Category: Nexsan Technologies

Nexsan’s introduction of 3 TB SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) into its E-Series™ storage systems made it the first enterprise storage vendor to offer storage arrays with these size HDDs in them. But the stories behind the headline are the QUALITY of HDDs that Nexsan uses in its storage array and the enhancements that Nexsan made to its storage controllers to support them. These underlying features should instead contribute to users having the same or even higher uptime and performance expectations than they had in the past when using Nexsan storage systems.

Many midsize companies are evolving operations to ensure business agility while at the same time seeking to better manage their IT related costs. This is leading them to re-prioritize selection criteria to focus on storage systems that help achieve these goals. Responding to these demands, Nexsan this week announced its new E-Series line of storage systems that promise efficient, easy-to-use and enterprise-class solutions in order to deliver a different kind of storage experience for these size organizations.

The topic as to what storage management features organizations really need on a storage array continues to be a hotly debated. In the last decade, we have seen a multitude of features propagate on storage arrays including disk striping, thin provisioning, and storage tiering just to name a few. But deciding which of these features are “nice-to-haves” and which ones are really “needed” in a virtual operating environment (VOE) becomes very difficult to make without a close examination of one’s environment.

As the economy continues to sputter, all size organizations remain prudent in their storage buying decisions which is leading them to examine enterprise midrange arrays from multiple storage providers. But to make the right choice requires that organizations look beyond obvious points of comparison such as the enterprise midrange array’s price and performance to the features that make it operationally efficient.

Selecting a storage system from someone other than the incumbent historically has been a decision that most IT managers are reluctant to make. A 2008 Forrester Research report highlights this reticence as it found that over 80% of organizations bought all of their storage from only one storage provider. But times change and new storage systems such as the Nexsan DATABeast are demonstrating that IT managers can make a change in their storage system provider.

Over the next few years IT managers face entirely new sets of challenges when it comes to managing storage. These challenges go well beyond just buying enough storage capacity to keep up with data growth. Instead IT managers need to come up with entirely new storage management strategies that enable them to more effectively and efficiently manage storage such that they can meet their application requirements while at the same time keeping their costs and risks in check.