Just as the effects of the recent economic downturn have been universally felt across all sectors and industries, likewise do the principle concepts discussed in this chapterthe commoditization of hardware and storage utilization efficienciesapply to all IT environments, regardless of the size or the nature of the business application. This chapter sets the stage for understanding the storage network as a value-add to the firm insofar as it is capable of alleviating the management and financial burdens associated with direct-attached storage (DAS).
Networked storage offers significant business advantages over DAS, and the impact of these benefits can be quantified and measured. To understand the nature of the business benefits of networked storage, a brief, general discussion of overall IT spending and the specifics of storage spending is required and provides a basis for the remainder of the analysis performed in later chapters.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Storage management
Implementing a storage vision
The commoditization of hardware
The impact of industry trends and legislation on storage consumption
Storage utilization, storage yield, and the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)