EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW CAN CIOS SCALE WORKLOADS OF HUNDREDS OF TERABYTES TO MEET THEIR ORGANISATIONS ’ ENTERPRISE STORAGE NEEDS ?
As newer approaches and technologies in enterprise storage have trended upward over the last several years , it comes as no surprise that cloud storage , hyper-converged storage and flash technologies , such as non-volatile memory express ( NVMe ) are seeing a wide adoption by enterprises of all sizes in the Middle East .
Storage for containers is also becoming more important and enterprise storage based on composable and disaggregated infrastructure concepts is starting to make some noise . In addition , Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and Machine Learning in the area of predicative analytics , as well as storage-class memory ( SCM ), should have a major impact on enterprise storage in the near future , if they haven ’ t started to already .
As a result , latest analyst firms predict that the storage market in the Middle East will witness growth ranging between 3 to 4 % year-on-year ( YoY ) for the next three years .
According to research firm International Data Corporation ’ s ( IDC ) 2021 FutureScape report , by the end of 2021 , 80 % of enterprises will shift to cloudcentric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic .
Fadi Kanafani , Managing Director – Middle East , NetApp , said as more enterprise companies become data-driven , their data assets will grow exponentially especially with the deployed AI workloads , analytics , dev-ops , etc .
“ As we navigate through and adapt to the new normal , CIOs ought to consider building their own data fabrics .
This gives companies the ability to take full control of their data regardless of where it resides – whether on prem or in the cloud or in an hybrid mode ,” he said .
Kanafani said with the customer at the centre of all decisions , it becomes clear that companies need to be nimble and agile to stay in the business or ahead , considering that the current business conditions require faster and smarter decision-making capabilities while adopting a virtual digital workplace to meet their customer needs .
Mahmoud El Kordy , Business Unit Executive , IBM Systems , Middle East and Pakistan , said in the new era we are living today , many organisations are having to transform traditional business models to deliver innovative digital experiences and offer their personalised services to their customers through digital channels that are trusted , secure and highly available .
As a result , noted El Kordy , the data storage market in the Middle East has been steadily growing , driven mainly by the uptake of advanced technologies such as AI and Big Data as part of the Digital Transformation journeys that organisations in the region have embarked on . “ Data storage plays a key role in every transformation journey where the data has become the currency that fuels competitive advantage for every successful business ,” he said . “ Also , an increasing demand for smart phones and other devices underpinned by the Internet of Things ( IoT ) along with a massive growth in social media channels has also increased the demand for additional storage . This continues to drive the growth and demand for advanced data storage solutions in Middle East .”
26 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com