Open storage uses industry-standard components and open software to build highly scalable, reliable, and affordable enterprise storage systems. Today's digital data, Internet applications, and emerging IT markets require new storage architectures that are more open and flexible, and that offer better IT economics.

Open storage architectures are competing with traditional storage architectures in the IT market, especially in Web 2.0 deployments and increasingly in other, more traditional storage markets. Open storage architectures won't completely replace closed architectures in the near term, but the storage architecture mix in IT datacenters will change over time.

Sun estimates that open storage architectures will make up just under 12% of the market by 2011, fueled by the industry's need for more scalable and economic storage.

Sun offers services that assist IT users with the opportunity to start evaluating open storage architecture strategies and Sun's offerings today-evaluating how an open storage architecture can better support their organizations' business and budgetary goals.