Tech Trends for 2023

We see eight tech trends in 2023, ranging from cybersecurity, hybrid cloud and consolidation to resource utilization, guaranteed SLAs and green IT. Exploring each one in this blog post will give you a glimpse into the next 12 months.

#1: Cybersecurity will surge in 2023 in a new wave to safeguard enterprises

Cybersecurity is paramount across all areas of an enterprise IT infrastructure, including enterprise storage, servers, and networking applications. Cybersecurity continues to be a huge trend because many enterprises have not yet filled all their gaps on the security front and the pace of cyberattacks continues to increase. Laws about cybersecurity have also changed in the U.S. and in the EU, so we will see the implications of tighter measures and more stringent reporting requirements in 2023. This trend is focused on what is being done to ensure security, addressing attack vectors perpetrated by criminals and other entities. Cybersecurity is not just about crime; it's an overarching vehicle for everything from crime to attacks. It's a critical factor across everything to do with data-driven enterprise infrastructure.

Security is built into everything Infinidat provides. The integration of InfiniSafe® technology across Infinidat’s broad portfolio of platforms, including the InfiniBox®, InfiniBox™ SSA II and InfiniGuard® solutions, has set a new standard for cyber storage resilience. Infinidat’s cyber storage solutions enables enterprises, managed service providers, cloud hosting providers and managed hosting providers to safeguard themselves against ransomware, malware and other cyberattacks. The solutions deliver rapid recovery based on immutable snapshots of an enterprise’s data, ensuring the data is intact and uncompromised. It eliminates the need to pay the “ransom” and removes the power of cyber criminals to wreak havoc on organizations. Customers of InfiniSafe get guaranteed cyber storage resilience service level agreements (SLA) around both immutability and cyber recovery times.

#2: Hybrid cloud will attract more interest among enterprises than the public cloud alone

Hybrid cloud, which is the combination of on-premises private clouds and public clouds (off-premises), is expected to continue to grow in popularity in 2023. What has happened is many companies are realizing that having highly transactional workloads that are fully moved to public cloud have many issues. For example, either the applications do not get the SLAs from the public cloud provides they need in terms of availability, performance, or reliability, or it is much more expensive to go completely to the public cloud. When a company is doing large numbers of transactions, the networking fees alone skyrocket when an enterprise tries to go fully to the public cloud – without having any on-prem private cloud. Due to serious concerns about cost, performance, security and availability, many companies have realized they cannot move everything to the public cloud. Certain workloads, such as highly transactional workloads, should remain on-prem in an enterprise’s private cloud. The best practice that has emerged over the past few years − and is expected to continue in 2023 − is to determine workload by workload which is better, so enterprises need to have both on-prem private clouds and access to public clouds.

Infinidat offers state-of-the-art on-prem solutions for both primary and secondary storage. The company also has partnerships with public cloud providers, such as AWS Outposts, to make the on-ramp from the private cloud to the public cloud seamless and smooth. Infinidat is one of the world’s leading enterprise storage solution providers for the hybrid cloud. The company’s broad portfolio of solutions includes the InfiniBox®, InfiniBox™ SSA II and InfiniGuard®, along with novel technologies, such as InfiniSafe® and InfiniOps™. They have become essential solutions for cloud service providers, managed service providers, managed hosting providers, and telcos across the world.

#3: An intense focus on IT costs – costs, costs, costs – will drive enterprises to make changes to their storage in 2023

Costs, costs, costs…in the data center! Due to the tough global financial conditions, 2023 will see an even more intense focus on IT costs, particularly in enterprise infrastructure. The question for IT managers is: “Can I sweat the asset?” It’s a matter of determining whether keeping the IT asset, such as a storage array or server or networking gear, longer would hurt the business or not. Can the organization live with it longer to cut capital expenditures, no matter what the infrastructure is? In the storage world, you could sweat the assets if you want to, but if you consolidate multiple storage arrays − just as IT teams consolidate existing servers with more powerful servers – you can dramatically reduce CAPEX, OPEX, and IT operational resources in significant ways.

