Finally, Some Good News

If you're like me, you've probably gotten steadily more depressed in recent months by the never-ending stream of bad economic news. Whether it's the sub-prime mortgage mess or the frozen credit markets or declining home prices or the problems on Wall Street and in Detroit or the constant reports of more layoffs or your quickly evaporating 401(k), there hasn't been much to be cheerful about as we enter the holiday season.

That's why I was happy to receive two releases from IDC that indicate the storage industry is doing much better than most industries. The research firm said factory revenues for worldwide external disk storage systems increased 8.8 percent year-over-year to hit $4.9 billion in the third quarter, and, even better, the storage software market had revenues of $3.1 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 11.6 percent from the same quarter a year ago. It was the 20th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth for storage software, the firm said.

Happy holidays!

Of course, it isn't all blue skies and clear sailing. There are storm clouds and rough waters ahead. All the economists and politicians tell us that things are probably going to get worse before they get better. And I don't expect my 401(k) to rebound to previous levels for many years.

Still, it is nice to be part of an industry that is still growing and increasing sales and providing a useful and necessary service. It sure beats being part of the auto industry or the real estate business or Wall Street. Would you rather be selling storage products and software and services or cars and annuities and condos? That's an easy question to answer.