The storage-as-a-service market continues to grow and change, with new players introducing products and services that give businesses an alternative to do-it-yourself, on-premises data storage. In preparation for a full-blown analysis of the market, InformationWeek is releasing a Request for Information aimed at storage-as-a-service vendors.This is a formal call for participation to storage-as-a-service vendors. The RFI describes a hypothetical mid-sized company called DIY Marketing Services, which is growing despite the recession as client companies turn to DIY for outsourced marketing services. The company requires 100 TB of storage to start, with expectations that data volume could triple or quadruple within a year.

The RFI provides an overview of DIY's business, describes its existing IT infrastructure and technology goals, and requests detailed information on vendors' service offerings, pricing, and service level agreements. We ask that vendors RSVP to let us know that they plan to participate by March 30, and the deadline for returning completed RFIs is April 6. InformationWeek plans to publish our analysis of the completed RFIs and the overall storage-as-a-service market in May.

We brought in IT consultant Jon Toigo of Toigo Partners to help draft the RFI and analyze the results. Storage-as-a-service vendors interested in participating can submit a completed RFI directly to Jon at jtoigo@toigopartners.com.

The RFI, titled "Storage As A Service," can be downloaded here. Registration is required.