Features - Enterprise Data Insights:

THE CONVERGENCE OF SAN AND NAS
by Geoff Barrall, CTO, BlueArc Corporation

In the press covering the storage industry today, there is no hotter topic than the foreseen convergence of the two key storage networking technologies - SAN (Storage Area Networks) and NAS (Network Attached Storage). Yet while much has been said about this convergence, very little has been said about the driving forces behind it, and what this convergence will deliver to storage purchasers and storage vendors alike.

Customers Seeking Convergence

The reasons why convergence appeals to storage customers are clear. While there will always be companies who need enormous amounts of storage, most do not need as much as you might expect. The average Fortune 100 company has approximately 22TB of storage distributed throughout their enterprise.

In a previous article, I stated that the key goal for many of these enterprises is the centralization of this storage, and this is still true. (See: www.bluearc.com/html/barrall/0402_caching.shtml) However, a mainstream NAS appliance today can host around 6TB of storage and an enterprise storage array can host around 40TB. Given this comparison, it is clear that in order to consolidate an enterprise's storage, it won't take that many separate devices to achieve the desired level. As a result, it will be the most versatile devices that win in the market, namely those that can supply most of the enterprise's storage needs in a single product or system.

Of course, storage capacity won't be the only key metric in accelerating the convergence of SAN and NAS. Storage services (or virtualizations if you prefer) and performance will also be very important factors in the success of this new consolidated market. Good file caching will also be required if files are to be brought back to a central data center from the network edges.

Vendors Rush In

One interesting thing for me in regards to this planned convergence is that the vendors involved in the delivery of these enhanced services form three distinct market segments who are simultaneously moving into this space.

First, you have the storage array vendors, such as EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, and LSI Logic, who have traditionally provided enterprise-class storage into direct-attached or SAN environments. Almost without exception, these companies have added NAS heads to their offerings, allowing NAS services to be provided from their standard storage arrays.

Secondly, there are the NAS vendors who have recognized the need for adding block-level services to their products, initially over Ethernet, using proprietary protocols (although most are now moving to iSCSI) and ultimately offering true Fibre Channel services.

Finally, new entrants to the SAN/NAS convergence party are network infrastructure vendors, including old players like Cisco and newer entrants, such as Pirus Networks, who are attempting to move file-level services onto the network itself, separate and distinct from block-level storage.

This May, I was lucky enough to be offered the chance to chair a session at the JP Morgan Technology Conference, discussing the topic of SAN/NAS convergence. The event was a great opportunity to talk to my peers (and superiors) from all of the largest storage companies (Network Appliance, EMC, LSI Logic, Brocade etc.) and hear their views on this topic. What was made very clear from the session was that no vendor had any doubt that the convergence of SAN and NAS would occur and for them, the main impetus was to increase their market share.

Vendors and market share aside, in a market as competitive as the storage market is today, I think we can soon count on storage features being integrated as a single cohesive solution from a single vendor. NAS and SAN convergence is a certainty, but its form, whether network-centric, storage array-centric or file-centric (NAS), still remains to be decided.

Dr. Barrall is the CTO, executive vice president and co-founder of BlueArc Corporation (www.bluearc.com) and the principle architect of its core technology, the SiliconServer Architecture. Prior to joining BlueArc, Dr. Barrall founded four other ventures, including one of the first Fast Ethernet companies and a successful UK consultancy business. In this role he was involved in the introduction of innovative networking products into UK markets including the Packeteer and NetScout. Dr. Barrall received his PhD in Cybernetics from the University of Reading in 1993.