Service Businesses Lead NAS Adoption

PRNewswire
JERICHO, N.Y.
Mar 28, 2001

As electronic commerce creates surging demand for data storage infrastructures, service businesses are leading adoption of network-attached storage (NAS), according to a just-released survey by Reality Research & Consulting.

Service-related businesses account for more than a third of vertical markets using NAS. The non-profit sector-including education and government -- is also prominent, with a fourth of NAS end customers in this classification. The findings are based on a telephone survey that gathered 400 responses from end-customer companies that use or plan to use NAS. The research was completed in December 2000, across a sample of businesses drawn from CMP Media's InformationWeek.

Reality also interviewed 200 NAS solution providers in the indirect channel. NAS solution providers in the indirect channel are the primary source of products and maintenance for two-thirds of NAS companies. For their part, NAS solution providers confirm that return on NAS investment is a key factor in their end-customers' NAS strategies.

"End customers and solution providers are paying close attention to return on investments in NAS," said Elizabeth Gallagher Caginalp, Director of Research Operations at Reality Research, a leading market research and analysis firm. "A third of NAS end-customer companies say reducing downtime is the main factor when determining paybacks from NAS investments. More than a third of solution providers supply NAS investment analysis to their customers."

The solution provider respondents in the survey represent executives and principals of integrator organizations that sell or plan to sell NAS. The margin of error is 6.9 percent for the solution provider survey and 4.9 percent for the NAS company poll, at a confidence level of 95 percent.

Reality Research & Consulting delivers strategic and tactical market intelligence and analysis on the IT market and channels. Its client list includes major technology companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, 3Com and Microsoft. Reality is an independent business unit of CMP Media Inc. It is based in Jericho, NY, with offices located in Waltham, MA and Redwood Shores, Ca. For a complete listing and description of Reality's products and services, visit http://www.realityresearch.com/.

CMP Media Inc. (http://www.cmpnet.com/) is a leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. Capitalizing on its editorial strength, CMP is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive, integrated media solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Its diverse products and services include newspapers, magazines, Internet products, research, direct marketing services, education and training, trade shows and conferences, custom publishing, testing and consulting.

  Contacts:  Bob Winter, Reality Research
             508-429-6762; rwinter@cmp.com

             Elizabeth Gallagher, Reality Research
             516-733-8698; egallagh@cmp.com

SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

Contact: Bob Winter, 508-429-6762, rwinter@cmp.com, or Elizabeth
Gallagher, 516-733-8698, egallagh@cmp.com of Reality Research

Website: http://www.realityresearch.com/
http://www.cmpnet.com/

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