o wonder IS managers often think about storage: Users demand quick, reliable, and secure access to an exploding amount of data created by monstrous enterprise applications such as those from SAP and Baan, data warehouses, and swelling customer records. Nearly four in 10 IS managers surveyed by the New York research firm Find/SVP see their storage needs doubling over the next two years.

Storage is already the most costly hardware component in IT. Three years ago, storage represented 30% of hardware purchases. Today, that figure is 35%, reports Dataquest, the San Jose, Calif., research firm. And nearly half of storage spending is on subsystems.

One of the mainstays of enterprise storage is the RAID subsystem. In the story " RAID Becomes A Mainstay ," technology editor Logan Harbaugh looks at how evolving RAID technology provides more capacity and fewer failures-all at higher speeds-than in the past.

The latest technology to soup-up storage subsystems is Fibre Channel. Giga Information Group analyst Anders Lofgren explains the benefits and pitfalls of the early generation of Fibre Channel storage devices, read " Understanding Fibre Channel ."

A completely different type of storage solution can be found on the desktop. Contributor Jon Pepper explores removable desktop storage so lutions -- not necessarily the most efficient storage solution, but one that offers users convenience and security -- in " Renewable Storage Revival ".

To see which vendors offer which products, check out our product charts that accompany each story as well as a vendor index as PDF files.

As always, we'd like to hear your comments. Let us know what you think at the address below.

Eric Chabrow
Special Projects Editor
echabrow@cmp.com