computerworld
TechnologY
BriefingS
STORAGE
A Great
Leap Forward in
Storage
for the SMB
Table of Contents
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A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Q&A with Greg White on Unified Storage Benefits. . . . . . . . . . 6
Dynamic Duo of Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
iSCSI Growth on the Rise in Small and Big Shops . . . . . . . . . 10
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STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY insights from computerworld Custom Publishing
SMB STORAGE
A Great Leap Forward in
Storage for the SMB
Unified network storage cuts complexity and
costs while adding business value
BY BRUCE HOARD
F
inally, small and midsize
businesses can have storage
the way they really want
it—and need it.
By consolidating file- and blocklevel storage in one affordable, costefficient system, unified network
storage is dramatically improving
SMB IT environments by decreasing
storage complexity, reducing support
costs, and providing enterprise-level
applications.
This represents a quantum leap for
SMBs, which are currently dealing with uncontained data growth.
Traditionally, SMBs have been forced
to choose between inefficient homegrown applications, prohibitively
expensive Fibre Channel SANs, and
scaled-down imitations of higher-end
vendor products.
Moving to unified network storage
is not a difficult technical challenge
for SMBs, as most of them already
employ block-based iSCSI links and
file-based network-attached storage
(NAS) connectivity in their IT infrastructures. Implementation is simplified, because the new generation of
unified network storage systems include wizards that automatically
accomplish many start-up tasks.
Migration is further enhanced
because most of these new storage
networks rely on Windows-based
technology, which is familiar to the
overwhelming majority of systems
administrators. As a result, they
can deploy and maintain unified
storage without having to undergo
any additional training. It’s like onestop shopping.
Despite its manifest advantages,
unified network storage is not a panacea—there are some specialized cases
where consolidation is not the best
approach. However, across a broad
range of small and midsize customers, it represents a giant leap forward
from the outdated trappings of their
past to the competitive advantages of
their future.
Seeking Simplification
Optimized for performance and
interoperability, unified network
storage merges iSCSI and NAS technologies to deliver both file data and
blocks of application data in a wide
range of operating environments.
Depending on the specific product,
unified storage systems may offer a
suite of software that includes capabilities typically found in higher-end
SANs, such as point-in-time snapshots, remote replication, storage
resource management, and multinode clustering. Support is also
available for standard NFS and CIFS
protocols that enable file and iSCSI
block access.
These capabilities are warmly
received by IT organizations of all
sizes, which have struggled for years
with storage complexity. However, it
is the SMBs with limited IT resources that stand to gain the most by deploying these breakthrough systems.
Complexity is at the root of a lot of
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
SMB pain today, according to Greg
Schulz, founder and senior analyst
at StorageIO Group, a market research and consulting firm based in
Stillwater, Minn. “The pain comes
from the complexity to install, integrate, acquire, and maintain the
equipment. Everything needs to
be simpler and easier to use,” says
Schulz.
Direct-attached storage—which is
connected directly to servers—has
a long history of successful implementations, but can lead to isolated
islands of storage that are difficult
to manage and integrate with enterprise systems. As a result, many
SMBs are seeking other options,
such as unified network storage.
Despite its downside, however,
DAS persevered in SMB domains
because it offered a simple, affordable alternative to high-end Fibre
Channel SANs, many of which foundered on the rocky shoals of multivendor incompatibility. There was
simply no way that underfunded,
understaffed SMB IT departments
could muster the personnel and
financial resources required to
implement such expensive—and
risky—storage networks.
Ultimately, the advent of new
technology, combined with the
growing importance of data protection and disaster recovery, diminished the role of DAS as a frontline
force in many storage environments.
This development opened the door
to systems based on either the iSCSI
or NAS protocols, which fueled the
proliferation of incompatible products and exacerbated the already
unwieldy world of server sprawl.
As a result, the stage was set for unified technologies.
SMBs Fit the
Product Profile
Claude Lorenson, group product
manager in Microsoft’s storage division, points out that because most
SMBs already run both file and block
storage applications, they are ideal
candidates for unified network storage. Microsoft® Exchange Server, SQL
The pain comes from
the complexity to
install, integrate, acquire, and maintain the
equipment. Everything
needs to be simpler
and easier to use.
greg schulz
founder, senior analyst,
storageIO group
Server™ databases, and line-of-business applications, he notes, commonly
use block storage, while nearly every
company uses NAS for file serving and
sharing, as well as supporting video
streams between users.
