When looking over the budget from last year, you may have noticed that the cost for data storage outpacing your expectations. Data storage is one of the most important aspects of a small business IT–without it, businesses risk losing customer data resulting in a drop in sales and revenue. Over the years, businesses have grown resulting in an increase storage demand which can quickly become overwhelmingly complex and expensive. Storage should be simple, capable, affordable and flexible enough to scale with a business. Small businesses need to understand what their storage and back up needs are before making the wrong investment. Here’s a list of the different types of storage solutions you should talk over with your IT Manager to streamline backup, recovery and archiving:
· Direct-attached Storage (DAS): Storage that directly attaches to a computer or a few servers. This type of storage is best when managed by a small IT environment. As the environment grows, the DAS storage system becomes more complex.
· Network Attached Storage (NAS): Best option for businesses that need to allow multiple users to share files. Given most small businesses are looking to streamline productivity while protecting data, NAS is the most appropriate option, especially for small businesses looking to scale.
· Storage Area Network (SAN): Systems that utilize more than four servers usually use this type of storage to work with large amounts of data. SAN is more expensive and less standardized.
If you don’t have an IT manager within your organization, you might consider working through a reseller that works with Dell and can help you understand what storage products are right for your business.
If you’re really tight on budget, there are some great tips here and find out more on storage options from Inside IT.