Foremski: Storage Issues to Drive Outsourcing

Catching up: Last week Tom Foremski had an interesting post about storage trends on his ZDNet blog, noting that the efficiencies and cost savings available through utility computing will lead more corporations to mothball their in-house data centers and shift their equipment and data to third-party vendors operating out of stand-alone facilities. Data center service providers have been touting the likelihood of a huge migration out of in-house facilities for many years now. Make no mistake - this is a big trend, and will continue for some time to come and sustain the business models of many providers.

But enterprises cling tightly to their data and critical business applications, and are reluctant to trust the crown jewels to third-party providers. When it does happen, it's often a gradual process, with a portion of the IT operation being outsourced to see if the provider can deliver on its promises.

The current enthusiasm for server consolidation also suggests that many corporations will opt to overhaul their existing operations to implement blade servers and next-generation cooling solutions, rather than see this as an opportunity to outsource. The ousourcing wave is indeed coming, but never as quickly as envisioned by vendors and service providers, particularly those marketing new technologies.

Read Tom's column for more on the subject. Tom also writes the Silicon Valley Watcher weblog, which is a daily read in my RSS feeds.