“The question is, is there enough
capacity growth pain to unify and
combine storage in a simple network
so I can manage and add capacity?”
Lorenson asks. He notes that every
time DAS capacity is added, the application on that server has to be turned
off, the additional capacity has to be
provisioned, and then the application
has to be rebooted.
This is not the case with networked
storage, which is seamlessly added
without interruptions and downtime.
Further, he says, in unified network
storage environments, security is enhanced because data is consolidated
in a single management environment,
as opposed to being distributed across
multiple servers.
Selection.com
Jeff Glenn is CIO of Selection.com,
a Web-based company in Cincinnati
that performs background checks
for various companies all over the
United States. The company is largely
a Microsoft shop with 40 Dell servers.
According to Glenn, Selection.com
recently purchased a Dell™ PowerVault™ NX1950 unified network storage system that includes Microsoft®
Windows Unified Data Storage Server,
which supports both iSCSI and NAS
technologies. He intends to use it to
run iSCSI drives for virtual servers,
file sharing via DFS, and primary
backup storage.
Although Selection.com had an
unused EMC CX300 on hand when
Glenn joined the company, he regarded
it as “overkill.” He notes: “We were
familiar with Microsoft technologies,
and we saw this as an opportunity to
jump over into the iSCSI camp and
simplify our world by just using the
Microsoft tools and technologies we
already know. The real compelling
thing for us was the iSCSI interface and
the ability to run virtualized servers
and machines from a central location.”
Selection.com was still in the early
stages of implementing its PowerVault
NX1950 in mid-May—it had only had
the product for a week at the time—but
Glenn was pleased with its installation
wizards, which he said were doing all
the “heavy lifting” so far. As evidence
of that, he says no calls had yet been
placed to Dell product support.
Asked how he expects to cost-justify
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
the PowerVault NX1950, he starts by
noting the value of working in familiar
Microsoft environments, as opposed
to having to learn the intricacies of his
unwanted EMC CX300 SAN. Those
intricacies include Fibre Channel
ports, host bus adapters (HBAs), and
blade server compatibility. Making
matters worse, in order to optimize
the SAN to meet his needs, Glenn says
he would have to first purchase 10 additional HBAs at $500 each, for a total
of $5,000.
“In terms of the ongoing outlay,
that amount pretty well justifies the
PowerVault NX1950 right there,” he
comments. “The cost for us to buy
two of the PowerVault NX1950s is half
the cost of buying just one additional
CX300, and from a logistical point of
view, it also made more sense.”
Ultimately, Glenn expects to realize
“dramatic” cost savings and simplify
Selection.com’s IT infrastructure with
his new system.
Cost Justification
The issues of decreased TCO and
truncated ROIs are central to any
discussion of unified network storage, and tend to revolve around topics
relating to consolidation and ease
of use. Praveen Asthana, director of
marketing, storage, and networking at
Dell, frames the discussion in terms
of justifying new storage technology
at a time when IT budgets are flat. He
notes that although money is tight,
data growth continues, even if it is just
from email.
“At Dell,” he says, “our whole customer-facing strategy is based on the
concept of changing the economics of
storage. That phrase gets a very warm
reception from our customers because
the ones I talk to say their data needs
At Dell, our whole customer-facing strategy
is based on the
concept of changing the
economics of storage.
Praveen Asthana
director of marketing,
storage, and networking, DELL
are growing, but their budgets aren’t,
and they want to know how they can
solve that equation.”
He responds by pointing them
toward a unified network storage
strategy in the form of the PowerVault NX1950, which he says delivers
an economical combination of iSCSI,
block-based networking, and filebased NAS capabilities.
Microsoft’s Lorenson emphasizes
the value of consolidation, saying
for every dollar spent on acquiring
storage capacity, five to seven dollars
are spent managing that capacity. So,
when the number of devices is reduced and capacity is shared among
different types of applications, management costs are reduced.
