South India safe haven for IT storage sector

Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: The rise of terrorism globally and the safe haven of southern India could become the focal point for the growth of the storage networking sector, particularly disaster recovery management, in India, say experts. A four-day storage networking summit opened Tuesday with industry leaders pointing out the next big opportunity that lies for information technology companies in the area of storage area networking (SAN). Storage area networking connects servers and storage devices to share data. "The rise of terrorism has created the need for business continuity. This is not just for the outsourcing business but also for the domestic market," Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) chairman Ashok Soota said at the opening of the summit. "Like software services, India can also offer remote storage solutions and services. The IT industry can provide storage solutions to the global industry as well as make India an excellent location for disaster recovery management systems," Kumar Malavalli, advisor of Brocade Communications, told IANS. "India and, more particularly, southern India can be an excellent location for disaster recovery management systems. Indian banks and insurance companies need to also protect the large amounts of data that is generated," added Malavalli. "These are hot areas of opportunity. Technology makes applications possible and applications make new demands for the same technology. This opens up a range of business opportunities for India such as data management outsourcing. There is an opportunity to protect and mine data in real time and a cost-effective manner," Soota told the summit. To achieve cost effectiveness and the benefits of new technology to spread, particularly among the small and medium enterprises, Malavalli had a suggestion he is already implementing in the U.S. "SAN has to be taken to the masses. Currently, only Fortune 100 or 200 companies are using it." To overcome the hurdles of cost and protectionism, Malavalli suggested a new concept of "storage eco system." The concept, which is already evolving with eight of the companies he is associated with in the U.S., entails all companies work at solutions without any legal hassles for the storage business to grow. "The eco system should benefit the end user. The technology revolution has to be in sync with business requirements. So, I call a meeting of the eco system to review market conditions once a month. The goal is to make the eco system stable," Malavalli said. "Some reports say that the storage market in India and China would be growing in double digit figures compared to the U.S. and Europe," says Malavalli. One estimate puts the storage area networking market at over $30 billion by 2006.
Source: IANS