iSCSI: Where Does It Fit?

For almost a decade, storage area networks (SANs) have provided the best storage value in terms of resilience, scalability, and performance. However, as critical data storage requirements migrate into small and midsized organizations, SANs must somehow expand their value proposition to include small office and remote office requirements. This market space has been predominately served by the deployment of direct-attached storage (DAS). However, early indications suggest that the leap from DAS to Fibre Channel SANs is too complex (and expensive) for many midsized businesses to contemplate.

Because of this, according to IDC, 70 percent of DAS users have yet to deploy a SAN-that's 93,000 such organizations in North America alone. It is simply easier for the organization to buy an enhancement or add-on to an existing system (even though it costs more than demonstrably better technology) than to source, qualify, and fund an infrastructure that is unknown to the organization. It's the SAN Fear Factor.

With the introduction of Internet SCSI (iSCSI), there is now a reasonable alternative for small and midsized organizations that allows them to reap the proven benefits of SANs. In addition, large organizations may choose to use iSCSI interconnect instead of, or in addition to, Fibre Channel in workgroup and departmental environments. The relative simplicity of iSCSI uniquely positions it to capture those DAS environments that, through business expansion, now require shared storage features at minimal cost. But where does iSCSI fit in the wide-ranging space of business applications? What is the best "match," architecturally speaking, for iSCSI in the typical mix of applications found in small and midsized organizations?