This IDC study discusses the results of a survey conducted in mid-2005 to determine needs, trends, and intentions of storage users across firms of differing sizes. The results reveal some distinctions as well as some similarities among small, medium-sized, and very large firms in terms of storage demographics, storage priorities and challenges, and areas of future storage spending. However, a trend that cannot be overlooked across firms of all sizes is the increasing role of disk in the data protection, disaster recovery and data archiving process.

According to Laura DuBois, research director, IDC Storage Software, "While tape remains entrenched in the very largest of firms, an increasing number of copies of data reside on disks for improved levels of application recovery, disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance. Medium-sized firms have the same requirements as larger firms for improved backup and recovery that disk-based data protection schemas can deliver and are perhaps more open to using exclusively disk in their protection processes."

According to Raymond Boggs, vice president of IDC's SMB research practice, 2006 will be a watershed year for the SMB storage market: "The stars are aligning to make 2006 the breakthrough year for SMBs stepping up to advanced storage solutions. The deployment of local area networks and broadband has helped drive storage needs to unprecedented levels, and a growing number of manufacturers have been crafting storage products and services to meet the often conflicting SMB needs of performance, ease of use, and affordability."