Successful exhibitions are a good barometer of the market place and Storage Expo was no exception, with a record-breaking 3,834 visitors, a 15% increase on last year's numbers, making the 5th Storage Expo the best ever (pre ABC audited figures). The aisles were packed full of visitors who were there not just to meet with exhibitors but to attend a number of the keynotes and seminars delivered by many of the top experts and leading figures in the storage industry.
This year saw all the key players exhibit at the show with many using the event to launch new products and services all targeted at companies looking for solutions to help manage data storage and meet capacity needs. There was a great deal of interest in the education programme with packed seminars discussing issues from Information life-cycle management, disaster recovery, email management and compliance.
"This year we have really seen an explosion in the data market as companies have become more responsible about holding and storing data. Couple this with the compliance requirements and you can see why there has been such a sharp increase in companies requiring new storing solutions. Living in the Internet enabled world, it's also refreshing to see so many people get out of the office and come down to the show to find the solutions, products and education they need - all in conveniently in one place." Said Claire Sellick, Event Director for Storage Expo.
According to Jon Collins, Principal Analyst, Infrastructure and Management, Quocirca Ltd, "Many end-user organisations have established a strategy for what they are doing with storage, essentially by consolidating their existing environments and looking at tools to help them manage their storage resources most effectively. With this in mind, Storage Expo was an altogether calmer, more directed affair than previous years. Delegates were being purposeful in what they were looking at, and vendors were much clearer in how they could help organisations benefit from their own product sets. The buzz is back; but this time it is being led far more by end-user initiatives than vendor hype. This is a welcome development and one which I hope sets the pattern for the future.
Storage Expo 2006 takes place from 18th -19th October 2006 at the National Hall, Olympia, London, UK. For further information please see: www.storage-expo.com
Documation UK, which was soft launched this year within Storage Expo, has proved to be a great success. The two events are inextricably linked with synergies in both the product offerings and visitor requirements. Documation UK helps customers efficiently classify, retain, retrieve, search and access company information.
Next year Documation UK will be a stand-alone event collocated with Storage Expo 2006.
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