NEC S-Series enterprise storage systems exemplify performance, high-availability, resiliency, and boast a feature-rich portfolio of management utilities and business continuity offerings. Unfortunately due to the financial burden of fabric switch ports, multiple adapters, and associated software and licensing - only the most critical server systems of an organization are typically considered for such an environment.

SANRAD iSCSI Gateway appliances provide for server connectivity directly to NEC Fibre Channel storage devices or to the SAN fabric enabling remote user and interdepartmental access to these enterprise resources. As a result, less critical server systems can attain most all the benefits from centralized, highly-available NEC storage systems at a fraction of the cost.

Extending an FC SAN with iSCSI
With the implementation of SANRAD's multi-protocol iSCSI V-Switches installed at the edge of the fibre channel SAN, up to hundreds of tier-2 servers can be added to the existing storage area network utilizing low cost iSCSI over Ethernet. Server data is simply routed across the existing IP network to the iSCSI switch. With both Gig-E and FC connectivity, the iSCSI switch converts IP traffic to FC protocol and back as the data is stored on the enterprise storage system deep within the SAN fabric.

Implementing an iSCSI SAN
The overall cost of an FC SAN is often beyond the means of a young enterprise or not worth the investment for all the servers within a large enterprise where there is an existing FC SAN. Building a new, cost-effective, standalone iSCSI SAN is a viable alternative and can be easily implemented with SANRAD iSCSI V-Switches and NEC FC storage arrays.

Network:
The iSCSI SAN utilizes an enterprise's existing IP infrastructure including existing Ethernet switches and cabling. A host's existing NIC is all that is needed to connect to the iSCSI SAN.

Storage Devices:
The V-Switch supports NEC's entry level and midrange scalable FC RAID arrays to greatly reduce the initial investment and long term cost of increasing capacity.

Software:
The V-Switch includes both a hardware and software component. There is no need for additional software beyond the included storage management tools and services.

Resources:
Since the iSCSI SAN operates over the enterprise's existing IP network, minimal additional knowledge and training is required to implement, maintain, and manage.

More then just a simple OEM plug-in, SANRAD V-Switches provide for greater bandwidth equating to increased systems connectivity, and offers an additional layer of advanced virtualization features.

Whether extending your fibre channel SAN or building out a cost effective alternative, NEC in partnership with SANRAD can design a solution to fulfill almost any need.