Given the disruptions Covid-19 caused to business, it’s understandable that many organizations have fallen behind on their plans to modernize their infrastructure in 2020. Yet it’s important to try to execute plans that will provide long-term benefits. Modern storage technologies will help businesses handle continuing growth in the volume of data, provide additional data protection capability, and improve performance at lower cost.

If you’re ready to resume storage projects, remember these 2020 storage trends and consider how they apply to your business:

1. SSD and Flash.

There’s been a trend to flash technology for a while already, and if you still haven’t replaced legacy equipment, it’s worth considering getting it done now. Flash offers high performance, high capacity, and lower costs. NVMe offers high performance and low latency and can serve a variety of use cases.

2. Cloud storage.

Cloud remains one of the best options for data storage. With the ability to access additional capacity on demand, along with a choice of tiers and performance levels, this pay-as-you-go technology is also pay-for-exactly-what-you-need.

3. Hybrid storage.

Most businesses still need to retain certain data on-premises and will end up with a hybrid storage architecture. It’s worth noting that Storage as a Service is now available from storage vendors, bringing some of the advantages of cloud storage into the data center.

4. Secure storage.

The risk of ransomware and other threats to data means that protecting data is even more important. Storage devices with protection built in can be appealing. Features to look for include immutable storage and continuous data protection. The first ensures that there’s a data copy that can’t be altered; the second ensures that there’s a recent copy available to restore if needed.

5. Tape storage.

Tape never went away completely, and new improvements make data stored on tape more readily accessible.

6. Software-defined storage.

Storage space doesn’t need to be defined by the hardware that provides it. Software-defined storage effectively aggregates storage devices, allowing capacity to be used more effectively and more cost-efficiently.

7. Environmentally friendly storage.

Companies that are working hard to be green are considering the power-consumption requirements of their storage devices and implementing those that require lower levels of energy.

Storage management is an important aspect of infrastructure management. Prescient Solutions IT consulting and managed services ensure businesses are matched with the technology that meets their business needs. Contact us if you’re ready to modernize your storage, leverage technology more effectively, and improve your IT support.