Infinidat is leading the way for enterprises to consolidate storage. The positive ROI that companies are achieving by transitioning to Infinidat’s high-capacity, high-performance cyber storage is setting new records in the industry. Enterprises are able to consolidate dozens of arrays into only a few Infinidat systems, while increasing capacity, speed, and cyber storage resilience, yet yielding significant cost savings. Customers also use Infinidat’s flexible consumption models, including FLX (Storage-as-a-Service) and Elastic Pricing (Capacity on Demand), to manage costs most efficiently. Infinidat is arguably the #1 storage provider for cost-conscious organizations.

#4: Resource utilization and hiring will focus on value-add IT work, delegating routine tasks to self-managing technologies

Enterprises will carefully, and cautiously, examine their IT resource utilization and hiring in 2023, asking questions such as: “Can I hire people to do the jobs? What jobs do they do? How do I get enough IT people to do their functions?” Hiring priorities will focus on IT jobs that add value through human intervention to improve business outcomes. In this light, storage needs to be easy to manage and deliver a set-it-and-forget-it experience. Storage will need to take care of itself in 2023 and beyond, so the technology that enables this function will be critical. The implications of having self-managing storage with autonomous automation include: refocus training on higher-level tasks, increased cost-efficiency, reduced risk of mistakes, and more flexibility in hiring in a job market with high competition for IT talent.

Infinidat’s software defined storage technologies (including cyber storage resilience) utilize autonomous automation, enabling a set-it-and-forget-it approach. The company’s Neural Cache software automatically learns as applications are added and new servers with new applications are pointed at Infinidat storage. The Infinidat platform learns about the applications and workloads and automatically configures itself to optimize performance, reliability, and availability for those applications. There is no need for the customer to do any performance tuning. Neural Cache senses the new application and takes care of it on its own. The ease of use is unparalleled in the industry. This reduces the burden on companies to find more qualified professionals and the need to train them.

Companies can focus hiring on other IT tasks that require manpower, specialized knowledge and ingenuity. Additionally, Infinidat’s InfiniOps software technology provides AIOps both inside of Infinidat arrays as well as tight integration with AIOps data center and hybrid cloud software. This provides even further autonomous automation and ease-of-use.

#5: Green IT will add a new dimension to data centers to reduce the environmental impact of data centers

A shift for data centers to go green is accelerating around the world. Data centers use enormous amounts of power. They require high levels of cooling, affecting the carbon footprint. The realization of the need to reduce the environmental effects of data centers will expand significantly in 2023, especially as the explosion in data will continue to grow exponentially.

Technology systems, such as storage arrays, will need to be consolidated and expanded with larger capacity, yet with smaller footprints compared to legacy systems. IT managers will be proactively making moves to reduce energy usage, cooling, rack space, and floor space. It starts with consolidation and planning for a future of fewer storage arrays, which translates into less to recycle. Not only will it lower costs, but the environmental impact will be measurably better.

Infinidat enables organizations to go green in the data center by consolidating storage arrays and purpose-built backup appliances (PBBA). Large-capacity storage systems and PBBAs, in which the company specializes with its InfiniBox and InfiniGuard solutions, puts more data into smaller spaces, freeing up rack space and floor space while reducing energy consumption. When companies use fewer storage arrays, they use less power and less cooling, resulting in both a green impact and substantial cost savings in CAPEX and OPEX, as well as a reduction in IT operational needs. In addition, having fewer storage systems translates into recycling fewer systems in the future, which is another benefit of a green initiative. It means recycling a lower amount of material and at a lower cost. In short, Green IT not only helps the global environment, but also reduces customers CAPEX, OPEX, and manpower needs. Green IT equals cost savings.

