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Imagine a system that can expand its storage and protection capacity just by plugging more servers with integrated disk storage into a standard gigabit Ethernet switch. There would be no need for complex SAN LUN allocation, HBA and FC switch zoning, or volume and file system management.

Imagine a system that automatically checks and corrects every version and replica of every backup file it retains. And as the amount of data to backup grows, both the processing power and storage capacity of a storage grid expands, making it as easy to check and correct 100TB of data as it is to check and correct the first terabyte of data. This automated checking and correcting feature equates to checking and correcting all of the tapes in your tape vault on a regular basis! Checking all of your tapes regularly is time-prohibitive, and actually decreases the reliability of tape drive heads and the long-term readability of the data on these tapes. Even if you know which tapes had a data integrity problem, you’d still have no means of correcting the damaged or lost files.

Imagine a system where the integration of data storage and data protection, and the corresponding simplicity of a single management interface allows tasks that today are performed by one or more SAN/Network Attached Storage (NAS) administrators, server administrators, backup administrators, archive administrators, and disaster recovery administrators to be performed by a single Storage Administrator.

Virtualization is a key component to realizing the ideal storage system.

Virtual Reality – Self-Protecting Storage
The ideal storage system is a reality. It exists in a revolutionary breed of storage systems called Self-Protecting Storage systems. These systems are only now becoming available because of major advances in technology and research. CPU power is virtually free, disk storage is taking a more prominent role in protecting data, and IP MAN/WAN network cost/performance is now affordable to even mid-market companies.

Architectures that have been conceptualized and prototyped at major universities and corporate research labs worldwide over the past 10 years are being commercialized by innovative emerging data storage companies. Advances in grid computing are being leveraged to create systems that are self-discovering, self-configuring, more shareable, and efficiently scaled. But it’s virtualization that is the key technology at the core of Self-Protecting Storage systems. Consider the the sidebar Virtualization Concepts and How They Map to Tangible Self-protecting Storage Benefits.



Virtual Monopoly – Game Over
Disruptive technologies that unseat established products will continually be developed by innovative emerging companies. IT organizations that are forward thinking and looking for relief from the significant cost and complexity in adequately storing and protecting data today are already reaping the benefits of Self-Protecting Storage systems.

Simply stated, virtualized Self-Protecting Storage systems are architected from the outset to reduce the cost, operational complexity, and associated risk of storing, protecting, restoring, and recovering data while increasing the availability and access to all data.

From a business impact, virtualization can achieve the following benefits in the storage and protection of data:

• Greatly reduced operational and capital costs
• Seconds, not hours, to restore lost/deleted data
• Minutes, not days, to recover from site disaster
• Transparent access by clients and applications to all data, all the time

From an IT operational impact, virtualization can eliminate the following data management tasks and their associated operational costs:

• No more weekend full-tape backups
• No more slow, unreliable restores from tape
• No more tapes to rotate on-site and off-site
• No more early morning “file system full” alerts
• No more guessing about which files to archive and when
• No more complex systems and procedures for managing a site disaster
• No more complex procedures to manage dozens of independent storage, backup, and archiving products
• No more tape drives or jukeboxes to purchase and repair
• No more tapes to verify and refresh

Self-Protecting Storage Is Virtualization
The storage product industry has been tackling challenging data storage issues by applying incremental changes to each data storage and data protection component. This has been ineffective in significantly reducing the operational cost of managing data storage systems. Self-Protecting Storage systems represent the first technology in the last 50 years to leverage virtualization for all aspects of data storage and data protection. 

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