SCC boxing clever with latest storage technologies for long term cost benefit

Online, September 25, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Europe's largest technology provider, SCC, has called upon IT departments to drive potential operational cost savings of up to 45% in under six months by exploiting the latest available storage technologies.

According to the pan-European technology integrator, organisations can create room for manoeuvre around their storage solutions by responding to the range of consolidation and virtualisation techniques that have now become mainstream. While latest research from IDC shows that demand for increased functionality and new services continues to grow despite constraints on IT spending, SCC customer surveys indicate that top client priorities in 2010 will include expanding available storage (http://www.scc.com/news/virtualisation/boxing-clever-with-latest-storage-technologies-for-long-term-cost-benefit), enhancing DR and improving performance - with space, power and capacity issues remaining paramount.

"In the current climate, savvy IT departments have to start demanding more for less from their technology providers. Despite budgetary restrictions, there remains the need to continually revise, upgrade and improve services and CTO's have no choice but to start boxing clever when it comes to balancing the books. For example, a utility approach, involving accessing storage as a service, is proving popular for it provides an efficient and fast route to provisioning against changing business need." said Sue Preston, Head of UK Corporate Sales at SCC.

With IDC statistics point to a massive growth in data averaging 50% year on year, SCC reports that the commercial and technical imperative to maximise storage while slashing operational costs is strengthening. As the server infrastructure undergoes huge change and becomes capable of running multiple applications and systems, coupled with the impact of a massive growth in data, the dynamics around SAN have changed and the limitations of traditional solutions are now being exposed, requiring an immediate response.

According to SCC, CTO's can accommodate these demands by ensuring they are making the most of what they've already got. Many organisations have far more storage than they require, with utilisation levels typically as low as 30%, with data inefficiently managed and duplication common. Through squeezing existing hardware using techniques such as de-duplication, to reduce storage needs, and thin provisioning, to unlock the benefits of secondary solutions, storage will become easier and cheaper to control.

Whilst consolidating and upgrading (http://www.scc.com/consolidation) key components of the infrastructure - taking an end to end view - will drive the opportunity to create a flexible storage solution for the long term as well as operational efficiencies.

SCC's experience shows that by adopting virtualised storage solutions, businesses can defray the total cost of ownership within 12 months. By utilising technologies such as HP's Left Hand service, the company believes that most organisations can realise a 45% reduction in their storage costs inside the first year, with many achieving such savings in only 5 months.

"The logic is relatively straight-forward: if you need to squeeze more out of your IT budget, the only realistic way of achieving this is through paying less for the services you already use. In our experience, an optimisation assessment can reveal the opportunity for substantial savings through integrating a number of new techniques and technologies around the management of data, server, storage, archive and back up," added Sue Preston.

About SCC
SCC (http://www.scc.com) is a best of breed technology solutions provider specializing in the IT infrastructure. As part of Specialist Computer Holdings plc (SCH), the company has an enviable track record in helping companies and Government organizations to make the most of their IT systems. Headquartered in Birmingham, SCC has an annual turnover in excess of €3bn.

By taking the pain out of IT decision making, SCC help customers optimize their infrastructure to drive down costs, realize immediate cash savings and achieve long term operational efficiencies.