Digital information is a critical component of business today. It not only doubles in size every year, but many businesses require that it is available around the clock. Inability to access your information—even to perform a system backup—is no longer an option. Add a shrinking IT budget to these realities, and you're presented with a real challenge. How do you provide efficient storage, management, and availability of your data?. My First San offers simple advice on how to implement affordable, reliable, and easily networked storage solutions designed to give your business a competitive edge.The solution can be found in a highly flexible, intelligent, and easy-to-manage storage solution that is also cost-effective: the SAN (Storage Area Network).
While SANs are regularly perceived as only suitable for companies with vast budgets and specialist IT knowledge, the reality is that they are a truly viable option for all sizes and types of businesses. If you need to store and manage growing amounts of data more efficiently, while simultaneously cutting operational and management costs, a SAN will help you do that as it:
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Allows multiple servers to share storage for greater efficiency and increased availability, ensuring that your data and applications are fully accessible at all times, even during backup. |
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Creates a high-performance, resilient infrastructure so you can add storage with ease to meet changing capacity requirements. |
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Consolidates data into a disk array that provides increased available capacity as well as simplified management. |
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Highly utilizes disk capacity by creating a central pool of storage, doubling capacity ultilization from 40 up to 80 percent, which improves cost efficiency. |
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Utilizes centrally managed, high-performance tape backup to reduce your backup window. |
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Manages your consolidated storage from one location to enhance your efficiency. |
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Restores data faster to return your business to full productivity in the event of a failure or data loss. |
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As an IT manager, you are faced with critical choices. Do you restrict the type and quantity of information each user is allowed to store and access, potentially limiting their capability to perform their daily activities? Or, do you continue to invest in individual disk drive after disk drive that you connect exclusively to a single server in a Direct Attached Storage (DAS) model that drains man-hours with management and monitoring requirements?
This guide will help you evaluate SAN technologies and better understand how they can help serve your storage needs. The sections of the guide include:
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Note: Follow the "Download a PDF version" link at right to download a PDF version of this guide that includes additional product information and a tape backup QA. |
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» Next: Components of a SAN
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