Finally, Affordable SANs
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During times when infrastructure spending is flat or reduced, storage management is at the center of an increasingly complex IT problem. Today, most of the storage deployed in small and large businesses is directly connected to individual server groups. Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) is expensive and does not scale easily. DAS is also inefficient because it cannot be shared among servers, resulting in low utilization. All the while, applications continually demand more from their storage systems, putting increasing pressure on servers and storage products as their capacity, availability, backup, and disaster recovery needs intensify.
Storage consolidation using Storage Area Networks (SANs) does provide a solution. However, there are significant barriers to deploying SANs in many environments. Conventional Fibre Channel SANs are expensive because they are built from relatively low-volume components and cannot be managed in an integrated manner. To attract the mid-range storage market and provide a solution for business critical applications, a consolidated storage solution must deliver the features of today's SANs - but at a significantly lower cost and with less management overhead.
Fortunately, the advent of Ethernet-based SANs and the iSCSI standard means that it is possible to combine the simplicity of Ethernet networks with the advanced storage features mandated by mission critical applications into a reasonably-priced and easy-to-manage product.
EqualLogic™, Inc. offers one such solution.