The Economic Impact of File Virtualization: Reducing Storage Costs and Improving Management Efficiency
In interviews with leading companies from around the world, IDC's Richard Villars discovered that the rapid growth in file-based information is exposing the weaknesses of many existing IT management practices for file-based storage which have direct economic consequences:
-
Severe under-utilization of purchased capacity, often at levels below 15%
-
Excessive allocation of resources for often highly unreliable data backup and recovery solutions;
-
Lengthy migration times for even a limited number of file servers, resulting in significant planned downtime;
-
Ongoing disruptions in end users' ability to access their data, driving down employee productivity and increasing the burden on IT support staff;
-
Excess spending on disk systems that may cost three to four times as much as more capacity-optimized systems and on tape libraries and media used to continuously backup the same unchanging data.
This paper discusses how network-based file virtualization can offset those economic consequences. Based on one-on-one interviews with senior IT managers of companies who have implemented this technology, IDC discovered that companies that have implemented intelligent file virtualization realized dramatic cost savings and huge gains in efficiency, including:
-
Migration times reduced by up to 90%;
-
Spending on disk capacity lowered by 50-80%;
-
Backup times cut by 50-80%;
-
Measurable increases in end-user productivity and business workflow.
Request IDC white paper now.