Bare Metal Restore important to SMBs

CMP's ByteandSwitch news source offers The Bare Metal Facts, an interesting tidbit about what SMBs consider most important in backup products and services. I was particularly interested in the bulleted list near the beginning of the article, and several of those points stand out for me as significant opportunities:

• SMBs think archiving and backup go hand-in-glove.


• SMBs would prefer to deal with a bundled hardware/software solution from one vendor, instead of buying point products.


• SMBs are looking to get off tape and onto disk archiving.

It would seem to me that a company that could address these concerns effectively could capture significant marketshare, given the current competitive landscape. As the article points out, many of the traditional storage giants seem to be too focused on other aspects of the market to accurately meet the needs of SMBs, creating a gap into which a smart and agile competitor can step.

I expect even the big guns in storage recognize this gap, but currently seem to lack a coherent strategy for addressing it. However, just because they haven't done it yet doesn't mean they can't or won't. I suspect the window of opportunity here will be 18-24 months, after which time we'll begin to see targeted solutions from some of the key players.

Runners, take your positions!