Server plans teeter-totter with storage, study finds

An analysis of hardware trends in our IT Priorities data reveals that when planned server projects pick up, planned storage projects drop, or vice versa.  A chart shows a nearly inverse relationship between the two central hardware investments over the last 12 months.  
Overall, server plans more than double storage with an average of 47% of 12-month hardware plans compared to 21% for storage plans.
Below are some reasons why we think they toggle, but please feel free to chime in with your own explanations especially if you are directly involved in hardware purchases for your organization:

• Server vendors slash prices at end of their fiscal years to meet quotas; OEMs have different FY calendars, which accounts for some of the peaks at the end of 2004 and mid-year
• Zero-sum game: with fixed IT budgets investment in one area means less or none in another 
• Prudent capacity planning looks at infrastructure as a whole, but server rollout before storage may be typical for some organizations