By Pia Heikkila, 16 October 2001 17:10
NEWS The lines between network attached storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SAN) will become blurred and soon there will be very little difference between the two according to Network Appliance. This bold claim is based on the fact that the first version of NAS/SAN hybrid technology is already available. Network Associates has developed a NAS/SAN software named Snap Manager for Exchange 2000, which takes commands from the storage hardware interface called SCSI (small computer system interface) and then sends the data back to the relevant storage device where these commands are processed. The Snap Manager does not need to distinguish whether the device is NAS or SAN enabled. This type of technology became necessary for NAS vendors when Microsoft decided not to support NAS devices in its latest Exchange Server. Dan Warmenhoven, the CEO of Network Appliance, gave a keynote speech in Storage Decision 2001 last week where he introduced the bullish notions. He also said the current storage device features both block-level or file-level access to data but that file-level access will eventually become the preferred way of moving data.
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