“It’s really a consolidation issue,
and in the case of unified storage running on Windows, the administrator
only has to be familiar with Windows,
and most of these people have Windows servers and are familiar with
Windows server management,” he
says. “We try to reproduce that look
and feel in the storage product.”
Despite the many benefits of
unified storage, there are limited
trade-offs. For example, when two
single-purpose devices such as printers and copiers are combined, some
of the speed offered by the individual
printer or copier may be sacrificed.
The same is true with unified storage,
which is based on mature technologies that existed for many years in
standalone environments. However,
with the exception of rare cases, the
combined unit is vastly superior to
the single-purpose approach.
SMBs Snubbed by Vendors
The number of vendors selling unified network storage systems is not
large to begin with, so it is relatively
easy to for users to closely scrutinize
the major players. After doing so, they
may be disappointed with their findings. Typically, when it comes to the
SMB market, storage vendors have a
tendency to offer limited, less functional versions of their more expensive products.
According to Asthana, this practice
is employed because the vendors want
to avoid cannibalizing those more expensive products.
“This approach misses the mark,”
says Asthana, “because when we talk
to SMB customers—and one of the
strengths of Dell is we talk directly to
SMB customers as opposed to going
through a reseller channel—we learn
that many of their storage growth
needs are like those that large companies had five years ago. So they have
complex storage growth needs, and
they need more sophisticated storage,
not limited storage.”
He goes on to note that when storage is consolidated under one management umbrella, it is necessary to
scale it to meet workload demands,
application types, and the number of
users with access. This is another area
where limited products fall down.
Steve Norall, a senior analyst at the
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
Taneja Group, in Hopkinton, Mass.,
agrees with Asthana’s assessment,
noting that many major vendors have
made a mistake by dumbing down
their products for SMBs.
“What you’re starting to see is people are realizing that that approach is
flawed, and you actually have to have a
true product that delivers many of the
features you expect in an enterprise,”
he observes.
The Answer:
Unified Network Storage
Long-suffering SMBs are anxious
to move beyond their antiquated
and complex legacy storage systems,
which are frequently based on isolated strands of DAS and other homegrown solutions. However, many
of them lack the internal financial
and human resources to implement
expensive, high-end Fibre Channel
SANs, which have become notorious for their inability to interoperate
within heterogeneous environments.
Unified network storage is the answer for these underserved SMBs. It
is inexpensive to buy, easy to implement, simple to maintain, and combines iSCSI and NAS capabilities in a
single box. That means that at a time
when IT budgets are flat, it is still
possible to afford enterprise-level
functionality that is cost-justified
based on its ability to consolidate
servers and centralize management
functions.
The Dell PowerVault NX1950 is
an ideal example of unified network
storage designed with SMBs in mind.
In addition to offering enterpriselevel capabilities such as point-intime snapshots and remote replication, it optimizes storage capacity,
relies on time-tested Microsoft
server technology, and leaves plenty
of room for scalability. w
Bruce Hoard is a freelance writer
based in Bangor, Maine.
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
Q&A with Greg White
Dell SMB Manager Cites
Unified Storage Benefits
Consolidation, enhanced management,
increased scalability, and price top the list
Greg White is storage brand manager for small and medium business
at Dell. In that position, he is evermindful of where SMBs have been,
and where they’re going with their
storage strategies, which
are increasingly being
formulated
for highly
competitive
market environments.
White is also
a key cog in the Dell-Microsoft alliance that produced the Dell™ PowerVault™ NX1950, a comprehensive
system that combines block and file
storage functionality in a single box.
In this interview, he spoke to technology writer Bruce Hoard about the
business value of unified network
storage systems to SMB users.
Q: There’s a lot of confusion in the storage market. What are the most common
questions that SMB users have about
unified storage systems, and how do you
respond to them?
White: SMBs want to know how
easy it is to implement and use.
We respond by pointing out that
there are wizard-based tools that
come with unified storage, and it is
designed for simplicity and ease of
management.
Q: How do you respond when SMBs
ask about using both block- and filebased data?
White: Most users need file-serving capabilities for their Windows
systems, and many want to deploy
block-based iSCSI communications
for their Exchange environments.
When they use the Dell PowerVault NX1950, which includes the
Windows® Unified Data Storage
Server, they are optimized for
performance.
