Cloud storage is beating local HDD storage says new industry report

The Enterprise Storage Forum 2018 Data Storage Trends survey has been released to provide essential data points for storage professionals. The Survey results offer insight on budgets, buying decisions and hiring trends, along with a portrait of how competing emerging technologies are supporting an ever increasing storage workload.

The Survey reveals that not only has Cloud seen wide adoption, it has become the dominant storage medium for storage, reflecting a generational shift. The Survey also shows how flash adoption has surged as prices have fallen, yet traditional hard disk drives continue to hold a significant storage load - contradicting the “flash is taking over” hype. Additionally, demonstrating the urgent need to invest in storage given the data-intensive environment, the survey shows that it’s a rare company that plans to decrease storage budget.

Among Enterprise Storage Forum 2018 Data Storage Trends results:

• Cloud Dominates, HDD Tops SSD: Even as the Survey shows competing emerging technologies like software-defined storage and Flash gaining adoption, the clear winner is Cloud, with 68% of respondents reporting Cloud usage. This clearly tops the second most prevalent, hard disk drive, at 58%. Furthermore, future buying expectations will extend Cloud dominance, the survey notes.
   
• Key Reasons for Purchasing: Cost vs. Performance: The survey reveals the major challenge that companies face in building storage platforms capable of handling today’s intense workloads. The most popular key quality that respondents look for in new technology purchases is a statistical tie between “performance” and “cost savings,” at 72% and 71%, respectively. Other leading buying factors included “greater scalability” and “security,” which tied at 50%.
   
• Two Major Pain Points: High Costs and Aging Gear: Survey respondents indicated that their biggest challenge in operating their current storage infrastructure is a mix of “high costs” and “aging gear.” This demonstrates that while hardware needs a refresh - and businesses realize this - companies face a significant struggle with the high costs of maintaining storage infrastructure.  
   

In total, 374 global IT professionals responded to the Data Storage Trends 2018 survey, with titles varying widely, from Senior Manager, Director, Vice President, C-Level, and Owner. The survey was administered online between July 2018 to August 2018.