Storage Expo 2007 kicks off this Wednesday at London Olympia, with the organisers hoping to improve on the 4,700 IT professionals estimated to have visited the event in 2006.

It is this level of attendance that keeps vendors flocking to the show to engage with customers, potential customers and business partners.

Rick Gillett, former chief technology officer (CTO) at Acopia Networks and now vice president of data systems architecture at F5 Networks, which acquired Acopia earlier this year, is due to present a seminar on the file area network (FAN) at this year’s show. “We find a lot of people are coming to the show with a set of well understood problems that they have not yet had a chance to resolve yet. We can offer advice and also [demonstrate potential] solutions,” he said.

Tony Lock, programme director at UK-based industry analyst and research organisation Freeform Dynamics, said the people attending Storage Expo are usually a mixed bunch, adding that most are from smaller enterprises and have little or no storage technology expertise and no existing relationships with storage vendors.

“Many visitors are IT professionals from mid-size firms who are not specialists in storage management and who go along to see what is going on the industry,” Lock said. “Large corporates tend to have close relationships with the people who supply their storage solutions and the ability to do their own technology research.”

The event’s main attraction for end users is the opportunity it gives to canvas a large number of vendors in one place, which many find preferable to having hordes of sales representatives beating a path to their door.

“The vast majority of [end users] have little spare time to do research into new technology, and shows like Storage Expo give them the chance to find out what is out there all in one go,” said Lock. “They may not have immediate storage requirements, but what they find there is certainly going to be kept in mind for the future.”

More than 120 companies will be exhibiting products and solutions. A packed seminar schedule will provide them with a platform to pitch their wares, while debates and keynotes will address specific storage issues. Topics up for discussion include information lifecycle risk management, business continuity and data protection strategies, and storage-driven business intelligence.

Ideas for reducing running costs will be foremost in most storage managers’ minds, while the topic of virtualisation is also likely to receive a lot of attention.

With the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) set to incorporate the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) into its handbook in November, many firms are facing a tougher regulatory climate. As a result, the issue of making sure that data is properly stored and easily accessible is bound to be a hot topic at the event, and will be the focus of a keynote on the opening day by Phil Higgins, the chief executive of security and compliance specialist Brookcourt.

Green issues will also make their presence felt. Lock believes that increasing concern over rising energy costs is prompting storage professionals to look at ways of cutting electricity bills.

“The one thing that has happened over the past 12 months that we have not noticed before is people becoming more aware of how much power is needed to keep storage resources running and the associated costs,” Lock said.

Ideas for conserving energy will get an airing during a keynote on Thurday entitled “The Green IT Debate: Can New Energy-Saving Hardware Really Save Money or Make a Difference to Global Warming?”.

www.storage-expo.com