ITA Premium: SAN Vendor Landscape: Clustered and Pooled Storage SANs

A traditional storage array features a storage controller (or dual controllers) and an array of disks. In a clustered solution, a group of storage servers or nodes cluster together to form a single virtual storage pool. The storage operating system of the cluster provides advanced storage features such as replication, snapshots, and thin provisioning. The following are those vendors that offer clustered storage solutions:

• 3PAR (E200, T Series)
• DataCore
• Dell EqualLogic
• FalconStor
• HP LeftHand
• Intransa
• StoneFly
• Sun (Thumper)
• Xiotech (Magnitude Series)

This note also discusses the small to mid-sized enterprise sweet spot for clustered storage, that of mid-sized enterprises with robust management and consolidation needs who are often making their first storage area network purchase. Leaders recognized in this storage category include 3PAR, Dell/EqualLogic, and HP/LeftHand Networks.