Storage Automation Benefits Include IT-As-A-Service Delivery

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

SolidFire, a provider of all-flash storage systems, released survey results that offer insights into how IT professionals are benefitting from automation of the storage layer. The 2015 Storage Automation Report is based on the survey that was conducted by independent research organization TechValidate of more than 300 global IT professionals.

The research revealed storage automation most commonly addresses immediate problems and most IT professionals have not yet transitioned to next-generation IT automation strategies. The report states, “As much as 75 percent of data center downtime is caused by human error. Data growth is projected to grow 10x a year and reach 44ZB by 2020, yet IT management growth is projected to increase nowhere as quickly. It’s clear automation can be a remedy for myriad data center management ills.” SolidFire asserts storage automation facilitates management, monitoring, and reporting — which can help IT solutions providers deliver IT-as-a-Service.

Among respondents in the 2015 study, the most popular tools for storage automation are . Notably, the survey found that 26 percent of organizations now using VMware, System Center, and PowerShell are considering implementing OpenStack within the next year.

The survey also showed containers could be a disruptive technology; 38 percent of organizations surveyed that are using OpenStack are currently using or considering Docker.

To access the complete report, click here.