Enterprise Storage

In computing , an enterprise storage is the computer storage designed for large-scale, high-technology environments of the modern enterprises. When compared to the consumer storage, it has higher scalability, higher reliability, better fault tolerance, and much higher initial price.

Enterprise storage is a centralized repository for business information that provides common data management and protection, as well as data sharing functions, through connections to numerous (and possibly dissimilar) computer systems. Developed as a solution for the enterprise that deals with heavy workloads of business-critical information, enterprise storage systems are scalable for workloads of up to 300 gigabytes without relying on excessive cabling or the creation of subsystems.

Other important aspects of the enterprise storage system are unlimited connectivity and support for all the different platforms in operation. Enterprise storage involves the use of a storage area network (SAN), rather than a distributed storage system, and includes benefits such as high availability and disaster recovery, data sharing, and efficient, reliable backup and restoration functions, as well as centralized administration and remote support. Through the SAN, multiple paths are created to all data, so that failure of a server never results in a loss of access to critical information.

The four main enterprise storage markets are:
• Online storage – large disk array solutions, minimizing access time to the data, and maximizing reliability;
• Backup – off-line storage for data protection, with a smaller price per byte than online storage, but at a cost of higher average access time; often uses sequential access storage, such as tape libraries ;
• Archiving – technically similar to backup , but its purpose is long-term retention, management, and discovery of fixed-content data to meet regulatory compliance, litigation protection, and storage cost optimization objectives;
• Disaster recovery solutions, used to protect the data from localized disasters , usually being a vital part of broader business continuity plan .

Intime Solutions is the preferred partner for most of the vendors in architecting and implementing Enterprise Storage Solutions.