Moving towards virtualized storage is becoming an increasingly popular option among businesses looking to expand their network services while minimizing investments in new infrastructure. Despite some lingering fears about data security, according to a recent study by Thales and the Ponemon Institute more than half of businesses surveyed worldwide reported moving sensitive data into cloud storage. Another third expect to increase their virtualized storage usage in the coming year.
Implementing virtualized storage solutions can solve a wide variety of problems for your business. Based on our own experience in virtualization as well as industry studies, these are some of the most common reasons companies are moving towards virtual networks:
Implementing robust data backup and restoration options: Having off-site backups are generally seen as a strong insurance policy to protect against data loss in catastrophic situations. Offsite backups can be restored quickly, often within minutes, allowing for quick data disaster recovery. They also can assist you in meeting data retention and deletion regulations, such as those imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX).
- Preventing human error: Mistakes happen. Having all of your data on one set of servers creates a situation where a mistake as simple as entering the wrong flags on a Unix “rm” file deletion command can cause huge problems. Placing your data on different servers reduces the chances of a single mistake bringing down your data.
- Consolidating complex file systems: Modern networks often have files residing on multiple disc storage units under multiple different hardware architectures and file systems. A SAN – Storage Area Network – can take all your disparate file systems and consolidate them into a single set of virtual drives that are universally accessible.
- Saving on hardware upkeep costs: One of the single biggest benefits of virtualized storage are the cost savings. The direct savings are twofold. First, treating storage as a service that’s only used on demand means having to spend far less directly on new hardware. Also, keeping your storage off-site can vastly reduce your local energy costs by minimizing the amount of hardware running in-house.
- Freeing up manpower: If your HR budget is tight, moving your storage onto the cloud can help you free up internal resources and allow your IT department to focus on higher-level problems than simple server maintenance.
No matter the reason, virtualized storage is an attractive option for companies looking to save money while creating a more robust data access environment.
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