The most common type of "storage software" is that which does backup or replication. But the reason this list below is nearly twice as big as our backup software directory is because there are a lot more different types of storage software than that.

Drivers for making the hardware work with the OS are a good example. But since they nearly always come from the same IHV - there's no point in listing such products here.

Software for analyzing storage can range from simple storage bus analyzers which help developers debug driver code, and freeware which looks at bottlenecks in your database upto SAN wide heavyweight packages which help you understand and manage an enterprise storage network. And while on the subject of SANS - a few brave companies like Nimbus, Open-E and Wasabi have developed what are in effect NAS operating systems.

As WAN storage networks have become more common the concept of accelerating or deduping the communications payload has also received a lot of developer attention. A leading pioneer in the IP acceleration software market is NetEx, whereas the list of storage deduplication ISVs mentioned on these pages already runs into double digits.

Security is a big subject - which has had its own pages for many years. And the Disk Sanitizer market which started out as a software solutions market has expanded into hardware - because it takes too long to erase hundreds or thousands of discarded hard drives (or tapes) using software on a single PC.
Many Data Recovery companies offer software downloads to help you with simper recovery tasks. But when your hard drives have been charred to smoky plastic or immersed in the sludge waters of a flood - a UPS or Fedex upload is a more realistic solution.

If all of that sounds too complicated then there are plenty of independent Storage Training companies to help you do it yourself or (if you've got enough money) Storage Services companies who will take the problem of managing it all off your hands.

ISVs like to talk about "lifecycles" - because it makes it sound like they've actually thought about what will happen to their teenage hacker developed code, or your data, for more than 5 minutes. Virtualization is another word which has been fashionable in recent years. Although every piece of software that's not part of a hardware driver or OS kernel already includes many levels of assumed virtualization.

One part of the lifecycle which ISVs don't talk about so much - is that part when they are no longer in business having gone bust or been acquired. But despite the fact that the list of gone away ISVs is already much bigger than the live list below - it doesn't stop new startup ISVs going to the local storage VC in the wall machines to request funding.