Access Markets International reports that spending growth is attributed to the need to consistently update and guard against security breaches.

April 18, 2008 (TopHosts News Brief) - Research firm, Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc.
reports that medium-sized businesses (100-999 employees) are poised to invest up to US$7.8 billion on data storage and security this year.

This represents a 12 percent increase over 2007. Growth is attributed to the need to consistently update and guard against security breaches, says AMI.

“Up to 86% of US MBs reported a security breach/data loss in the last 12 months,” says Nichelle McKenzie, New York based research analyst at AMI-Partners in a media release. “The cost to these companies is about US$7,000 per year.”

AMI notes that storage and security investments account for 9 percent (about US$7.8 billion) of total IT/telecom spending.

“US MBs are primarily investing in software to backup PCs and servers,” Ms. McKenzie says. “Up to 90% of MBs stated they use data backup and data recovery software, and 30% are sticking with the familiar by planning to use DAS (direct attached storage) in the next 12 months.”

For more information about this AMI study, visit www.ami-partners.com.