Digital data is growing at an explosive rate with users creating far more digital content than ever before, thanks to Web 2.0 technologies and rich media. Within the enterprise, the volume of data generated through millions of transactions has led to an exponential increase in data storage requirements. A recent report by market research firm IDC predicts that, by 2010, the amount of data added annually will be 988 exabytes (an exabyte is a billion gigabytes). To put that in perspective, it would be enough data for a stack of books to be lined up end-to-end from the planet Pluto to the Sun, and back again!

Web 2.0 technologies have led to increased user-generated content, with user videos on YouTube, Blogs, social networking and photo sharing sites. The volume of user documents and the size of those documents are increasing on enterprise networks. Users are increasingly using rich media for communication. For instance, corporate executives are exchanging video content comprising product demos, briefings and presentations. Dispersed teams use collaborative tools such as social networking, Wikis and video conferencing. All this has led to the demand for additional storage.

IT managers are challenged to find ways to address this demand even at a time when IT spending has decreased. Scaling up storage usually calls for investments in media such as tape or disk or investment in additional data center space.

Since procurement has decreased, IT departments attempt to optimize their current storage through proven technologies like storage virtualization, thin provisioning and new ones like open storage.
This article touches upon the storage technologies that enterprises must implement in the current economic scenario. It highlights the pros and cons of each technology.