Storage management, like so many other areas of technology, is changing on an almost daily basis. Those involved in storage management, from the end-user support specialist up through the CIO, need to have a handle on what’s going on so that they can provide the best possible results to their business.

Here are 5 of the most significant storage management trends you should be familiar with:

Life Cycle Management

Information life cycle management is the process of actively managing your data from the time that it’s created all the way through the process until it’s not ever needed. Life cycle management is one of the most effective ways to reduce your overall storage costs while making better use of your resources. You can classify your company’s data according to how business critical it is and then put that data on the most reliable (and most expensive) storage. Less important data can then be kept on less expensive storage. Life cycle management lets you create multiple tiers of priority, and ultimately reduce infrastructure costs.

Consolidation/Virtualization

For the past few years, virtualization has been at the center of just about any discussion of data management, and that trend continues. By reducing the number of servers, as well as the kind of servers you have on site will help reduce the complexities involved in storage management. Virtualization also lets you place data in locations that are most conducive to the critical performance needs of the enterprise.

Capacity Planning

Constant monitoring of your storage utilization is key to being able to predict and plan what your storage needs will be in the future. Capacity planning involves more than just volume size; it includes things like bandwidth and CPU utilization, as well.

Centralization

Here’s another trend that’s been hot for several years, and that continues today. By having a centralized team manage your storage requirements, you wind up with fewer overall hassles as well as the ability to aggregate your available capacity into usable and managed pools.

Resource Management

SRM is finally catching up with us. SRM is more than just tracking and monitoring backup data, however. It’s all about taking all of your data-related needs and managing them from the time the data is generated through the entire lifecycle.

Manage More Data with Less Infrastructure

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