Ripples from last year’s massive flooding in Thailand continue to hit the computer industry, and repercussions for business IT are forecasted to last throughout 2012.
Thailand is home to much of the world’s hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturing, but the major factories are located in an area that experienced its worst flooding in more than five decades.
The July 2011 flooding caused many of these factories to shut down for various lengths of time, causing the beginning of a shock to the supply chain just when demand for data storage was growing in response to the worldwide proliferation of cloud computing. Data management required high capacity storage like what a cloud data warehouse can make possible in the future. However, Hard disk drive shipments were down by 30 percent in the last quarter of 2011, with most enterprise data storage systems affected.
But now, the shortage is trickling down to smaller business IT systems, as most of the remaining HDD production capacity has been dedicated to supplying larger, higher-end needs.
The result is higher prices and no guarantee that a particular hard disk drive will be available for immediate replacement. HP has already announced that it will be allocating (rationing) sales and distribution of replacement hard drives.
What does this mean for businesses? If a personal computer or server hard drive crashes, businesses could be waiting months for a replacement drive. Of course, this is incredibly inconvenient for businesses. Perhaps some businesses should consider using a different storage option, such as the Synology NAS option. That could help businesses to store their data whilst they grow. Hopefully, that sort of thing would be better as the data remains with the business, instead of being in Thailand.
Invision recommends businesses purchase or extend current manufacturer’s warranties on computers and hard drives, as HDD replacement preference will be given to customers under warranty. And businesses that know a computer or storage purchase is in their future should start planning ahead now.
The HDD shortage means businesses will likely need to place orders much earlier than usual in order to ensure delivery when needed. It may also be necessary to identify alternatives to a particular HDD model, both to ensure availability and to avoid higher prices.
Image above: Floodwaters inundated Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand, in 2011 Thailand floods, causing extensive damage to the manufacturing industry. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert J. Maurer/Released)
