Web 2.0 companies like eBay, PayPal and YouTube are now ruling the Internet world.

They have at least one thing in common: a data-intensive website that is likely creating an IT storage nightmare. As they deal with burgeoning data storage requirements, there are three considerations they should take into account when minding their data storage.

1. Storage that scales

As a Web 2.0 company's website or service becomes more successful, it will attract more and more users, which in turn demands even greater storage space. Before they know it, Web 2.0 companies quickly outgrow their entire storage infrastructure.

They start with internal storage, and then they outgrow it.They reach a petabyte of data very quickly, and simply adding more capacity does not help keep their infrastructure under control.

Next, they seek volume. This is where storage area network (SAN) technology becomes relevant.

This is enterprise-class storage and it offers capabilities such as massive scalability, reliable performance, fault tolerance and an "always on" design.

2. Making data mobile

Web 2.0 companies that are thinking strategically will also be open to tiered storage to ensure data mobility. In tiered storage, data is stored according to its intended use.

Data intended for restoration in the event of data loss or corruption, for example, is stored locally for fast recovery. Data required to be kept for regulatory purposes is archived to lower cost disks.

The natural profile of Web 2.0 companies and services is that a large number of users will sign up for the service, but many will not continue to use the service.

In a single-tiered storage architecture, the cost for hosting the activities of the "lightweight" user is the same as the "power" user, which is clearly a poor use of assets.

In a tiered storage model, files that belong to infrequent users are automatically migrated to lower-cost, lower performing storage.

3. Maintaining business as usual

Web 2.0 services are expected to be "always on".

Therefore, solutions around long-distance replication must be explored and implemented.

This often involves hosting stand-by infrastructure at an alternative data centre and replicating all data to that second site.

The storage journey of the Web 2.0 organisation is a long one characterised by dramatic growth, spikes in development and skyrocketing expectations.

It is for this reason that such organisations look at storage solutions that can grow, or be virtualised later to ensure that old assets are re-used.

By Ravi Rajendran, general manager, Asean, Hitachi Data Systems

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