Budgets are tight, yet data is still growing: a four per cent increase in attendees at Storage Expo 2008 reflected companies’ desire to get more bang for their buck.

Held in the National Hall at Olympia, London on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October, many of the 3,943 visitors had just one thing on their minds ­ budgets.

Now in its eighth year, the show was attended by visitors from 30 countries, including nations in Europe, the US, South and Central America and South-East Asia.

Copan Systems, vendor of massive array of idle disks (MAID) attended the show with partner StorNext, a subsidiary of vendor Quantum. Gary Veale, chief sales officer at Copan Systems, said: “The amount of data is growing, but budgets are staying straight. Businesses are looking for a more cost-effective way to store data.”

When IBM acquired Israel-based XIV in January, the firm’s storage grid-based technologies and its staff became part of the IBM System Storage business unit.

Greg Scorziello, director of XIV storage systems at IBM, said: “We are looking for new partners for this technology, but we will be selective ­ [choosing] between five and 10 UK partners committed to that area of the market.”

Scorziello said IBM integrators can wrap applications around the XIV technology and storage resellers can add value by including services such as migration.

“Storage Expo has been good for IBM as XIV is new in Europe, so partners and customers have been able to see and touch the technology, which is important when considering a new investment,” he added.

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) announced its mid-range storage push at Storage Expo 2007. Harvey Smith, channel manager for the UK and Ireland at HDS, said: “HDS continues with its mid-range push because businesses have become very price-
conscious. Our mid-range portfolio offers functionality at a price point that people can afford.”

Value for money
Jim De Haven, manager for UK and Ireland business transformation at networking giant Cisco, said: “Businesses are concerned about how to save money. The re-architecture of a datacentre can save a lot of money.

“Storage Expo is a good event, but there should be an event on just the datacentre. Many of our partners have become less
tactical with their products and are instead selling a whole solution.”
Email archiving vendor C2C launched its channel programme at last year’s Storage Expo. Andrew Brown, sales manager EMEA at C2C, said: “It has been a good show and a good year for us. The visitors are really concerned with what they can get for their money this year.

“For the past year we have focused on building relationships with partners. We continue to do so and regularly hold
seminars ­ the next one is at Bristol zoo.”

David Galton-Fenzi, chairman of storage distributor Zycko, said: “Due to businesses keeping a careful eye on budgets, this year fewer resellers were there on a jolly. It was a worthwhile exercise and the quality of visitors was much higher than previously.”

Charlotte Armitage, channel marketing manager at EMC, said: “We have been promoting our new Velocity centres at Storage Expo. It would be easier for resellers if there was an area designated for them. Not all can afford to exhibit, so maybe an area with reduced rates would be a good idea.”

Thomas Barrett, a regional director at storage vendor FalconStor Software, felt numbers were down on last year, but said that was to be expected in today’s financial climate.
“The quality of leads was good and many firms are still keen to explore the market and see what is new.”