SAN Appliances: Enabling Media Rich Internet Storage Networks - Technology Information

Computer Technology Review, August, 2000 by Robert Woolery

* Networking capability equivalent to proven LAN technology

* Data and network intelligence

* Multi-dimensional scalability, broad, as well as deep

* High-bandwidth

* Heterogeneous shared access to data

* I/O handling capability

* Low latency transfers

* Guaranteed reliability and availability

* Protection of existing infrastructure and storage products ("legacy" systems)

Content-centric SANs designed with intelligent devices will efficiently and cost-effectively handle media-rich content and provide data management and migration with high-speed connectivity across multiple operating systems and networks simultaneously. These management functions are vital to the access, processing, manipulation, and storage of media-rich content. High-speed, shared access Storage Area Networks require dedicated connections operating at high performance levels to support the demands of large data transfers. Finally, media-rich Internet Storage Networks, characterized by a continuous stream of technology and scalability change, must be supported by a flexible and intelligent storage networking infrastructure.

Experience has indicated that a content-centric SAN infrastructure device, in other words, a SAN appliance, which is inserted directly into Internet Storage Network, meets these demands by providing:

* A high bandwidth, highly scalable open systems data network infrastructure that plugs into existing network environments.

* Simple, centralized, and secure data and network management.

* Storage virtualization and pooling to maximize the productivity of storage resources.

* Port and path virtualization to free applications from the physical constraints of direct connect or early SAN architectures.

* Sophisticated security that turns LUN zoning and masking into technologies of the past.

* Simple and efficient business continuance functions enabling continuous operation.

* Investment protection covering legacy networking and storage products.

* Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and capital acquisition costs.

* Operating system and platform independence--with support for all major platforms available today, including Windows NT and 2000, HP-UX, Linux, Sun Solaris, AIX, and SGI/IRIX operating systems.

By comparison to a "hands-off" proprietary closed system, NAS, and even first generation SAN, an Internet Storage Network built with a SAN appliance can add servers and/or storage without bringing down the network and scaling streaming performance linearly without degrading overall system performance. SAN appliance scalability and flexibility protect against "flash crowds" and reduce user interruption, as well as providing the ability to re-purpose assets as the business grows. Adopting this intelligent network data access device, the SAN appliance reduces equipment acquisition costs, as well as dramatically reducing installation cost and delivering a lower TCO.

A fault-tolerant SAN appliance delivering storage and SAN virtualization plus data protection technology can support large numbers of data drives, reducing the need for data replication and eliminating islands of data. The benefits of pooling storage and resource sharing allow web administrators to fully utilize disk and other resources, as well as reduce the need for additional disk purchases. In addition, an intelligent SAN appliance can support JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) disks delivering open-systems storage support, allowing Internet and other IT administrators to take advantage of economies of scale, while eliminating vendor lock-in.