Originally posted on here, https://community.spiceworks.com/blog/3240-spiceworks-research-examines-storage-trends-in-2020-and-beyond, by author Peter Tsai.
In a world where organizations store and process more data with each passing year, technology has evolved to keep pace. For example, hard drive capacities have increased steadily and adoption of scalable cloud storage platforms has headed skyward.
At the same time, storage vendors have introduced solutions to accelerate storage read and write times — which have historically been a bottleneck in computing. Today, speedy technologies such as solid state drives (SSDs), non-volatile memory (NVMe), and all-flash arrays and are widely used.
But just how prevalent are these technologies and which storage brands do businesses use most? To better understand trends shaping the storage landscape, Spiceworks recently surveyed 548 IT professionals in North America and Europe about the current and future state of data storage in the workplace for the report, Storage Trends in 2020 and Beyond.
Here, we’ll highlight 4 key trends identified in our research. For even more comprehensive data and insights, check out the full report.
Hardware and cloud storage technologies will drive growth
According to our data, you can expect double-digit two-year adoption growth of many storage technologies which help organizations keep pace with capacity and performance demands. By 2022, an additional 20% of companies plan use cloud storage infrastructure, and we anticipate significant adoption gains for high-capacity hard disk drives (17%), all-flash storage (14%), and cloud file-sharing services (10%).
Additionally, use of persistent memory technologies such as Intel Optane — which can help bridge the performance gap between SSDs and Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) — is expected to grow significantly, with an additional 12% of organizations planning to use the technology by 2022.
While it might initially appear that there will only be modest SSD adoption growth, at a device level, SSD usage in servers is set for a significant increase. We’ll have more on the trend of SSDs becoming commonplace in the server room later in this article.
Cloud storage infrastructure and file-sharing usage
According to our research, over the next two years, 60% of organizations expect cloud storage needs to grow. It’s no wonder our data points to double-digit growth in the use of cloud file sharing services and cloud storage infrastructure.
In fact, 39% of businesses use cloud-based storage infrastructure (i.e., on Azure, AWS, Google Cloud), and an additional 20% plan to by 2022, making this the fastest-growing storage category covered in our study. While the big three cloud providers are quite popular among cloud infrastructure users, Microsoft’s Azure is currently the most commonly used cloud infrastructure service, followed by Amazon AWS Storage, then Google Cloud Storage. Looking forward 2 years, we expect Microsoft to maintain its lead, with Amazon not far behind.
Among businesses using or planning to use cloud infrastructure, Microsoft Azure Storage enjoys a current adoption rate of 44%, with an additional 20% of businesses plan to start using Microsoft’s cloud storage platform within 2 years.
Amazon AWS, which kick-started the cloud computing trend in 2006 by offering scalable, on-demand storage, currently enjoys 32% adoption rate among businesses using or planning to use cloud infrastructure, with an additional 15% of those organizations planning to adopt AWS within 2 years.
While Dropbox might have once been the default option in cloud file-sharing for business, there’s a new top player in town. Just like with cloud storage infrastructure, Microsoft has the most widely used cloud file-sharing service as well, edging out rivals.
Among businesses using or planning to use cloud file-sharing services, Microsoft OneDrive enjoys 70% adoption, followed by Dropbox (46%), and Google Drive (40%). With an additional 11% of businesses planning to start using OneDrive within two years, we anticipate the service will maintain its lead going forward.
The prevalence of Microsoft’s file-sharing service is very likely tied to the success of Office 365, which integrates OneDrive as part of the software suite. Currently, O365 is used by 67% of organizations, according to our data. In contrast — perhaps partially explaining the usage gap — Google’s G Suite is used by 18% of businesses represented in our study.
Flash forward: The rise of solid state storage
As the price of flash storage falls, once out-of-reach, high-performance solutions will become more attractive to more businesses. Already, a majority of all businesses have standardized on the use of SSDs (instead of HDDs) in desktops (56%) and laptops (68%), and usage on these end-user devices will continue to grow in the future.
At the same time, there’s room for SSD adoption to grow in servers. While 36% of organizations have standardized using SSD storage in all of their servers, an additional 17% of businesses use some SSDs in servers, and an additional 21% of companies plan to do start using SSDs in some servers within 2 years.
Meanwhile, 18% of businesses use all-flash storage arrays today, and additional 14% plan to within 2 years. Looking forward, we found that the technology used inside of all-flash arrays will trend towards faster standards. For example, we expect NVMe SSD usage to see the most adoption growth in all-flash storage arrays, while SAS SSD adoption in all-flash storage arrays will catch up with SATA SSD usage by 2022.
Looking at shared storage providers — including hard-drive-only arrays, hybrid arrays, and all-flash — we found Dell, Synology, and HPE to be the most commonly used brands in the workplace today. Popular second-tier players include IBM, NetApp, and Lenovo.
Overall, most brands we asked about had high future consideration rates, suggesting organizations are open to using a variety of storage array vendors. Additionally, more than half of decision makers we talked to believe it’s not important for potential storage hardware providers to have a brand reputation as an industry leader, which may suggest IT departments are open to purchasing hardware from upstart vendors.
Looking forward: Opportunities and Challenges
While many storage technologies are poised to see an uptick in adoption, storage vendors could face challenges over the next couple of years. Case in point: Many IT professionals aren’t knowledgeable or even aware of newer technologies some storage vendors are trying to promote. For example, fewer than one-third of IT professionals are familiar with HAMR and MAMR technologies, which will power the next generation of high-density spinning hard drives. Additionally, many IT pros view storage technologies as commodities, with little to differentiate between options apart from price.
Percentage of IT pros who view various storage technologies as commodities:
● 61% – Hard disks (HDD)
● 57% – Solid-state drives (SSD)
● 53% – Removable media
● 49% – Cloud storage (e.g., file-sharing services, cloud storage infrastructure)
It’s also important to note that organizations will keep their options open to multiple providers for future storage purchases instead of staying loyal to one brand. If IT vendors want to avoid falling into a commodity trap where they compete primarily on price, they should put more effort into differentiating their products, then increasing awareness of unique attributes of their offerings, the underlying technologies behind them, and the benefits they provide.
More storage insights await in the full report
Combined Systems Technology 