At the turn of the century, large data centers still relied mostly on direct-attached storage systems, which offer abysmal data utilization rates - 25% to 30% of hard drive capacity. Since then, many enterprise IT managers have at least begun to study technologies that could vastly improve data utilization, like Fibre Channel, IP storage-area networks, thin provisioning and virtualization. A recent survey by TheInfoPro found that almost half of Fortune 1,000 companies now use thin provisioning or plan to do so.rnNonetheless, data utilization rates at most large companies remain at 40% or lower, resulting in a significant waste of electricity and floor space, analysts say.
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