User manual IBM DS4700 EXPRESS OVERVIEW

[. . . ] Additionally, large increases in online data, such as driven by radio frequency identification (RFID) applications, will leverage the benefits of 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology. Why buy 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology? The potential benefits of 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology include faster communication between servers and storage devices, the ability to more rapidly transfer data from storage to server or restore data from online backup media; high reliability due to the number of connections; and investment protection due to backward compatibility with 1 Gb/s and 2 Gb/s components ­ providing customers with state-of-the-art interconnection technology at about the same price and cost of ownership as current 2 Gb/s systems. Some of the Killer Apps for 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel The information explosion continues to drive the need for higher-performance communication. Performance improvements in processors, workstations and storage devices, along with the exponential growth in the amount of data being gathered and created, have spawned increasingly data-intensive and high-speed networking applications. 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel enables faster communication between servers and storage devices at about the same prices as today's 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel, helping IT administrators to effectively address the relentless needs of applications and end users. Tiered Storage As the concept of storage tiers becomes more prevalent and implementations become more common, data will need to be routinely migrated from primary storage to secondary storage across the storage network. [. . . ] The balanced performance of systems based on 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology helps address this challenge. They offer high levels of performance in both the bandwidth and IOPS dimensions. Transitioning from 2 Gb/s to 4 Gb/s According to a 2003 IDC report, 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel accounted for only six percent of the market in 2001, but by the end of 2002 2 Gb/s represented 70 percent of the market. IDC also predicted that by December 2003, 1 Gb/s technology would no longer be sold. The transition from 1 Gb/s to 2 Gb/s was simple and fast because it offered backward compatibility, no infrastructure change, and pricing was equal. The adoption of 4 Gb/s technology may follow a similar pattern, and offer backward compatibility, no infrastructure changes, and equal pricing. Since the industry has made this type of transition before, the transition to 4 Gb/s may be even faster. Four Gigabit per second Fibre Channel may be the dominant host interconnection for storage systems by December 2006. Deciding when to upgrade to 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel Deciding when to upgrade your infrastructure involves many factors. Customers need to evaluate if their current IT environment is stable, performing adequately and if growth has stabilized. If the answer to these questions is yes, then an infrastructure upgrade is probably not needed immediately. However, those customers who answered "no" will probably want to consider 4 Gb/s technology when determining if the current rate of growth will overtake the current infrastructure, if new applications and solutions require higher performance levels and if bottlenecks in the current storage environment are preventing realization storage network potential. Customers must also evaluate future purchases of host bus adapters (HBAs), servers, and storage devices in the SAN that will inevitably be based on 4 Gb/s technology. While these offerings will likely be backwards compatible, in order for the SAN infrastructure to meet its full potential and optimize performance, the full data path should be based on 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology. Once the decision to upgrade has been made, the transition can take place quickly. Products are already being released based on 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel and as storage products continue to evolve, many will be designed based on 4 Gb/s standards. Storage vendors know that customers rarely replace their entire infrastructure at once. As a result, 4 Gb/s may be introduced into customer environments in phases until 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel has a larger presence in the storage network than 2 Gb/s. Additional factors driving the decision to purchase 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology today A few years ago, products were rotated out of production every three years. Today, companies are extending the life of these products to four years or more. This means that products purchased in 2005 may still be in production when 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel is the norm. Does it make sense to purchase a new product that will be "outdated" before its production life is up? Purchasing a product based on 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology can provide the best of both worlds. 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel's backwards compatibility enables it to be integrated into existing 1 Gb/s and 2 Gb/s infrastructures. This allows users to immediately benefit from any improved functionality in their new 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel products, helps provide them with investment protection of their current environments, and provide future protection when their infrastructure eventually makes the transition to 4 Gb/s. The value proposition for end-users is simple ­ equal cost; up to twice the throughput; helps protect investment; and less SAN infrastructure (fewer switches with fewer ports, fewer host bus adapters) helps increase SAN reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS). Conclusion Many industry analysts, customers and manufacturers agree that by the end of 2006, 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology will be widely adopted by organizations around the world. Four Gb/s Fibre Channel is backwards compatible, provides customers with stateof-the-art interconnection technology at the same price and cost of ownership as current 2 Gb/s systems. Four Gb/s technology can benefit companies that run a variety of applications including scientific research, data warehousing and analysis, video on demand, and large databases. Customers considering new storage components, expanding or upgrading their current 2 Gb/s infrastructure, experiencing relentless growth, or demanding the highest levels of performance, should carefully evaluate new 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology. Copyright © 2005 by International Business Machines Corporation. [. . . ] IBM shall have no responsibility to update this information. IBM products are warranted, if at all, according to the terms and conditions of the agreements (e. g. , IBM Customer Agreement, Statement of Limited Warranty, International Program License Agreement, etc. ) under which they are provided. Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources. [. . . ]