BANGALORE, INDIA: As we wrap up 2011, with an eye on what’s expected in 2012, let’s look at the significant trends through the past year:

Cloud and virtualization really dominated conversations, and we did see virtualization adoption increase and concerns over information security continued to influence the IT landscape. Information is increasingly the focus area as enterprises try to secure and manage the same. Planning towards DR efforts and also information retention policies were discussed.

Also Read: Indian cos increase spending on info security

In terms of what lies ahead in 2012, the following pointers highlight what we see as some of the major trends set to influence the storage and back-up areas within enterprise IT.

Information Governance Will Become a Positive Buzzword

Information is the great enabler, and the great disabler depending on how it is managed. Companies that can gain control over the risks and costs with protecting their information will enable the adoption of new mobile, social media and cloud technologies.

These organizations will leaverage their information assets as competitive advantages and attract the best employees.

Companies that fail to control and protect their data will fall victim to it. Their lack of information governance will prevent the adoption of new technologies, and they will spend more on compliance and eDiscovery.

In 2012, vendors will bring together archiving, eDiscovery, encryption, back-up, data loss prevention and other security technologies to give organizations better control over their information assets.

Private Cloud Will Not Become a Cloud in a Box
 
Clouds do not come in a box. You can’t purchase hardware and expect it to suddenly have a cloud computing environment. Data centre managers who have implemented cloud technologies and virtualization did so to simplify. Yet, at the core of this huge transition to the cloud – both public and private – are business advantages including scalability, agility, control and measurability.

Running your data centre more like a cloud vendor is about people and processes. It’s about central management and visibility. It’s about automation. It’s about standardization of operations. It’s about building service level focused offerings. And it’s about getting the best use of your resources through pooling, multi-tenancy, and accountability through chargebacks.

Buying new hardware does not achieve that. Changing the way you manage your data centre achieves that. And, one might argue that buying a cloud in a box from a premium vendor goes against the way the leading provides manage their cloud.