Security, Storage Go Hand In Hand For Solution Providers

At Everything Channel's World Without Wires Virtual Trade Show, held Thursday, DeMarzo spoke with David Dadian, founder and CEO of powersolution.com; Joseph Ploehn, principal consultant of professional services, CompuCon; and Florindo Gallicchio, senior risk management architect, at Melillo Consulting's Risk Management Practice.

All three industry veterans agreed that storage continues to be a growth driver, and coupled with security solutions ratchets up opportunities for VARs.

So, what's behind this growth? An explosion of information. It's all about the data.

"Those are big things to consider and also we're not seeing a lot of ILM (Information Lifecyle Management), which was a hot buzz item in 2006, 2007," said Joe Ploehn. "We're still seeing a lot of that data maintained on some of the most expensive storage arrays out there. With that continuing to grow and a need to maintain data over seven years, 10 year, 30 years -- depending upon the business vertical you're in -- that needs to be available. You're seeing companies that might add just storage, and then later add security protection for that data."

David Dadian agreed with Ploehn, saying that the market is securing all that stored content.

"We look it from a perspective that information is growing exponentially -- we see our clients, even small clients -- experience the explosive growth in data. We help them figure out how to store it, different methods of archival and how data lifecycle management comes into play."

Florindo Gallicchio believes that information absolutely must have a combination of storage and security.

"In the past security was focused on technology and the security itself, but as time went on and as the market grew, information really is the asset that our customers are trying to protect," he said. "If you look at it from a banking perspective, a bank is really an information management company, and so the focus has turned from the technology itself to the information and storage of course being a critical factor in security. Today what we see is the protection of storage not just at rest but also in transit and solutions today must revolve around both."

David Dadian said that it's important for solution providers to include the little guys in the mix as well.

"Data is data, he said. "We work with some very small companies and if they lose that data, they're done. They could be out of business in six months."

The strategy of winning customers has always come down to taking the role of a trusted advisor. Now, the bottom line is that it's more important than ever that VARs do their homework and study up on the businesses they want to deal with, whether it's the storage side, the security side, or more than likely, both.

"You have to understand that business, that vertical, and how regulations specifically fit in," said Gallicchio. "You have to match both the regulatory requirement and the business requirement. For example, consider how JohnsonJohnson is affected by a HIPPA regulation opposed to a bank. There's a completely different implementation process for each client but the same regulation apply when it comes to Sarbanes-Oxley."