Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 27, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Data volumes, server structures and backup methods: more than 100 system administrators assessed the current situation and outlook through 2010.
ARCHIWARE, a specialist in scalable data-management solutions, announced results of its annual customer survey (*). Over the previous four weeks, more than 100 professional system administrators answered questions about IT infrastructure. Key findings include:
- Average data-volume growth of 85% by 2010
- Declining importance of tape-only solutions
- Clearly predominant heterogeneous server structures
- 31% of organisations plan to deploy virtualisation within twelve months
- Strongest growth among mobile devices such as smartphones and PDAs, at 82%
“An expected doubling of backup-relevant data within the next 18 months is enormous,” says ARCHIWARE Managing Director Josef Doods. “Mobile data backup is also rapidly becoming more important — expected growth of more than 80% for iPhone and similar devices speaks clearly.” The survey identifies developments in data management and in server- and client-side software and hardware.
Data Growth
Respondents estimated growth in corporate data requiring regular backup. Average growth of 85% was expected by 2010. Half considered an increase of more than 50% within twelve months realistic, while 36% expected data volumes at least to double by 2010.
Backup Hardware
Most organisations use a combination of disk and tape, a trend respondents expected to strengthen. The number choosing disk-and-tape solutions was forecast to rise 22% by 2010. Only one quarter expected to prefer tape as the sole backup hardware in the following year, a decline of 10%.
Software Environment
Sixty-one percent had heterogeneous network structures. Mac OS X was used by 90%, followed by Windows at 55%, Linux at 36% and Solaris at 22%. Only 14% planned to change their network structure, with most of those moving away from Windows.
File-Server Solutions
Forty-six percent used file-server software. Market leader Helios held 67%, expected to be 65% in 2010, ahead of Netatalk at 13% and Xinet at 10%. ExtremeZ-IP was forecast to rise to an estimated 13% share.
Virtualisation Software
Virtualisation was current for 42% of organisations: 11% had already integrated virtualisation software on their servers and 31% planned deployment within twelve months. Half of those interested already preferred a particular solution.
Servers
Respondents generally expected a 50% increase in backup hardware. Sixty-one of 106 administrators planned no further server-hardware purchases during the period, while one quarter expected at least to double their server structure by the following year.
Desktop Workstations and Laptops
Mobile workstations requiring backup were expected to increase 30%, compared with only 13% for desktop computers. By 2010, respondents expected 63 laptops for every 100 desktops, while the share of organisations using more laptops than desktops was forecast to rise from 9% to 12%.
Smartphones and PDAs
Administrators expected average growth of 82% in mobile devices such as iPhones during the following year. One third of organisations expected their device count at least to double by 2010. Smartphones were already used in 81% of participating organisations, but only one third intended to include device data in backup.
(*) Survey participants: 106 IT administrators assessed future data-volume developments and expected hardware and software requirements. Organisations came primarily from prepress, communication, publishing, video, IT, design, education and science. Data was collected online at http://www.archiware.com over four weeks.
Complete results and detailed analysis are available at http://www.archiware.com/umfrage.
