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•White Paper: IP SANs

We are in the midst of the next evolution of Storage Area Networking (SAN). Enterprises have long recognized the advantages associated with SANs. Improvements in storage utilization and much improved management, especially when compared to Direct Attached Storage (DAS), have been well documented. Storage companies and connectivity vendors alike have capitalized on the opportunity while customers have reaped the benefits, with both sides maintaining some sense of contentment. Fibre Channel, up until now, has been the primary means for connecting SANs, especially in mid-range and enterprise end user environments.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon one's perspective, Fibre Channel enabled SANs have not earned the much needed stripes to become the defacto standard across all segments, including what many have postulated to be a very large SMB opportunity. iSCSI, the emerging protocol has come of age and has taken root not only in "SMB use cases," defined as small, relatively self-contained workgroup or departmental SANs, but also is finding its way into enterprise settings. Often it is first used as a means for storing data backed up from primary storage, challenging the dominance of tape, and increasingly, primary storage itself. Why? Because the economics are so compelling, because many enterprises have the skills already in-house to manage a SAN built around iSCSI, as it leverages standard IP networking, and because the performance is very good. Furthermore, with the advent of 10GbE, expected to be brought to market in late 2005 to early 2006, most, if not all, of the performance advantages associated with Fibre Channel will be eliminated, forcing many CIOs to push their organizations to leverage IP SANs as much as possible.

Even though IP SANS are taking root, all are not created equal. A number of vendors, well aware of a change on the horizon, are signaling their participation in the iSCSI market. The large incumbent storage vendors know that it's not a matter of if, but when, iSCSI takes root, and some, begrudgingly, have commenced proffering partial solutions to "signal" participation. In this paper we will explore what a true IP SAN should look like, enabling astute buyers to distinguish between imposter solutions and the "real McCoy."

Downloads:
•White Paper: IP SANs