It's almost impossible to conduct a conversation with a storage vendor without raising the topic of "storage tiering." Along with "virtualisation" and "cloud," it’s one of those de rigueur phrases. And, like those other two, storage tiering suffers from an over-exposure that can assume familiarity and understanding where it does not exist.

The report has 3 main sections: The first section examines what storage tiering is and provides a little  historical perspective together with a basic explanation of why it makes sense. The next part of the report looks at the current market landscape in more detail. Finally, there is a summary of purchasing considerations, with guidance to prospective users of the technology on what to know and what to ask when investigating their options.