Storage Resource Management (SRM) is the fastest growing segment of the storage software market. In  this report, ESG Lab examines the EMC SRM application, ControlCenter. Without robust SRM capability,  ESG estimates the time and people required to manage storage is from 4 to 7 times more than the price of the storage hardware and software combined. SRM solutions provide storage administrators a suite of tools and applications to automate storage management functions including monitoring, reporting, managing, configuring, and provisioning storage whether in SAN, NAS or direct attach configuration.

Over the years, storage and SAN management have become more complex as storage capacity has continued to increase at a startling rate. Storage architects cite the following storage management challenges:

• Continued capacity growth
• Increased number and complexity of SANs
• Staffing levels and expertise
• Lack of simple and flexible automation tools to:
    o Track capacity utilization across operating systems, file systems, databases, etc.
    o Analyze and show performance and capacity trends
    o Provision storage with selectable automation levels
• Demand for fewer products and easier installation, deployment and upgrades