Jane Wright

• research briefs
  May 17, 2013

  Solid-state Storage Continues to Shed ‘Niche’ Moniker

  Many organizations that use solid-state storage attribute their initial adoption of the technology to performance challenges. In fact, previously conducted ESG research revealed that the majority of early solid-state storage users cited the alleviation of I/O bottlenecks caused by server virtualization as an initial adoption driver. However, as solid-state storage continues to mature, its relationship with server virtualization can further be used to gauge the technology’s increasing horizontal applicability.

• research briefs
  May 1, 2013

  Top Security Challenges for IT Assets Residing in Data Centers

  An ESG survey of 395 IT professionals at midmarket and enterprise organizations revealed the top security challenges in today’s data centers. This brief identifies the top challenges to running a secure data center, such as keeping up with the constant stream of new threat intelligence, and monitoring network activity in spite of unfortunate blind spots. It examines the underlying causes of these challenges, and concludes with advice for security vendors to help customers cope. 

• research briefs
  Apr 22, 2013

  Data Storage Technology Purchasing Trends

  ESG’s survey of over 400 IT professionals showed that, while the total cost of data storage is very important to IT professionals, certain types of organizations care more about reducing storage-related hardware and software costs, while others are more interested in reducing IT staff-related costs of storage. This brief examines the storage purchasing processes of decision makers at midmarket and enterprise organizations, from the reasons behind their decision to acquire or upgrade storage, to the criteria they apply and the features they demand of their storage systems. It reveals just how much features such as 10GbE, solid-state disks, and thin provisioning really matter, and considers whether or not storage vendors should invest in projects such as pre-qualifying solutions or building reference architectures.

• research briefs
  Apr 17, 2013

  Customer Interest in the Hybrid Cloud Model of Online File Sharing

  A hybrid cloud implementation can be an attractive deployment model for a corporate online file sharing (OFS) solution. Hybrid cloud benefits may include greater security and control for the customer organization. An ESG survey of nearly 500 IT professionals working at organizations of all sizes, with varying levels of interest (or disinterest) in OFS, revealed how much of an  impact hybrid cloud offerings will have on the OFS market.

• research briefs
  Apr 9, 2013

  2013 Information Security Spending Trends

  Nearly half of midmarket and enterprise organizations plan to increase their information security spending in 2013, and only a small number of these organizations expect decreased information security budgets this year. In addition to investigating organizations’ plans to spend in areas such as network security, advanced malware detection and prevention, and mobile device security, ESG also considered the impact of the ongoing security skills shortage on organizations’ security initiatives.

• research reports
  Apr 5, 2013

  Web Application Security Testing Tools and Services

  In order to assess the market for web application security testing tools and services, including static application security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST) tools, processes, policies, and services, ESG surveyed 200 IT and information security professionals working at midmarket (100 to 999 employees) and enterprise-class (1,000 employees or more) organizations in North America. 

• research reports
  Apr 3, 2013

  Storage Market Trends in Western Europe

  For this research project on data storage trends in Western Europe, ESG surveyed 307 IT and storage professionals who are responsible for evaluating, purchasing, or managing data storage at midmarket (i.e. 100 to 999 employees) and enterprise (i.e. 1,000 or more employees) organizations in the UK, France, and Germany. The survey questions were the same questions that were posed in a separate ESG survey of IT and storage professionals in North America (United States and Canada), as described in ESG’s research report on the U.S. storage market. The results of the two research projects provide valuable information about the similarities and differences in storage technology purchasing, deployment, and management in Western Europe compared to North America. In many cases, the findings from the two surveys were quite similar. However, there were key differences in some areas, and these differences will be highlighted throughout this report.

• research briefs
  Feb 26, 2013

  Cloud Storage: Replacement or Relief Valve?

  The emergence of cloud storage platforms has changed the way organizations manage their in-house storage. Findings from ESG’s recent storage survey, combined with cloud storage statistics from ESG’s spending survey, provide insights into the future of traditional and cloud-based storage strategies and budgets. This brief includes quantitative data about the impact organizations expect the cloud to have on their storage strategies, the extent to which organizations will use cloud storage to source storage capacity, and the amount of data that will be offloaded to the cloud in the coming years.

• briefs
  Feb 11, 2013

  Conducting an Online File Sharing Comparison

  It’s important to ask the right questions when conducting an online file sharing comparison in order to find the best online file sharing service for your organization’s requirements. This brief features a checklist of questions to ask that are grouped into topic areas including basic functionality, service and support, administration and management, security, and data protection. The checklist is a useful tool for IT professionals who are researching online file sharing and collaboration (OFS) solutions for their organizations, and for OFS providers who want to understand how their offering stacks up against the competition.

• briefs
  Jan 2, 2013

  Understanding the Hybrid Cloud Model of Online File Sharing

  One reason organizations sign up for an online file sharing (OFS) service is to extend their storage capacity by moving files to the cloud. Some organizations opt for a hybrid cloud deployment, placing a portion of the organization’s files in the OFS provider’s cloud platform, but keeping other files and infrastructure components in their own data center. A handful of OFS providers support a hybrid cloud approach. This brief examines the pros and cons of a public cloud versus a hybrid cloud model for online file sharing.

• research briefs
  Dec 31, 2012

  BYOD Drives Online File Sharing

  Interest in corporate online file sharing (OFS) solutions is growing, due in large part to the consumerization of IT. ESG research shows a strong correlation between the number of smart phone and tablet users in an organization and the organization’s interest in corporate online file sharing and collaboration solutions. This brief charts the path that leads from a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy to OFS, and looks down the road to see what the next two years will bring for vendors and service providers of OFS and related technologies.

• research briefs
  Dec 28, 2012

  Research Brief: Key Challenges in Data Storage

  ESG research recently investigated the top data storage challenges at midmarket and enterprise organizations. More than 400 IT and storage professionals ranked the importance of nineteen storage challenges, ranging from storing unstructured  data and running out of physical storage space, to a lack of skilled storage staff and poor storage utilization rates. The results of this survey provide a benchmark for IT professionals to assess their own storage environments. They also serve as a blueprint for storage solution vendors to plan future product enhancements and messaging to align with, and more closely address, their customers’ biggest storage pain points.

• research briefs
  Dec 18, 2012

  Customers Look for Antivirus with Online File Sharing

  Antivirus is one of the most important features that business customers expect for secure file sharing. When IT decision-makers were asked about the most important security features they look for when choosing an online file sharing and collaboration (OFS) solution, more than half cited antivirus scans. Yet this is a feature that OFS providers frequently bypass in their messaging. This brief lists and ranks the security requirements business customers look for in an OFS solution, and suggests next steps for OFS providers.

• research briefs
  Dec 12, 2012

  Tape Usage Is Declining—But It Shouldn’t Be

  Organizations expect to decrease their on-premises and offsite tape storage, according to a new ESG survey. But forfeiting the benefits of tape could be a mistake for many organizations. This brief details current and future tape usage trends, and takes a fresh look at the benefits of tape storage in today’s world of hot and cold data.  

• research briefs
  Dec 7, 2012

  Spotting and Stopping “Rogue” Online File Sharing

  Free cloud storage services are the latest thorn in the collective side of IT departments. Employees are signing up for individual online file sharing and collaboration (OFS) accounts with cloud storage providers and using them for online storage and file sharing of company files. This places company data outside the control of IT and, subsequently, exposes organizations to the risk of data leakage and data breaches. ESG surveyed IT professionals to find out about the steps organizations are taking to uncover and control rogue OFS accounts. 

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