| Primary reduction | |
| “Data dedupe is not yet widely used for primary storage but the space reduction can be substantial” |  Commtech : Gerry Harvey, general manager |
| Of all the many criteria for the CIO to consider when planning how to best architect the enterprise’s infrastructure, the overwhelming consideration is to understand that keeping and managing data has a real cost. So best to spend that investment on managing important data. Only data that is required in the support of the business has any real value — and the CIO must choose what data to retain in primary storage, and what data to archive and what to destroy.Data reduction in primary storage (DRIPS) is the application of capacity optimisation techniques for data that is in active use, in contrast to storage that is used for back-up purposes. DRIPS uses data reduction techniques such as data deduplication, data archiving, thin provisioning and compression that have traditionally been associated with backup storage rather than primary storage. The purpose, in either case, is improved storage efficiency, lower costs and better use of available resources. To leverage existing assets as much as possible the CIO can use:Data deduplication which involves detecting repeated patterns in data and reducing such patterns to a single instance. Data dedupe, as it is often called, is not yet widely used for primary storage but the space reduction can be substantial. Data archiving, which involves moving less frequently used data to slower, less expensive storage. The data involved may be maintained for the sake of records or for possible future use but quick access is not required. Thin provisioning, which involves eliminating the reserve on unwritten blocks of storage, allows over provisioning of storage resources and enabling more logical capacity to be created than is physically available. The technique does not actually reduce data but optimises storage. Thin provisioning is widely implemented by storage vendors. Compression, which involves finding repeated patterns of similar information that can be reduced. Compression is a mature and widely-implemented technology that can significantly reduce storage requirements. 
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Enterprise storage dip can be combatted
With enterprise level storage solutions suffering a dramatic dip in sales, industry experts admit the market has become more complex, as clients explore different options, or avoid making investments at all. More creative, flexible solutions though are key to the recovery, finds JJ WORRALL
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