Storage Expo is one of the landmark events in the IT show calendar. The show acts as a gathering place of many of the established vendors supplying goods and services into this increasingly high profile area of IT and a number of vendors looking to enter the market in the UK.

On the one side the show acts as a convenient shop window for IT professionals looking to spend a day finding out what’s going on in the fast changing world of storage. For every large enterprise that enjoys close relationships with the suppliers and who have time to keep more than a weather eye on all developments storage there are very many organisations that do not have that direct contact. For these organisations a show such as this makes it simple to get a fair idea of what is happening and to identify solutions that they might wish to pursue further now or at some time in the not too distant future.

Shows such as this also provide another benefit, though frequently one that is overlooked, namely an occasion for those working in the supplier community to network, and not just with old colleagues now moved on. It is by no means unknown for new working relationships to take their first steps, not always faltering steps. There is always ample opportunity for the vendor community to build new channels and even start assembling solutions that meet real needs. OK there might also be the occasional example of job shopping too.

In addition to this the show also provides many opportunities over the course of two days to listen to a wide variety of speakers ranging including the vendors themselves, peers offering their insights into interesting developments along with analysts giving their opinions on what’s going on. These can prove to be valuable, and sometimes even manage to be vaguely entertaining.

So what is one to make of the show this year? Was there a theme? Yes, but I am not certain that it is one that everyone believes was well meant. The theme was “Green” with vendor after vendor taking great pains to establish their green credentials. There is no doubt that all things green are top of the agenda of nearly every IT company, not just those in storage.

It is interesting to see that our own research seeing genuine customer interest in green computing but nothing like the hype that the vendor industry is putting into the topic. Now it must be recognised that very many modern storage solutions are far greener than those of yesterday. It is certainly true that modern systems consume far less energy and that modern management tools have the ability to greatly increase storage utilisation levels thereby avoiding the need to acquire new hardware earlier than would otherwise be necessary.

These are valuable and worthwhile characteristics of many modern storage solutions. However, these operational product features do not alone a truly green offering make. There are many other factors involved not least those concerned with the entire supply and disposal processes that are wrapped around offerings. Now many vendors really are addressing the big picture but I do detect that the current shouting of green credentials is making some in the wider IT community sceptical that hype is far exceeding the reality for some vendors. Concern for the environment is rightly growing in all areas of life, but I believe that the IT industry is running a real risk of alienating many people by over the over marketing its green credentials. As I said, the advances in product and management tools in IT are making IT more efficient and effective. The industry is becoming greener but the current hype is too much.