Convergence of the “3S” – Security, Storage and System Management

A new report conducted by IDC on behalf of I.NET, a business unit of BT Italia, highlights that the outsourcing service market is undergoing rapid transformation. The various IT areas are becoming increasingly interdependent in an effort to meet future market needs. At the same time the boundaries between security, storage and system management are becoming more and more blurred.

According to the research paper, data and system security remain one of the most important challenges enterprises are facing today. They are increasingly looking for solutions that can offer greater visibility, transparency and integration in IT systems management. They also need partners that understand what drives and what hinders ICT projects to truly respond and adapt to companies’ business and IT needs. The result is a convergence process driven by the demand for greater critical data control, where storage, networking and system management play a key role alongside security.

Another recent international survey (“Storage and Security” – IDC 2007) supporting these conclusions has shown that half of the companies surveyed (51%) would be willing to spend 20% or more in supplementary costs for data security compared to the price of storage.

The convergence of the 3S (security, storage and system management) opens new opportunities for the entire ICT industry, from platform suppliers to solution providers and Outsourcing services providers.

These opportunities will only create value for service providers if they can integrate these converging areas and offer a smooth portfolio. Service providers will also have to understand if companies are indeed ready to embrace the 3S convergence process.

On the other side, enterprises must learn to regard outsourcing service providers as fully fledged partner and develop a tighter relationship before they can continue in their evolutionary growth process and reap the benefits of 3S convergence.

I.NET for example has followed a truly coherent path towards 3S. While continuing its original role as IT infrastructure manager (hosting, middleware management and storage) and network manager. It has complemented its offering with integrated solutions and services, ranging from managed security to virtualization services, disaster recovery services and business continuity services, to application management.

Thanks to this business strategy and its integrated and convergent solutions, I.net is able to interpret future market needs in light of growing interdependencies between IT areas such as 3S.