2006 SAN & NAS Report Outline

This is the fourth annual “Storage Preferences” report done in conjunction with the SAN NAS Summit.  This report outlines both end-user and reseller opinions and experiences with storage products from a uniquely Canadian perspective.  As in previous years, this report identifies adoption rates of various storage networking technologies, incumbent vendors for these products, and the reasons for vendor selection.  Trends over the past four years are also explored.

In the end-user section of this report, adoption rates of storage networking technologies are documented, as are vendor preferences and reasons for vendor preferences.  Users have been segmented according to storage use and economic sector, and differences between these customer segments have been explored.  This report also outlines end-users’ intentions to purchase storage networking hardware, software and services. 

Resellers have been broadly defined for the purposes of this report as any firm that engages in the sale of storage devices.  This broad definition allows the inclusion of non-traditional resellers such as distributors and consultants, for a more comprehensive view of the storage market.

Resellers have been segmented based on their revenues from storage products.  The vendor preferences for storage networking technologies are explored, as well as their reasons for vendor preference.  Resellers also had the opportunity to comment on storage vendors.  Their comments are instructive, but should not necessarily be considered representative of the industry at large. 

Methodology

 The data for this report was gathered from two on-line surveys, one for resellers of storage products and one for end-users. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent via e-mail to subscribers to the SAN/NAS News newsletter, prior attendees to the SAN NAS Summit, and other lists of those involved in the storage market. The surveys were open for a period of three weeks in April 2006. 

We had the highest response rate to date, with 380 valid end-user responses and 144 reseller responses.  These numbers permit statistically valid comparisons between subgroups, as has been the case in past years.  Results from each survey are reported separately.

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