IT budgets in 2009 are getting a double whammy. For the average company worldwide, according to IDC, total IT budgets will grow only 2.6% instead of the pre-meltdown projection of 5.9%. In the US, these figures are even smaller: 0.9% in place of 4.2%. Yet some non-discretionary line items – line items that can’t be avoided, yet often do little to advance strategic objectives – increase almost inexorably. Storage cost is one of these: IDC has also predicted that worldwide disk storage systems capacity shipments will continue to more than double every two years.
Many companies are turning to selective disposition as a way to control storage growth. One large financial services firm estimates that at least 25% of existing data on its collaborative shares can easily be deemed expendable. Another plans to avoid storage infrastructure purchases in 2009 by keeping what it needs and deleting what it doesn’t need.
