For the data storage business, 2010 was another year of great profit and success, and 2011 is expected to follow suit. There’s little question that storage — including hardware, software and services — has been the most profitable and consistent-performing sector of IT for most of the last decade; the market numbers bear this out quite clearly. Demand remains high due to the constant deluge of files and data filling up disk drives, often as soon as they can be installed. Meanwhile, steady advances in both magnetic disk and solid state technology are allowing manufacturers to keep expanding storage capacities. It was a year of business consolidation, with several large storage-related companies being acquired by even larger systems makers. Oracle’s $7.4 billion buyout of slumping Sun Microsystems gave new life to a proud and innovative organization. Hewlett-Packard’s $2.3 billion purchase of 3PAR and EMC’s $2.25 billion acquisition of Isilon allows both companies to expand their enterprise storage product lines. Dell made a smart move in getting Compellent for a mere $960 million — a relative bargain. All this news helped change the face of the data storage industry in 2010. This eWEEK slide show highlights the 10 news events that will continue to shape the industry in 2011. – …