Major acquisitions. Executive departures. New market entrants. In recent months, storage news has dominated the technology headlines and kept financial reporters guessing about the next big move. A far cry from the dormancy of the late 1990s, when the sector was so sleepy that industry pundits dubbed it 'snorage'—the first quarter of 2005 has been a period of unprecedented change for the storage world.

Industry experts predict that the remainder of 2005 will continue to be punctuated with dramatic transitions. Leading storage vendors are likely to extend their consolidation strategies, intensifying the competitive environment for established players and young start-ups alike. Heavyweights in other technology sectors are also turning their attentions and R&D investments toward the storage market, and new offerings will further crowd the distribution channel.

Against this shifting landscape, the storage community is in danger of confusing customers—and jeopardizing sales as a result. As data center engineers race to develop the areas of virtualization, interoperability, disk-to-disk backup and recovery, storage security, standards and connectivity over distance, vendor marketing teams must find more effective ways of placing these advancements in context, differentiating their solutions, and translating new features into direct business benefits.

Now more than ever, storage vendors also need to ensure that their communications resonate with non-storage experts. Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulations have pushed businesses of all sizes to reconsider their storage networking strategies, and vendors are beginning to recognize the growth potential in the small-to-medium end of the storage market. These smaller customers, however, rarely employ dedicated storage managers and instead rely on the IT director to make key storage decisions. In response, the storage community now must reduce the complexity that has traditionally plagued both the technology and the communications in this sector.

To make the most of this evolutionary time, storage vendors can demonstrate leadership by articulating industry vision and using 'back-to-basics' language to market their solutions. Easy success in this sector is a thing of the past, but a powerful communications strategy is an essential step toward connecting with customers, demonstrating innovation and pushing the industry forward.

A San Francisco transplant from Text 100's New Zealand office, Jodi Olson is an account director who specializes in the storage networking industry. Contact her at jodio@text100.com.