For pure-play SSPs, Russell says, the problem was simply a lack of trust. While the economics existed to support the SSP model five years ago, companies ultimately weren't willing to allow primary data systems to reside outside their four walls or mission-critical data to be stored on the same box or the one next to that of a potential competitor.

Still, Storage Networks' erstwhile motto, "Delivering the future of data storage," may not have been wrong but simply ill-timed.

Five years ago, when SSPs were at their peak, they were appealing to start-up dot-com and Internet companies that had limited infrastructures and very little cash to invest but needed to get up and running quickly, according to Doug Chandler, an analyst at market research company IDC in Framingham, Mass.

While Chandler says he believes that the future of SSPs is murky, over time more companies will likely become comfortable with the model of hosted storage because they're recognizing that storage is much more of a strategic need than it used to be. And in many cases, companies are adding capacity so rapidly that it outstrips their ability to manage it internally.

The result is that many companies are looking for help at the strategic level, with challenges such as storage architecture and planning, as well as at the tactical level, with tasks like data backup.