Q: These days, it seems like saving
money is a top-of-mind topic for users
and vendors alike. Describe how unified
storage systems drive down TCO in
SMB organizations.
White: The management and administrative cost reductions using
the simple wizard-based Windows
solution are one example of that.
With that approach, it is easier to
implement your backup solutions, so
if you’ve got everything in one place,
your backup is simpler, faster, and
easier than having islands of storage
with a tape drive for each, and having to run all that through the network. Another area that drives down
TCO involves utilization of servers
and storage. If you’ve got multiple
servers doing different things, you
end up incurring higher costs for
maintaining, troubleshooting, and
patching, as opposed to having a
consolidated box. There are also
savings to be realized in software
licensing and implementation.
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
Q: What about shortened ROI?
White: Small businesses are always
time-constrained and they frequently
lack IT resources. So if they have to
outsource IT functions, it costs them
a lot of money. On the other hand,
with single-instance store that comes
with Windows Unified Data Storage
Server, you eliminate all those redundant files throughout the system,
which frees up space, and you don’t
have to put as much into hard drive
resources. You are also better able to
control and manage the growth
of data.
Q: Previously, large companies were
most commonly associated with issues
relating to compliance. Now the pressure seems to be affecting smaller firms
as well. What are the benefits of unified
storage when it comes to the compliance challenges SMBs face?
White: When you have a unified
storage system, it’s much easier to
back up your data because it’s in
one central location, as opposed
to being spread across your email
server, your database server, your
file server, and individual desktops. You also have administrative
controls via Windows Unified
Data Storage Server that allow you
to control access from a central
location, which is much easier
than managing it from multiple
locations. Moreover, there are advanced software features such as
snapshotting included free in the
OS, but [which] would cost extra in
other systems.
Q: Are there any trade-offs involved with
unified storage systems?
White: There may be compatibility
problems with your legacy com-
pliance system, for example, with
email archiving. As a result, you
may have to restructure your whole
compliance solution by implementing new hardware and software.
This rarely happens, and when
it does, it is usually in specialty
situations.
Microsoft and Dell
are working hard to
maximize the features
they offer in terms of
price/performance.
GREG White
SMB STORAGE
BRAND MANAGER, DELL
Q: Users are always interested in hearing about real-life case studies. Describe
how a typical SMB environment would
benefit from unified storage.
White: Typically, a company with
between 100 and 250 employees
would purchase a unified storage system because they have not
planned ahead for storage growth,
and they are sick of managing multiple direct-attached storage systems spread across their business.
They are looking for something
that would allow them to consolidate their file servers and block
storage in a simple, single-system
environment. They’re looking for
reduced management expenses and
increased scalability capabilities.
They don’t want to have to learn
a whole new way of provisioning
storage. Overall, they want to elimi-
nate the complexity of their
IT infrastructure.
Q: When it comes to the bottom line,
what are the business benefits realized
by SMBs when dealing with the DellMicrosoft alliance?
White: For starters, many of them
are familiar with the Windows environment and how that works. By
having that on a Dell system that
they can customize, they can realize all the benefits of a direct relationship with Dell, so they can talk
to the sales rep, who can help them
set up what they need—nothing
more, nothing less. Their system
is set up to scale over time using
the Dell hardware, but they still
have that familiar relationship with
Microsoft operating systems and
software.
And they get a lot of value out of
the features that Microsoft incorporates, whereas they would have
to pay extra in other environments.
Microsoft and Dell are working
hard to maximize the features they
offer in terms of price/performance
that has been previously lacking in
this area.
Q: What future plans do you have for the
PowerVault NX1950?
White: We have recently announced
the ability to expand the PowerVault NX1950 to 45 drives. The
middle of the year we will be introducing the SAN gateway, so you
will be able to use it as a gateway
on an EMC array. And, you will get
that ability to bring some value
into the gateway area as well, and
have something for larger-scale
customers who already have the
SAN in place. w
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
NAS FOR THE MASSES
Dynamic Duo of Storage
Dell and Microsoft pack a wallop for SMBs seeking
affordable, scalable network storage solutions
BY BRUCE HOARD
B
y combining forces on
the Dell™ PowerVault™
NX1950 and the Microsoft® Windows Unified
Data Storage Server that drives it,
Dell and Microsoft have established
themselves as a potent force in the
storage market. It’s a case of familiarity breeds competitive edge for
the growing number of small and
midsize businesses or SMBs moving to unified network storage.
