The term storage management encompasses the technologies and processes organizations use to maximize or improve the performance

of their data storage resources. It's a broad category that includes virtualization, replication, mirroring, security, compression, traffic analysis, process automation, storage provisioning and related techniques. By some estimates, the amount of digital information stored in the world's computer systems is doubling every year. s a result, organizations feel constant pressure to expand their storage capacity. !owever, doubling a company's storage capacity every year is an expensive proposition. In order to reduce some of those costs and improve the capabilities and security of their storage solutions, organizations turn to a variety of storage management solutions.

Storage Management Benefits

"any storage management technologies, li#e storage virtualization, deduplication and compression, allow companies to better utilize their existing storage. The benefits of these approaches include lower costs $$ both the one$time capital expenses associated with storage devices and the ongoing operational costs for maintaining those devices. "ost storage management techniques also simplify the management of storage networ#s and devices. That can allow companies to save time and even reduce the number of IT wor#ers needed to maintain their storage systems, which in turn, also reduces overall storage operating costs. %torage management can also help improve a data center's performance. &or example, compression and technology can enable faster I'(s, and automatic storage provisioning can speed the process of assigning storage resources to various applications. In addition, virtualization and automation technologies can help an organization improve its agility. These storage management techniques ma#e it possible to reassign storage capacity quic#ly as business needs change, reducing wasted space and improving a company's ability to respond to evolving mar#et conditions. &inally, many storage management technologies, such as replication, mirroring and security, can help a data center improve its reliability and availability. These techniques are often particularly important for bac#up and archive storage, although they also apply to primary storage. IT departments often turn to these technologies for help in meeting %) s or achieving compliance goals.

Storage Management: Related Terms

%torage management is very closely related to %torage *esource "anagement +%*",. %*" often refers particularly to software used to manage storage networ#s and devices. By contrast, the term -storage management- can refer to devices and processes, as well as actual software. In addition, %*" usually refers specifically to software for allocating storage capacity based on company policies and ongoing events. It may include asset management, charge bac#, capacity management, configuration management, data and media migration, event management, performance and availability management, policy management, quota management, and media management capabilities. In short, %*" is a subset of storage management. however, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. %torage management is also closely associated with networ#ed storage solutions, such as storage area networ#s +% /s, and networ#$attached storage +/ %, devices. Because using % / and / % devices is more complicated than using direct$attached storage +0 %,, many organizations deploy %*" software when they deploy their storage networ#ing environments. !owever, storage management techniques li#e replication, mirroring, security, compression and others can be utilized with 0 % devices as well as with % /s and / % arrays. %torage management is often used in virtualized or cloud computing environments.

Storage Management Implementation

Because storage management is such a broad category, it's difficult to provide detailed instructions on how to install or how to use storage management technologies. In general, storage management technology can be deployed as software or it can be included in a hardware device. %torage management techniques can be applied to primary, bac#up or archived storage. 0eployment and implementation procedures will vary widely depending on the type of storage management selected and the

vendor. In addition, the s#ills and training of storage administrators and other personnel add another level to an organization's storage management capabilities.

"anaging the data deluge requires a combination of talent and technology resources. 1nterprises are faced with data that increases 23 percent year$over$year, which ma#es dealing with the data problem a lot more complex.

To ma#e the situation even more challenging, virtualization technologies and regulatory compliance laws further complicate data management and push professionals to the max, greatly hindering their ability to effectively manage data.

good storage administrator has probably set storage policies and implemented storage resource management +%*", tools. But, a phenomenal storage administrator is moving toward being able to connect the dots, understand what is driving data growth and integrate capacity planning.