The digital data explosion is creating more and more data, all of which has to be efficiently stored and subsequently managed if organizations hope to gain maximum value. The more data there is, the more need there is for organizations to manage it effectively. In addition, storage utilization has long been a concern in the open systems world, where the amount of storage used versus the amount that is physically present has been as low as 30.35%.

As IT managers strive for more effective storage utilization for both efficiency and productivity reasons, thin provisioning - an approach that allows systems administrators to allocate storage capacity to an application or a host multiple times in a shared pool concept, is increasingly attractive.

This paper discusses thin provisioning and how Symantec is using it in this important area of the storage management market.