The cloud is a big deal. Just ask Mark Wojtasiak, Sr. Manager of Product Marketing at Seagate. “According to our own market research, by 2020 over 60% of the storage capacity shipped will be in the cloud. The capacity shipped is a mix between personal clouds and enterprise clouds, with personal clouds accounting for approximately 60% of the capacity, and enterprise clouds accounting for the remaining 40%.” With this kind of market growth, cloud storage is a great revenue stream for Seagate and our partners.
Seagate is seeing the rise of personal clouds in the form of network-attached and direct-attached storage in the home. For consumers, storing digital content at home and accessing it over the internet on any device, at any time, from anywhere, is more cost effective and secure than moving it to the public cloud (Amazon, Apple iCloud, etc.).
For system builders the opportunities in the cloud space are growing. As cloud service providers (CSP) and Internet Service Providers (ISP) expand their cloud offerings, they increasingly turn to system builders in the channel to help design, build, and support their servers and storage.
Resellers can sell cloud storage into SMBs. As SMBs shift to the cloud, investment in on-premise servers declines. But many small businesses are hesitant to make a total transition to cloud because of security and cost concerns. Resellers can help SMBs build out their private cloud using Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions, or cloud servers and software through partnering with Seagate Cloud Builder Alliances.
In the consumer market, personal clouds are creating quite a buzz. Research indicates that the average household digital library is 1TB with growth to 4TB later this decade. The cost of 1TB of public cloud storage is up to $1,000 US per year. That’s significantly more than buying a 4TB home NAS. So for consumers, it makes sense to create their own personal cloud.
Within the Seagate Partner Program (SPP), we are building out a specific cloud track with dedicated training, sales tools, marketing resources, and technical guides. This will help you learn more about the cloud and build out a cloud strategy for success. We’ve got resources for everything from enterprise cloud data centers, to private clouds for SMBs, to personal clouds for consumers. You’ll find that SPP will be a cloud-focused resource you can count on for the latest trends, training, tools, and solutions. And Seagate is working to build a community and facilitate matches between Cloud Builder Alliance partners and our channel partners. So check out Seagate’s cloud solution resources and learn how you can bring the cloud to your business.