SAN or NAS, hype or fairy tale?

Are you facing a rapidly escalating storage need? For companies that have to move beyond direct storage, considering NAS or SAN makes sense. Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) both have their place in the network storage arena. But how do you know which one will work for you? NAS and SAN may seem easy to tell apart, but both technologies are beginning to converge and the definitions, values and benefits are sometimes hard to differentiate. Features that were once only available in SAN solutions are now starting to become available in NAS products, and likewise, products are now available that allow to leverage parts of a SAN infrastructure to act as a NAS.

But, even with the possibility of this convergence to use the best of both worlds, there still are big differences between the technologies, and both have their benefits for your business. Whether it’s the amount of data processed, the scalability, the security and availability or the ease of management to lower the administrative overhead. All key differentiators combined with a glance at your business’ developments should be used to design the best solution for your storage needs. Let Ferranti be your guide to sort out facts from fiction.

Some other questions we received from our customers:

• How can I cost-effectively centralize my business data ?
• Why do I need a SAN ?  Isn’t it meant for the “big” companies ?
• Now that my backup-plan fails, what do I do next ?
• What is a VSAN or Virtual SAN ?