Jeff Glenn is a perfect example of
that group. He is CIO of Selection.
com, a Cincinnati-based SMB that
performs background checks for
companies throughout the United
States. He is also a heavy Dell
server user who is currently implementing a PowerVault NX1950. Like
many SMB users, Glenn likes the
security of dealing with a single
vendor.
“Because we were already a Dell
shop, we knew the value of having
one vendor we could go to for all
of our servers, and now adding in
our SAN made that relationship
incredibly attractive,” he declares.
“Everything that I have is supported by them with their Dell Gold
contracts.”
Support is one of many advantages offered by the Dell-Microsoft alliance. According to Greg
Schulz, founder and senior analyst
at Stillwater, Minn.-based market
researcher StorageIO, Microsoft’s
expertise in iSCSI and NAS technologies is another.
As Schulz puts it, “Surprisingly to
a lot of people, Microsoft is one of
the largest, most dominant providers of NAS technology—file-serving technology—whether it be via
standard Windows file-serving or
via their Windows storage serverbased technology.”
PowerVault NX1950
Outshines NetApp FAS270
That expertise is in plain view
with the PowerVault NX1950.
Introduced last December, the
PowerVault NX1950 has given Dell
a distinct competitive advantage
over products such as the Network
Appliance FAS270, according to
independent analysts. In fact, Steve
Norall, senior analyst with the Taneja Group, based in Hopkinton, Mass.,
says the PowerVault NX1950 can
now almost double the performance
of the FAS270 at 50% of the cost.
“The Taneja Group sees the
NX1950 as significant because it
brings enterprise-level networked
storage features to the midrange
NAS market,” Norall notes. He
adds, “This huge segment faces
very serious challenges around
storage management. Stored data is
typically growing at a rate of 60%
to 100% a year, yet many SMBs and
remote office/branch office organizations lack the IT administrators
to manage it.”
Norall goes on to say that the
PowerVault NX1950 is “focused
on simplicity,” pointing out that
Dell preinstalls a software stack,
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
preconfigures network protocols,
and provides an installation wizard.
The administrative console offers
a centralized view of all system
operations, and can be run either
remotely or locally.
Other wizards help streamline
storage provisioning and carry out
various management tasks. The unified network storage system also
offers single- or dual-node cluster
configurations with a redundant
SAS back-end storage array scaling
up to 45 drives.
Addressing the advantages of the
Dell-Microsoft storage alliance,
Norall declares: “You have your two
preferred suppliers essentially for
the SMB market, and they’re coming together to deliver a unified solution for your data storage needs.
That is obviously significant, and if
I’m an SMB user, I am going to look
at it very closely.”
Striving for Simplicity
When it comes to reducing
complexity and simplifying system management, the PowerVault
NX1950’s trump card is the familiarity so many SMBs already have with
Microsoft operating systems. That
pays off with this new product because it runs the Windows Unified
Data Storage Server operating system, which closely resembles other
Windows environments.
System management is simplified
because the PowerVault NX1950
combines iSCSI and NAS technologies in a single location, eliminating
many redundant devices. It’s also
easier to protect pertinent devices,
because they are not spread uncontrollably across IT infrastructures.
Windows Unified Data Storage
Server can also be fully integrated
with legacy infrastructures, which
gives users access to full Active
Directory® capabilities. Active
Directory is the distributed directory service included with the
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003
and Windows® 2000 Server operating systems. Windows Unified
Data Storage Server also enhances
security by protecting against manin-the-middle attacks and other
breaches.
Best of Breed
According to Claude Lorenson,
group product manager in Microsoft’s storage division, what users
are looking for is a best-of-breed
scenario that includes Dell’s very
efficient, stable, and easy-to-use
hardware coupled with Microsoft’s
state-of-the-art software.
