Data storage is a term CIOs usually don't want to hear, since it often entails either more expenditures or compliance problems. Yet CIOs find more than ever they must talk about it, since data streams for all organizations have been increasing exponentially, requiring more hardware, space and energy.

Currently there's an insatiable demand for data storage capability, with the need for storage capacity increasing 65 percent to 70 percent a year, according to research firm Gartner. A 2007 study by another firm, Nemertes Research, found average storage space needs for business are expanding anywhere from 20 percent to 150 percent each year.

The growth in storage demand is driven primarily by the increasing amount of information being collected and compliance requirements for retaining information.

"The annual growth rate for data storage is tremendous," said Stan Zaffos, research vice president of Gartner. "Yet users' ability to manage data is not increasing at the same rate, and therefore, there's an inherent problem."

Though the price of new storage devices has been decreasing by about 34 percent annually, the cost of increasing capacity and service demands is 60 percent annually, according to Gartner. That storage trend has directly affected IT budgets across the board because server facilities accounted for 1.5 percent of U.S. electricity consumption in 2006, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More servers dedicated to data storage also directly raises maintenance and new equipment costs, putting pressure on government IT leaders to find more budget allocations for data storage upgrades.

Yet a reticence by government to make data storage upgrades can be even costlier, according to Gary Shoemaker, business development manager of EMC's state and local government division. He has seen many governments delay upgrading.

"If organizations replace old storage with better-performing storage, it will save money compared with consistent maintenance costs," Shoemaker said. "When you start paying maintenance costs after three or four years, it adds up to what it would cost for a new storage system. The cost of not doing something is sometimes more expensive than people realize."

As little as five years ago, an organization's storage analysts managed an average of one to two terabytes of data. Some organizations now manage 100 terabytes. The question has been, in effect, how do organizations - especially governments - manage explosive data storage growth if they lack enough resources?

A further issue for data storage is the increasing trend toward "green" computing, such as energy conservation. With more servers holding vast amounts of data, requirements have increased for cooling and square footage. In September 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Division signed a memorandum of understanding with The Green Grid, a consortium of IT companies seeking to lower power consumption in data centers worldwide.

Tiered Solutions
While tape-based data storage systems traditionally have been efficient and are still being used effectively, the dropping cost of disk backup has created a faster, and affordable alternative for many organizations. Disk backup, also called a virtual tape library, at times offers a lower-cost solution with higher storage capacity, since they emulate tape functions.

That was the case in Fulton County, Ga., which averaged tens of thousands of dollars in expenditures for data tapes every four months before 2003. As part of its plan to upgrade data storage, the county purchased a tier 1 disk-based data storage system that provided more capacity and eliminated the need for additional tapes.

The county used a cost-effective means that many organizations are using to maximize data storage: tiering. Organizations use tiering to allocate data by priority to multiple data storage units. Tiering can help organizations save money by utilizing expensive tier 1 data systems for high-priority data that is accessed frequently or is vitally important, while using cheaper data storage systems for lower-priority