Mark Peters
ESG Practice Director and Senior Analyst Mark Peters is focused on all types of storage systems, virtualized storage, multiple solid-state media, and the emerging opportunities represented by both software-defined storage and converged systems. This seasoned analyst has three decades of data storage industry experience, holding senior management roles in sales, marketing, product management, business development, and customer intimacy in the U.S. and internationally, and even running his own communications consulting business focusing on storage and IT. Mark uses his real-world experience and rock-solid ESG research to disentangle the market outlook and lead his clients to progress and profit.
Abstract:
Over the past year, the COVID-19 virus has caused a shift in how IT professionals—and the vendors that serve them—work. In compliance with the regulations from health organizations and governments enforcing work-from-home (WFH) mandates, most organizations have been faced with how to adapt to an increasingly virtual world. This has extended to technology trade shows and conferences, causing organizers to scramble to replace these in-person events with virtual online versions. Among those IT professionals that attended a virtual event in the last year, what was their experience, and how might this impact the future of technology conferences?
Abstract:
Traditional granular on-premises infrastructure deployments are continuing to face pressure from not only “direct” alternatives—such as converged and hyperconverged solutions—but also from the rising adoption of public cloud services. With public cloud increasingly integrated into the overall IT “mix,” it is not merely an alternative to the traditional on-premises norm; it is also providing lessons that can make the on-premises “2.0” world stronger.
Abstract:
This Master Survey Results presentation focuses on usage trends for traditional storage infrastructure and an emergent set of newer on-and off-premises options, with topics ranging from challenges and sentiment to purchasing dynamics and drivers.
Abstract:
The growing adoption of converged and hyperconverged IT infrastructure is having a significant impact on traditional storage systems and the professionals who support and manage them. These solutions are likelier to be deployed in more complex—or at least diverse—storage environments, and are increasingly used to support existing workloads rather than just net-new applications. At the same time, storage specialists are losing their grip on the authority to decide what storage is used in CI/HCI implementations. While the full extent of change toward a more converged IT infrastructure has likely not yet occurred, nonetheless for storage specialists, the writing appears to be on the (data center) wall.
Abstract:
Solid-state storage (that’s invariably flash today) continues to be adopted across IT, delivering not only performance benefits, but also other key data center benefits such as reliability, cost per I/O, and TCO savings. In terms of the overall storage environment, however, flash still has room to grow, as storage decision makers currently perceive that solid-state-level performance is only required by a subset of their workloads. Looking ahead, the industry is anticipating NVMe-based solid-state implementations, with the expectation that these new storage offerings will overtake not only the more traditional solid-state… but possibly even the larger storage networks themselves.
Abstract:
ESG recently completed a detailed research study into the state of the enterprise storage industry, and the results reveal an industry attempting to find balance in a “hybrid-cloud-defined” IT industry. Not surprisingly, on-premises storage infrastructure deployments continue to face pressure from the rising adoption of public cloud services. However, could storage innovations—such as flash, software-defined storage, and object storage—as well as converged infrastructures that can deliver substantial benefits, entice more IT decision makers to keep workloads on-premises?
Abstract:
According to a recent study of data storage system buyers, 95% of midmarket and enterprise organizations have been either maintaining a consistent year-over-year spending level for disk storage systems or even accelerating these investments. While there are undoubtedly significant changes on the horizon for the data storage industry, ESG’s research suggests that a number of these disruptive trends and forces are already affecting storage system spending.
Abstract:
ESG recently surveyed 200 storage decision makers about their attitudes towards—and expected actions resulting from—Dell’s acquisition of EMC. This research found that Dell and/or EMC storage customers—and even non-customers—are overwhelmingly bullish about the possibility of a combined Dell-EMC in terms of more traditional data storage offerings, as well as increasingly appealing converged and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions.
Abstract:
According to ESG’s annual IT spending intentions survey, 85% of midmarket and enterprise organizations will increase or maintain their spending on storage infrastructure in 2016. While this is generally positive for the storage industry, a number of disruptive trends and forces look to be an imminent cloud on this immediate silver lining.
Abstract:
ESG conducted an in-depth survey of 373 IT and data storage professionals concerning their organizations’ current data storage environments including current storage resources, challenges, purchase criteria, and forward-looking data storage plans. Survey participants represented midmarket (100 to 999 employees) and enterprise-class (1,000 employees or more) organizations in North America (United States and Canada).
