New ways of storing data are set to become available next year as innovation continues to drive the market onwards, it has been suggested.

As storage volumes have soared, the top capacities of hard drives are becoming less important in making data storage decisions, according to Ian Williams of tech website Vnunet.com.

Instead, companies are becoming more interested in the storage density of the device, which can affect the quality and speed of recall, while also exploring options which offer the greenest solutions.

But storage manufacturer Seagate suggested that security will continue to rank highly on the agenda in 2008.

"Today sensitive data and intellectual property can travel as email attachments, downloads from a business portal, or on a device in the user's pocket," Ian O'Leary, corporate communications director for Seagate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa told Vnunet.com.

"Data is everywhere and more vulnerable than ever. Loss or compromise of that data can be expensive and can negatively impact productivity and corporate image."

Recent high-profile data breaches in government departments have shown the affect on public confidence if organisations fail to take their security measures seriously.