Consolidation with Hitachi High-performance NAS Platform

It is an all too common problem in IT: Servers and NAS filers proliferate to accommodate growing data storage needs. In response, performance and capacity utilization rates plummet. In other words, storage sprawls and data crawls.

Both the concept and the practice of consolidation have come to many segments of the enterprise, but some have yet to fully adopt it. For example, most businesses have at this point centralized their block-based, SAN-attached storage. However, file-based NAS systems remain largely distributed or, at best, collocated but still not rationalized or integrated in any meaningful way.

Several business drivers are making it more necessary for enterprises to centralize NAS storage. First, regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act apply to all data in the enterprise—including the data stored on NAS systems. Centralization makes that data more searchable and accessible.

Second, many new applications such as archiving systems, electronic discovery applications, Internet services applications, and entertainment systems are file-based and require large file sizes and high-performance I/O. Add to this virtual server proliferation and internal departmental requirements for more efficient data sharing, and the impetus behind consolidation becomes clear.
Challenges to Consolidation
As ready as the business side is for NAS consolidation, several technical challenges may still stand in the way. NAS devices tend not to be readily scalable, which mean that any consolidation effort would have to integrate large numbers of smaller NAS systems with different networked file types.

Performance can present another challenge: the more the enterprise depends on file-based applications, the more necessary it becomes for performance to remain at a level that can support the smooth functioning of other business processes. Virtualization offers a final challenge. A consolidated NAS platform has to offer a virtualization framework to accommodate not only the enterprise's current needs but those it will have in the future.

Hitachi Data Systems now offers a NAS solution that satisfies the business and technical demands of the modern enterprise. It offers unparalleled scalability, superior performance, and an advanced virtualization framework.

The Hitachi High-performance NAS Platform, powered by BlueArc®, is the first NAS solution that consolidates and manages up to 512 terabytes of data in a single storage pool. Technically speaking, it also supports a Cluster Name Space for a unified directory structure and global access to data for Common Internet File System (CIFS) and Network File System (NFS) clients through any node within the cluster. Built on hardware-accelerated architecture, the High-performance NAS Platform offers enterprise-class management tools for data migration, replication, and anti-virus support.

How Business Benefits
Enterprises benefit from consolidation with the Hitachi High-performance NAS Platform by realizing a lower total cost of ownership, reduced management complexity, and faster data replication and backup, which improves productivity.

Total cost of ownership (TCO) is reduced through lowering the costs of hardware, labor and service, and greater scalability reduces the cost of growth. Management complexity is simplified because there are fewer devices to manage, security is enhanced, and administration and policies are centralized. Last, streamlined provisioning, improved application performance, and integrated analytics and reporting all help to improve productivity.

The Hitachi High-performance NAS Platform, powered by BlueArc, lets organizations consolidate solutions from any vendor and reduce the number of units they need to reach desired performance or capacity levels. It reduces potential outlays in acquisition, management, heating, and cooling, while simplifying management and infrastructure. In other words, it's a solution that will only become more relevant—and more necessary—as enterprises continue to centralize and rationalize their storage.