Access Markets International (AMI) Partners 2007 U.S. Medium Business Overview and Comprehensive Market Opportunity Assessment study indicates that medium-sized businesses (MBs, or companies with 100-999 employees) in the United States will invest up to $7.8 billion on data storage and security in 2008 — an increase of 12 percent over 2007.

 

According to the New York-based research firm, this growth is due to the need to consistently update and guard against security breaches and the growing volume of employee/client data. Nichelle McKenzie, research analyst at AMI-Partners, said that up to 86 percent of US MBs faced a security breach/data loss in the last 12 months, adding that the cost to these companies is about $7,000 per year.

 

AMI said storage and security investments account for nine percent (about $7.8 billion) of total IT/telecom spending. McKenzie observed that U.S. MBs are primarily investing in software to backup PCs and servers. Up to 90 percent of MBs use data backup and data recovery software, and 30 percent are sticking with the familiar by planning to use DAS (direct attached storage) in the next 12 months.

 

These MBs primarily aim to prevent hard drive failures and electronic attacks while having an adequate storage solution. Almost 70 percent of MBs see the deployment of in-house or hosted data backup and disaster recovery solutions as a top IT-related issue and almost all MBs back up their data on LAN servers. MBs are, thus, actively competing to remain lead software and hardware IT adopters.

 

McKenzie further explained that 89 percent of MBs prefer their on-site server data backup solution to be tape-based. While an average MB deploys a storage capacity of 988 GB, they want to also invest in more advanced, greater volume storage products. She emphasized that MBs need to stay abreast of new and/or advanced software and hardware that will help them to remain competitive and compliant. Almost 33 percent of MBs agree that remaining compliant is the prime reason for them to invest and consistently upgrade to more advanced software and hardware for security and storage.

 

McKenzie added that 77 percent of MBs reported a hard drive failure in the last 12 months.

 

AMI’s study also shows that on, average the U.S. MBs spend about $4,900 on SAN (server attached storage) solutions and 20 percent purchased this technology in the last 12 months. MBs tend go to their trusted channel partners/VARs/IT consultants for storage related solutions. About 85 percent of MBs said enhancing IT security and privacy is the top IT strategy for the next 12 months.

 

Just over half of MBs polled said they plan to implement VPN solutions in the coming months to ensure that they have a secure IT infrastructure. Because almost all MBs use antivirus, anti-spam and anti-spyware solutions, the data for most MBs is adequately protected from electronic threats.

 

The study indicated that intrusion detection, encryption, and security management are top technologies for these MBs to implement in the next 12 months. Cisco was the most popular brand for security related products, and Dell (News - Alert) is the top manufacturer purchased for storage related products.