Future SANs Stir Debate

CHICAGO -- Users and vendors at the TIA-sponsored DataComm Enterprise Conference here this week pondered the role of emerging technologies in future SAN architectures.

Panel members discussed the merits of 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10-Gbit/s Ethernet and iSCSI, and storage dark horse InfiniBand. Most agreed there is no one right technology for everyone -- or for any single application.

Instead, it looks as though Fibre Channel will continue to be the SAN of choice, as long as its speed and performance keep growing. At the same time, though, 10-Gbit/s Ethernet and even InfiniBand will find a place.

Harold Shapiro, director of technology at Warner Bros. Entertainment, says the type of technology used in storage networks is less important than how it is used.

"Just buying this technology isn't going to fix anything," Shapiro says. "You can take very good technology, deploy it the wrong way, and it becomes bad technology."Shapiro is open to any technology that will help Warner Bros. manage and protect its data. (See Warner Bros..) Most of that data is on a Fibre Channel SAN now -- one that holds more than 400 applications in 250 Tbytes.

Yet Shapiro sees a bright future for 10-Gbit/s Ethernet and iSCSI as well. "If I had a clean slate, I'd head down the 10-gig and iSCSI path," he says. "It's so much easier. Fibre Channel's a complicated technology. Our challenge is we're married to Fibre Channel."

Rather than get a divorce from Fibre Channel, Shapiro is trying to make the most of it. Warner Bros. is using 4-Gbit/s Brocade switches, and Shapiro says he's considering upgrading his EMC SAN array to new 4-Gbit/s Clariions.

10-Gbit/s Ethernet is also in Shapiro's plans, albeit not for his entire network: "The Fibre Channel vendors are pushing 4-gig arrays and all the switches and HBAs are 4-gig now. But not every application requires Fibre Channel. For remote offices and mobile users, I would definitely not deploy Fibre Channel."

Another consumer, however, will continue to deploy Fibre Channel for a couple of reasons, including its speed, availability, and disk drive performance. "In my industry, speed is very important," says Andy Tran, CTO of Hollywood-based Pacific Title & Art Studio. "Delivering the right amount of data to the end user is necessary."Pacific Title, which does special effects and creates trailers, credits, and subtitles for movies, was an early adopter of 4-Gbit/s technology, installing a 4-Gbit/s Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) SAN more than a year ago. Pacific Title recently added a DataDirect Networks system sold by SGI that supports 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel and InfiniBand. (See PacTitle Taps DataDirect, SGI.)

Besides needing high bandwidth, Tran says Pacific Title's rendering requirements also demand high-performance Fibre Channel hard drives. "We need intensive bandwidth and throughput for multiple users at the same time," he says. "I can get bandwidth and throughput on SATA drives, but as soon as I put multiple users on SATA, I'm dead."

Yet another panelist favors InfiniBand. Steve Thompson, CTO of systems vendor Xyratex, says users who demand speed may soon bypass 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel and 10-GigE for InfiniBand. Thompson predicts 10-GigE -- which is still a roadmap technology -- will have a short shelf life in storage.

"Not all applications are speed-centric," he says. "10-GigE appeals to the speed freaks, but the speed freaks will move to InfiniBand at 30 gig, and 10-GigE will become pass at the end of '07."

— Dave Raffo, News Editor, Byte and SwitchOrganizations mentioned in this article: