Planning A Storage Strategy

Planning a Storage Strategy

The definitive guide to planning for information storage as a business process.

Storing and retrieving data are vital functions to almost all companies. Planning for meeting the demands for storage in capacity, performance, data protection including security, storage management, and availability is really a business process that must take into consideration both business and technical factors. For most companies, this has been dealt with in a reactionary manner by relying on the talents of the storage professionals responsible to handle the situations as they occur. It is equally important to plan for regulatory compliance, business continuity, and operational efficiency.

This book introduces developing a storage strategy over a three to five year timeframe and a plan for implementing the storage strategy. Any storage strategy considers future requirements, integration of technologies and the risk associated, and meeting the current needs with a tactical plan. The book highlights the necessary information and a method for obtaining and analyzing the requirements as well as understanding the future technology impacts. Planning for technology change is one of the most overlooked elements in Information Technology. The process to employ in gathering information and making judgments regarding what and how to integrate into the storage strategy are highlighted in this book.

Developing a storage strategy is only one part of meeting the demands of a business. Implementing the storage strategy is equally important and part of the implementation includes selling the storage strategy and getting endorsement internally. The book will provide information on how to sell the strategy and involve key personnel in making the storage strategy successful.

“Planning a Storage Strategy” is really the first book of its type in providing the information necessary to develop and plan the implementation for meeting the company demands on storing and retrieving information. One of the most valuable company assets is data and having a storage strategy for meeting the business demands for handling data is a critical business process that requires understanding and investment.

Randy Kerns is currently an independent storage analyst and consultant.  Previously he was the Vice President of Strategy and Planning for the Data Management Group at Sun Microsystems.  He has over thirty years in the computer industry involved in the development of storage products for both mainframe and open systems and analysis of company strategies and product technologies.  His background is in product design and development in disk and tape systems as well as industry analysis.  Randy’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Missouri at Rolla and a master’s degree in engineering computer science from the University of Colorado. 

Development and management history includes developing disk and tape systems for mainframe attachment at IBM and StorageTek, development of disk systems for attachment to open systems and proprietary computer platforms at Fujitsu and Tandem Computers, and tape and disk systems for both open systems and mainframes at two start-up companies. 

As an industry analyst, Randy was responsible for product analysis and company strategy evaluation at the Evaluator Group.  He also worked on projects with major end-user clients in assisting them with developing their storage strategies and with vendor companies in their product strategies.   In addition to the analysis and consulting, Randy wrote numerous online articles and served as one of the industry experts in answering technical and market questions.   

Randy has made numerous presentations at conferences and is the author of many industry articles and papers.