NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MIKE KARP ON STORAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE 11/23/04 Today's focus: Storage purchasing drivers
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * The operational and capital expenses of storage purchasing * Links related to Storage in the Enterprise * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88597 _______________________________________________________________ NW'S RESEARCH CENTER ON SPAM Go to NW's Research Center on spam and find our in-depth review of 16 anti-spam products, our spam calculator to determine how much spam is costing your enterprise each year, the latest spam news, advice on how to fight spam and more. For the latest on spam click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88675 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Storage purchasing drivers By Mike Karp Two countervailing forces are driving much of IT purchasing these days. The first results from the happy circumstance that the cost of actual physical storage is diminishing. Disk drive technology has enabled a predictable curve that provides larger capacity disks that take up lessening amounts of space and cost fewer dollars to buy. Additionally, smaller disks require less power, which offers opportunities for cheaper cabinetry and lower running costs. The new serial storage protocols, serial-attached SCSI (SAS) and serial ATA (SATA) have also led to much efficiency in cabinet design. In both cases for example, reducing the size of cables has meant that air flows more easily between the drives and the backplane. This in turn helps to reduce costs for cooling JBOD devices (disks that are put in arrays and typically connected directly to a backplane don't get this particular benefit but can take advantage of others). When it comes to tape, technologies continue to improve and deliver better value. A look at the new set of Linear-Tape Open (LTO) products for instance shows that total storage and throughput also continues to improve significantly at each price point - roughly the same investment today provides much greater benefit in both categories than it did just two years ago. The second driving force however is much less pleasant: the costs associated with administering, protecting, and maintaining storage are rising at an alarming rate. It is tempting to assume that the better value we receive at the front end whenever we purchase such new products offsets the increased costs for managing all our new storage. Unfortunately, as any manager will tell you, this is never the case. It is important to differentiate here between the purchase price of hardware and software - the capital expense (CAPEX) - and the ongoing costs of operating the IT environment (operational expenses, or OPEX). The most significant difference between the two is also the most obvious one - a capital expense occurs just once, but you are stuck with the OPEX for the life of the product. Thus, if you expect to keep a piece of equipment around for five years, it will have five years of operational expense associated with it. More on this next time. _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Mike Karp Mike Karp is senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates, focusing on storage, storage management and the methodology that brings these issues into the marketplace. He has spent more than 20 years in storage, systems management and telecommunications. Mike can be reached via e-mail <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88596 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Storage newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/stor/index.html Breaking storage news and analysis: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/storage.html _______________________________________________________________ Bandwidth or latency? How to solve application performance issues With more users at the edge, and more of the infrastructure at headquarters, how are enterprises increasing business productivity and application performance? Is more bandwidth the answer? Find out now. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88565 _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NW FUSION PARTNERS' SITES NOW AVAILABLE Network World Fusion Partners is a collaborative effort between Network World and sponsoring Partner companies. Each microsite contains best-of-breed information as well as custom content not found anywhere else, including a custom email newsletter and special offers. It is current, top-of-mind information that is readily accessible and bundled into one comprehensive package. Visit the NWFusion Partner sites to learn about storage solutions, network access solutions, optical networking and more. 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