(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Jan. 30.)

Top Priority: Think Quickly Or Be Lost

It seems that, if you blink, you'll miss the latest change in the storage industry. As storage vendors struggle to keep up with the fast pace of development, solution providers struggle to place their bets on the right horse.

Amid all the change, solution providers are exploring new ways to store and manage data. And by "new," we really do mean new, as in widely deploying technologies that a couple years ago were only dreams. Technologies such as flash storage, software-defined storage and the cloud are not just doing the work that racks and racks of hard drives used to do. They are doing that work faster with significantly lower capital and operating costs, and enabling businesses to streamline operations in ways they never thought of before.

Which horse should you bet on? Well, there is no single right horse. Solution providers and their customers will be forced to place multiple bets. Here's a look at some of the changes that can be expected for 2017.