The evolution of storage service providers: techniques and challenges to outsourcing storage

Abstract

As enterprise storage needs grow, it is challenging to manage storage systems. The costs of locally managing, supporting, and maintaining resilience in storage systems has skyrocketed. Also, companies must comply with a growing number of federal and state legislations mandating secure handling of electronic information.In this context, outsourcing of storage to utility-model based service providers has emerged as a popular and often cost-effective option. However, this raises issues related to data safety and storage techniques. In this paper, we discuss the business model and evolution of service-oriented companies known as Storage Service Providers and examine the challenges organizations should consider when outsourcing their storage management. To our knowledge, this is the first work to study the SSP model from both technical and business viewpoints. Lastly, we present two case studies, one of a failed SSP and the other of a successful market leader.