Cloud Storage Trends: Cheaper, Faster, Better
Storage is one of the easiest ways for local governments to begin the move into the cloud. While Software and Platform as a Service offer exciting long-term savings, cloud storage is low-hanging fruit for even the smallest governments.
Twin Strata recently surveyed 150 IT professionals about cloud storage, and although the sample size was small, the trends cannot be ignored. For example, 46 percent of organizations are using cloud storage today, but as the survey points out, most organizations are quickly running out of storage space:
Last year IHS iSuppli estimated that storage densities were growing at a rate of 20% each year, enabling organizations to fit more capacity in less space. Unfortunately, according to Gartner, storage capacity demands are growing 40-60% each year, significantly outpacing density growth.
As a result, most organizations quickly face capacity demands that outstrip their ability to support that storage on-premises.
For the majority of our survey respondents, that reality is already here – three out of every five respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “It seems like we are always running out of storage.”
Interest in cloud storage has reached an all-time high, thanks to its affordability, accessibility and improving security. According to Google Search Trends, interest in the term “cloud storage” peaked in January 2014.
As noted in our Cloud Computing reference guide, the primary reason cloud storage can cut costs is because it’s scalable, meaning governments will never have too much or too little storage:
What started as a quintessential consumer cloud service — online storage for photos, videos, music and other files — has become a core IaaS offering for enterprises. Offline, on-premises storage capacity may be inexpensive, but scaling it up to handle rapid data growth takes planning, capital investment and IT staff.
Even then, planning for storage can be an inexact science. Organizations often end up with too little or too much capacity for their needs. Cloud storage is elastic, so it grows and shrinks to match an enterprises’s actual needs. Plus, it is secure, encrypted and highly available.
Will your government be the next one to move to the cloud? Let us know in the Comments.