#6: Demand for excellent customer experience will disrupt legacy storage implementations

Enterprises and service providers/hosting providers will expect a higher level of pro-active customer experience in 2023, both in terms of service & support and technical user experience. IT buyers will want “easier, faster and better” as the defining attributes of enterprise technology solutions in the new year. Easier, faster, better translate into time savings and cost savings. What usually takes 2 hours, they now want in 10 minutes, which provides an improved customer experience. IT buyers also expect higher levels of service & support, obtaining answers immediately from qualified professionals, with a preference for a “white glove service.”

Infinidat delivers the best customer experience in the storage industry. Not only does the company provide a“white glove service” with first-rate technical advisors and top-notch service & support, but it also provides solutions that are easy to deploy and utilize autonomous automation, which means the storage platform manages itself, getting smarter and better every minute of every day, thanks to Infinidat’s novel software defined storage Neural Cache technology. Ultimately, Infinidat enables a set-it-and-forget-it approach. It defines the customer experience. For feedback from real Infinidat customers, go to the Gartner Peer Insights website. The first comments that jump out are centered on customer experience. Infinidat is head-and-shoulders above the competition.

#7: Everything As a Service defines our new reality

There is no denying that “as a service” is of massive significance to IT leaders. We’re all seeing such examples as software-as-a-service, storage-as-a-service, networking-as-a-service, among others. This trend features flexible consumption models to provide ultimate adaptability. The as-a-service model gives customers the ability to pay for what they need and be able to scale when needed. In 2023, expanded adoption of as-a-service offerings will make more enterprises much more adaptable and be able to manage costs and resources more efficiently. This includes storage-as-a-service, which has the promise of transforming how companies deploy and use storage in a world of escalating data usage.

Infinidat is leading the way with storage-as-a-service (STaaS). Infinidat has delivered on its STaaS strategy via AIOps technology and flexible consumption models at petabyte scale. The company’s Neural Cache deep learning software defined storage technology, AIOps offerings, strategic data center software partnerships (such as RedHat, VMware, ServiceNow and many others) and consumption-based models have resulted in significant momentum helping enterprise customers simplify IT operations.

Infinidat’s technology foundation delivers enterprise storage solutions with 100% availability, high performance, and the lowest possible total cost of ownership (TCO), at petabyte scale. Critical for delivering these benefits to customers is Infinidat’s multi-dimensional AIOps approach, including the complementary combination of AI-in-the-box (Neural Cache and InfiniOps embedded inside Infinidat’s systems), AI outside the box, and Infinidat’s wide ecosystem of AIOps technology partnerships.

Complementing the intelligence built into Infinidat systems, InfiniVerse is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that provides a consolidated AIOps environment for customers’ full Infinidat estates. As the first piece of Infinidat’s AI-outside-the-box offering, InfiniVerse delivers predictive analytics, early issue detection and enhanced, proactive support – a key component enabling the storage-as-a-service experience for Infinidat customers, without an additional charge.

#8: Enterprises will reduce risk in 2023 by increasingly demanding and embracing guaranteed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) from their suppliers

2023 is shaping up to be a year of more uncertainty than the world has seen in years. To prepare for managing higher levels of risk, enterprises will collectively go to the next level of demanding guaranteed SLAs in IT infrastructure. Suppliers will be expected to provide rock-solid guarantees. Those vendors that don’t will experience more disruption and see long-time customers suddenly transition to enterprise storage solutions that are backed by guarantees. Enterprises and service providers should look for guarantees for such things as high availability, cyber recovery and performance.

To meet and exceed customer expectations for performance, cyber resilience, availability, and efficiency, Infinidat offers a broad set of guaranteed SLAs for its storage and cyber resilience platforms. The company recently added two new guarantees for the InfiniGuard solution: guaranteed recoverability of InfiniSafe immutable snapshots, and guaranteed recovery time of those immutable snapshots in 20 minutes or less on secondary storage, regardless of the size of the snapshot. These guarantees build on Infinidat’s already strong track record of the 100% availability guarantee and a cyber recovery guarantee on primary storage. Infinidat is now widely recognized for offering a comprehensive suite of guarantees that provide significant value-add to enterprise customers and service providers.