Established and emerging storage vendors are in agreement on end-user needs, and are aligned in their development directions. More specifically, efforts are focused on features that improve data protection, simplify provisioning, improve staff productivity and lower costs. The functional advantages often enjoyed by emerging companies relative to established companies highlights the inhibiting effects of the need for backward compatibility, more-extensive integration testing matrices and slower decision-making processes for larger companies. Where these functional advantages create an interest in doing business with an emerging company, due diligence should include customer reference checks or an inquiry with Gartner. Whether considering products from established or emerging vendors, users should plan on storage system service lives of no more than four years.

Magic Quadrants plot the current and probable strength of vendors in the marketplace, but do not directly compare product attractiveness or local support capabilities of different vendors' offerings. The criteria used to select vendors for inclusion in the Magic Quadrant makes it unlikely that these companies' customers will lose service and support during the planned service lives of newly acquired systems. Therefore, when decisions are made on current features and functions, it is okay to buy from vendors that are not in the Leadership Quadrant. In fact, at least one emerging storage company should be on any user's vendor shortlist because of the combination of value-added features that many emerging companies' products bring to market.