IDC's Worldwide Archival Storage Solutions Taxonomy, 2011

This IDC study provides a detailed description of IDC's market taxonomy for the Storage Solutions: Archival Storage program. This taxonomy document provides an overview of the archival storage solutions market and also briefly introduces to adjacent technology markets that are increasingly playing an important role in shaping the archival storage solutions market. The forces that are driving these changing needs and means, and the impact they will have on spending for storage infrastructure and software, are also discussed.

"Investment in archiving systems is no longer optional. IT managers are looking for ways to move beyond archiving for compliance and discovery. Their organizations also want to capitalize on these increasingly valuable digital assets," said Marshall Amaldas, senior research analyst for Archival Storage Solution and Software at IDC.

"One key question for the storage industry is whether these two requirements (backup and archive) can be addressed by a single solution. Clearly, using a single solution would reduce management complexity and minimize the potential costs and risks associated with redundant processes, but the key question is whether a single system can accommodate two very distinct set of functional requirements," said Richard L. Villars, research VP for Storage Solutions and Software at IDC.