Symantec has recently released the India findings of its 2010 State of Data Center study. The study estimates that mid-size enterprises are more likely to adopt technologies such as cloud computing, de-duplication, replication, storage virtualization, and continuous data protection than small or large enterprises to reduce IT costs and manage increasing complexity.

The study also observes that mid-sized enterprise data centers show more activity, with more IT managers predicting major changes to the data center and new applications in 2010.  It also suggests that mid-sized enterprises place a higher importance on staffing and training than their small or large enterprise counterparts.

Findings of the study indicate that:

• Mid-sized enterprises are more aggressive and pioneering than either small or large enterprises.  They are adopting new technology initiatives such as cloud computing, replication, and de-duplication at 10-15 percent higher rates than small or large enterprises.
• Top data center concerns include increased complexity and too many applications.  Most enterprises have 10 or more data center initiatives rated as somewhat or absolutely important. 50 percent expect “significant” changes to their data centers in 2010.  Half of all the enterprises either say that applications are growing somewhat or quickly or are finding it difficult and costly to meet service level agreements (SLAs).  One-third of all enterprises say staff productivity is hampered by too many applications.
  
  Adding to the complexity is the continued increase in data causing 52 percent of organizations to consider data reduction technologies such as de-duplication. Controlling storage growth is also one of the major data center objectives for Indian mid- sized enterprises for 2010. 46 percent of enterprises consider that controlling storage growth is an absolute requirement while another 32 percent think it is somewhat important for 2010.
• Security, backup and recovery, and continuous data protection are the most important initiatives in 2010, ahead of virtualization.  68 percent of enterprises rated security somewhat or absolutely important.  62 percent said backup and recovery is somewhat or absolutely important and 60 percent rated continuous data protection as one of their top initiatives.
• Staffing and budgets remain tight with half of all enterprises reporting that they are somewhat orextremely understaffed.  Finding budget and qualified applicants are the biggest recruiting issues.  Seventy-nine percent of enterprises have the same or more job requisitions open this year.
• There continues to be room for improvement in disaster recovery (DR).  One-third of disaster recovery plans are undocumented or need work. Important IT components, such as cloud computing, remote office and virtual servers are often not included.  Compounding the issue, almost one-third of enterprises have not re-evaluated their disaster recovery plan in the last 12 months.  At the same time 65 percent of companies seemed confident on their organization's DR plan unlike last year.