Disk is the backup medium of choice: UK survey

Shoden Data Systems UK has published the results of an independent survey of UK IT decision makers. The findings revealed that in some markets (retail, distribution and transport), up to 72 percent of organizations have already or are planning to implement disk-based as opposed to tape-based backup in 2009. According to the study, carried out by Vanson Bourne, among the biggest proponents of disk-based backup is also the financial services industry, with 64 percent of respondents opting for disk over tape.

Although disk-based backup has been available for several years, it was over the past 18 months, thanks in part to rapidly falling hard disk prices, that it has become the strategy of choice for most end users. Among the reasons behind the switch are the advantages of better speed, reliability and total cost of ownership (TCO) offered by disk drives and the emergence of technologies such as data deduplication.

The survey also found that the smaller the business, the stronger the response: 64 percent of respondents from organizations with between 1,000 to 3,000 employees said that they have already or are planning to deploy tapeless backup this year, whereas the figure dropped to 56 percent for companies with more than 3,000 staff. This response is likely to be given by the existing tape-based infrastructure that tends to be found in larger data centres, which are therefore slower to convert to a disk-based strategy.

On average, the study found that 60 percent of UK organizations prefer disk to tape-based backup.

www.shoden.co.uk

•Date:3rd April 2009• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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