Asked what storage market dynamics Dell and Microsoft are
watching with an eye toward future
product announcements, Lorenson
says the pair is interested in how
well the iSCSI capabilities built into
the PowerVault NX1950 will be received by users. That will determine
how prominent block-oriented technology is in future storage solutions.
Disaster recovery is another area
of interest for Microsoft and Dell.
“There are many things that we can
add to the product that will make
disaster recovery between sites
very simple,” Lorenson asserts. “So
depending on how big a need there
is, this is something that we are also
going to focus on.”
Questions for Vendors
StorageIO’s Schulz cites several
key questions that potential unified
network storage users should put
to vendors. The first is: How is it
going to be supported? By that he
means what activities must occur
in order for the system to operate
at peak efficiency, and which of
those activities can be performed
by users, as opposed to outside
service organizations?
Other questions include: What
will it cost to keep the system up
and running? What are the hidden
costs for capabilities such as snapshots, point-in-time copies, and remote replication?
According to Schulz, the PowerVault NX1950 has satisfactory
answers for these questions. For example, he says the underlying Windows Unified Data Storage Server
software is extensible and flexible.
That flexibility is reflected in Dell’s
announcement that the PowerVault
NX1950 can be deployed with either
a single or dual redundant controller-type configuration for high availability.
Partnership Embraces
SMB Market
The Dell-Microsoft storage alliance is bringing easy-to-use, unified
network storage capabilities to SMB
customers who have struggled with
storage in the past. Whereas other
vendors have haltingly entered this
lower-end market, Dell and Microsoft have embraced it.
According to Praveen Asthana,
director of marketing, storage, and
networking at Dell, “We look at our
SMB customers not as small customers, but as customers with large
data needs, and we attack the data
needs problems, not the size-of-customer problem.” w
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
emerging trends
iSCSI Growth on the Rise
in Small and Big Shops
iSCSI expected to account for 20% of
external disk storage by 2010
BY Deni Connor
I
SCSI technology is entering
the mainstream as growing
numbers of companies consider the storage alternative for its
lower costs and management simplicity, according to analysts.
The technology lets blocks of storage data be transported over Gigabit
Ethernet and is easier and less expensive to install than Fibre Channel.
Because it runs over Gigabit Ethernet
networks, iSCSI doesn’t require host
bus adapters in servers and Fibre
Channel switches. And, for the most
part, IT administrators don’t have to
have special knowledge and training
in storage technology to deploy iSCSI.
According to IDC, while iSCSI
today accounts for only a 3% share
of external disk storage, the research
firm expects it to reach more than
20% by 2010.
Market Drivers
Enterprise Strategy Group Inc.
(ESG) said that more than 20,000
customers have deployed iSCSI. The
research firm surveyed 500 IT managers and found that 17% are using
iSCSI in production environments
and an additional 20% plan to implement the technology.
Lower costs and iSCSI’s ease of
management are among the factors
driving adoption—and not only among
small and midsize businesses. Nearly
20% of businesses with 20,000 or
more employees have deployed iSCSI,
ESG reports. Meanwhile, as shipments
of iSCSI storage products have started
climbing, start-ups specializing in
iSCSI have emerged, such as Sanrad
Inc., LeftHand Networks Inc., Intransa
Inc., and EqualLogic Corp.
EqualLogic, by its last count, has
more than 2,000 customers. EMC
Corp., meanwhile, added iSCSI capa-
MORE THAN
20,000
customers
have deployed iscsi
According to
Enterprise Startegy Group Inc.
bility to its midrange Clariion arrays
and to its high-end Symmetrix DMX
storage systems. Network Appliance
Inc., a leader in network-attached
storage systems, has logged more than
30% market share for iSCSI systems
shipped in 2006, according to IDC.
For its part, Sanrad claims more
than 600 customers are using its
iSCSI technology, and this week the
vendor introduced a midrange
iSCSI switch. Sanrad’s V-Switch 3400
is a three-port iSCSI switch with four
Fibre Channel ports. The V-Switch
has dual hot-swappable power supplies and is managed via SNMP, a
graphical interface and a commandline interface. It supports as much as
4 petabytes of storage capacity and
starts at $26,000. w
This article originally appeared in
Network World on March 26, 2007.
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING • A Great Leap Forward in Storage for the SMB • JUNE 2007
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