History 2002: Forum Stockage 2002 Vs. Storage Expo 2002

Storage industry shows are doing much better than the storage industry, which more or less confirms our suspicion that users are hungry for information on a subject that interests and/or worries them more and more, but more importantly, they want to buy less, more effectively, due to overall stagnation of IT budgets.

The largest European show focused exclusively on storage is indisputably the Forum Stockage, in Paris, France launched in 1996 by Ortech. It 6th edition was held October 16-18, attracting, according to its director, Laurent Schmitte, 70 displays and some 110 brand names, compared to 125 brands the previous year, with a smaller surface area of booths compared to the year before as well. On the other hand, the number of visitors was up by 27.8%, according to Schmitte, to reach 3,822.

The other significant event in Europe is Storage Expo, the 2nd edition of which was held in Birmingham, UK, oddly enough at almost the exact time, (October 16-17) and attracting, according to organizer Imago Communications, some 80 exhibitors and 2,500 people, an increase of 20% for the latter.

Ortech tried to set up in Britain, and was to have launched a storage event last April, but failed, not without some financial fallout.

In any case, although both events competed on the same dates, both achieved relatively good outcomes, even if the 2 remain primarily national, and don’t manage to draw much in the way of foreign attendance, only 3% in the case of Stockage.

The SNIA is also organizing its own European show, the SNW-EuroStorage, held earlier this year and planned again for next summer in Cannes, France. The first edition, although interesting, has a long way to go to reach the size of a Stockage or Storage Expo.

The largest European storage event that features storage is indisputably CeBIT, held in Hanover, Germany, if we calculate purely in numbers of storage booths, 187 this past spring out of more than 7,000, and of course attendance, more than half a million, even if its a more general theme show covering IT and telecom. CeBIT’s success, however, does account for the lack of a dedicated storage event in Germany.

In the US, there are a number of storage shows throughout the year, but they don’t draw the kind of participation seen in Europe. For the last Storage Networking World in Orlando, FL, held October 26-30, the SNIA announced some 100 exhibitors, but only 700 IT users. The number of booths at Storage Decisions, September 17-19 in Chicago, IL, was only 50 or so.

Is the French Stockage event then the largest one dedicated to storage in the world? At the risk of excessive nationalism, we can’t rule it out.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 179 on December 2002 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.