1. Describe the data storage industry in China in this case. Include comments on
technology and issues in accepting new technology?
Data Storage Industry
The People’s Republic of China as a country has historically taken a rather casual
approach with respect to valuing the importance of properly storing and backing up
company data. The PRC’s emerging data storage industry is decentralized in nature, and
current storage methods typically do not follow industry best standards or practices for
properly securing and storing data.
The PRC’s relatively crude approach to data storage management is best illustrated by the
chart provided below, which shows an estimated distribution of data storage forms in use
by the small-to-medium (SME) business space.
As shown in the chart above, it was found that two-fifths (40%) of these SMEs had no data
storage backup solution whatsoever…a testament to the lack of appreciation and
importance of data security in the PRC. For those SMEs that were backing up data, a fifth
(20%) of the companies were found to be storing data on Compact Discs (CDs), an
inexpensive but highly volatile medium, as it scratches easily and is susceptible to
cracking and breaking. Furthermore, it was found that 35% were using portable external
hard drives. While being more reliable than CDs, portable external hard drives are also
rather unstable for data storage, as they run the risk of damage to the platters, spindle, or
the read/write arm (Nield, n.d.) from shock and vibration if not properly handled and
stored. The remaining 5% were found to be using a variety of other storage forms,
undoubtedly making use of USB flash drives. While USB flash drives use solid state
memory and are thus not susceptible to the same damage that plague portable external hard
drives, they are small and inherently risky, as they allow the unauthorized removal of
corporate data with little to no trace. If SMEs don’t have enterprise-level controls such as
Group Policy Objects (GPOs) that block the use of mass storage devices like USB flash
drives and portable external hard drives (Geary, n.d.), SMEs are no worse off making their
internal corporate documents public facing for all to see.
With respect to many of the large corporations in the PRC, their data storage practices
were typically in the form of multi-million RMB integrated backup systems such as IBM’s
Tivoli Storage Manager Solution (“Tivoli Storage”, n.d.), which often require hardware
infrastructure and dedicated staff support on payroll. Some of these large corporations had
