip in the last 12 months. Amazon? At its core it is still an ecommerce vendor and not set up to handle the rigors of spoliation. Storage rages forward.

Stephen Arnold, March 5, 2009

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