NETWORK WORLD FUSION FOCUS: AMY LARSEN DeCARLO
on STORAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE
Today's Focus: The storage revolution has begun
03/07/00

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

Today's Focus: The storage revolution has 
begun
---------------------------------------------------------------
By Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Believe the hype. We are in the middle of a storage revolution.
Virtually overnight, businesses have gone from storing gigabytes to
terabytes of data, and the number of users accessing that information is
skyrocketing.  The subsequent requirements are forcing companies to
rethink their storage strategies and to recognize the importance of
storage management in the equation of efficient information delivery.

It isn,t just the volume of data or the higher scalability demands that
are changing how businesses handle storage.  The premium that companies
place on much of their enterprise information is having a profound
effect on their storage requirements.  Businesses demand fault-tolerant
storage systems that deliver swift and reliable data access to their
employees, suppliers and customers.

But given the fact that hard disk capacity requirements, on average,
double every 12 months, while processor speeds double every 18 months,
companies are left with a quandary: How can they manage the
proliferation of stored information efficiently enough to compensate for
the differential between capacity requirements and processor speeds?

The simple answer to this question is to institute a well-executed
storage management plan that anticipates capacity requirements in
advance and leverages the best technologies and techniques to support
those needs.  Bear in mind that the majority of storage costs come not
from the equipment but from the implementation and support of those
systems.

There are several ways to efficiently manage storage. One of the best
routes is consolidation  that is, pooling resources and managing
storage as a system, as opposed to a decentralized collection of file
servers. This may sound like a throwback to an earlier era, when
enterprise storage resided on mainframes. But it,s actually a
progressive step, as the consolidation has more to do with centralizing
the planning, management, and ongoing support of storage systems than it
does with the physical location of the files.

Next, it is important to recognize that not all information is equally
important to the organization.  Consequently, storage requirements vary
by business application. As in all areas of IT, it is important to make
storage implementation decisions based on business needs.

Businesses trying to more efficiently manage storage are looking for
alternatives to the distributed file server storage model. They want to
speed access to stored files and remove bandwidth-intensive backup and
recovery operations from the LAN.

Network-attached storage (NAS) supplies IT professionals with one
answer, giving workstations and servers a way to gain direct access to
stored data. NAS devices, which have been widely available for years,
are optimized to process I/O transactions.  Though they promise better
performance, they don,t remove backups from the transport network.
Instead, they supply a relatively easy-to-deploy solution to cross-
platform storage problems for most heterogeneous environments.

Many consider storage-area networks  (SAN) to be the best long-term
answer to current and future storage challenges. Because SANs are
designed with a topology separate from the corporate data network, they
alleviate many of the availability and performance issues associated
with more traditional storage models. Yet, given the early deployment
stage most companies are still in, many of those capabilities are still
largely untested in a production environment.

This newsletter will examine how, through effective storage management,
IT professionals can reduce support costs and improve service delivery
to their customers.  This newsletter will not focus on items like the
least expensive tape drive or the fast tape library.  Instead, it will
look at how businesses can reduce inefficiencies and leverage emerging
technologies to resolve their particular storage application issues.
Ultimately, the goal is to identify storage technology options and
practices that work in real-world environments.

To contact Amy Larsen DeCarlo:
------------------------------
Amy Larsen DeCarlo is an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates
in Boulder, Colo., (http://www.enterprisemanagement.com), a leading
analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of
enterprise management. She focuses on storage management, application
management, and security. In her position, she oversees market research
and contributes to custom project work in her focal coverage areas.
Prior to joining EMA, Amy spent five years covering enterprise
management for industry trade magazines, including InformationWeek and
Data Communications. She can be reached at
mailto:decarlo@enterprisemanagement.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOR RELATED LINKS -- Click here for Network World's home page:
http://www.nwfusion.com
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The National Storage Industry Consortium (NSIC)
http://www.nsic.org

The Distributed  Management Task Force (DMTF)
http://www.dmtf.org

Storage Systems Standards Working Group of the IEEE
http://www.ssswg.org

The IETF
http://www.ietf.org

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