Study: Data saved on primary storage continues to soar

The study, released by BridgeHead Software, found that 22 per cent of UK respondents had more than five terabytes (TB) of online data - an increase of over a third from last year. Furthermore, those storing in excess of ten TB rose by 30 per cent.
According to the report many of those surveyed believe redundant data is overwhelming primary storage. The number of companies that think they could recoup over 50 per cent of their primary disk space by removing unwanted data rose by 18 per cent from last year.
Moreover, the report illustrated that unstructured data is dominating the growth of online data; with an 81 per cent increase in respondents calculating over half of their data was unstructured files.
Patrick Dowling, Senior VP of Corporate Marketing at BridgeHead Software believes these results highlight the security issues facing organisations when tackling file archiving.
"Businesses need to ensure that any repository used to move and store data is managed and secure. Alternative storage needs to limit access, monitor data and systematically track media devices capable of removing data. In essence organisations need to educate themselves on how to archive whilst ensuring minimum levels of protection," he said.
However, according to the audit companies are beginning to address this issue. When questioned ‘What are your key storage related areas of interest in the next 12 months?' there was a 28 per cent increase in UK participants listing file archiving as a fundamental area of focus.
Tony Cotterill, CEO of BridgeHead Software, said: "The figures clearly illustrate that companies simply cannot let up in their efforts to archive. Even with almost 85 per cent of companies claiming to archive in some way, the fact that data on primary storage is still growing indicates that the most effective archiving tools and technologies are not yet as prevalent as they should be."
He added: "There's a danger of a gap developing between the storage management ‘haves' and the ‘have nots', with the have nots accumulating not only data, but also excessive storage costs and painful manual procedures as well."

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