height=1> Yahoo! is not affiliated with the authors of this page or responsible for its content.
File Storage in the 21st Century
File Storage in the 21
st
Century
Whitepaper
Copyright 2007, Exanet Inc.


Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................. 1
Executive Summary .......................................................................................... 1
The State of Data.............................................................................................. 2
Continued data growth .................................................................................. 2
New Storage Requirements .......................................................................... 4
Legacy Storage Solutions ................................................................................. 8
Direct Attached Storage (DAS)...................................................................... 8
Storage Area Networks (SAN)..................................................................... 11
Network Attached Storage (NAS)................................................................ 12
Virtualization ................................................................................................... 15
Shared SAN Filesystems ............................................................................ 15
Hybrid NAS/SAN Filesystems ..................................................................... 16
Aggregated NAS...................................................................................... 16
File Area Networks ...................................................................................... 17
Distributed Clustered NAS Virtualization ..................................................... 17
The ExaStore Solution .................................................................................... 18
ExaStore Overview...................................................................................... 18
ExaStore Benefits........................................................................................ 19
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 21
References ..................................................................................................... 22









Exanet Inc., 30 Montgomery St., Suite 604, Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: 1-888-5-EXANET (1-888-539-2638)
www.exanet.com


Abstract
New services are creating increased demand for digital content and are transforming the
file storage industry. Both traditional storage technologies - DAS, SAN and NAS, as well
as legacy virtualized solutions such as shared SAN and aggregated NAS, are unable to
meet the new storage requirements.
Exanet, an innovative software vendor, has developed a new storage architecture called
ExaStore. ExaStore is a new class of storage virtualized enterprise NAS that is both
distributed and clustered. ExaStore provides infinite scalability and ultimate performance
using industry-standard server and storage hardware.

Executive Summary
Incredible data growth continues to be a driving force behind storage spending across
many industries, but new applications are triggering the current explosion of information.
New computer-based services, as well as increased digitization of analog data are
examples of the current phase of the digital revolution.
As a result, a set of new customer requirements have emerged transforming every
aspect of a storage solution - availability, scalability provisioning and configuration.
Existing storage solutions are unable to meet these requirements. Limitations in the
hardware and software of current storage solutions are forcing customers to implement
systems with lower capacities; data is stored in many file-systems and storage arrays;
data is frequently migrated, and additional hardware is purchased to overcome these
limits.
The ExaStore NAS Virtualization solution from Exanet, offers a different perspective to
the lifecycle of enterprise file storage solutions, starting from storage acquisition,
ongoing operations and end-of-life of the system.
This whitepaper describes the operational challenges and the financial impact involved
with direct-attached (DAS), storage area networks (SAN) and network-attached storage
(NAS) solutions, and offers an alternative solution in the form of a scalable clustered
NAS.






1


Exanet Inc., 30 Montgomery St., Suite 604, Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: 1-888-5-EXANET (1-888-539-2638)
www.exanet.com


The State of Data
Data in its digital representation in computers and other electronics equipment is
reshaping life on earth in ways that were impossible to imagine only a few years ago.
Cellular and wireless Internet access, mobile computing, personalized content, location-
based services and social networking have emerged in the early 2000s, riding on the
back of the Internet-everything wave of the dot-coms at the end of the previous
decade.
This section reveals the details behind this digital reality of the 21
st
century the market
changes behind the current data growth, and the new storage requirements they
present beyond the continuous demand for larger and faster storage.

Continued data growth
Enterprises keep producing information at an unprecedented rate. ESG estimates that
the total worldwide digital archive capacity in the commercial and government sectors
will increase from 2,786 petabytes (PB) in 2005 to 27,206 PB in 2010. This represents a
58% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2005 and 2010 and a total
increase in archived data of over 877% [ESG06].
While the growth rate by itself has been stable in the last decade, the applications
triggering this continued explosion of information are evolving over time. In recent years
there has been an accelerated proliferation of new computer-based services and digital
content, as well as increased digitization of analog data in many industries:
Media & Entertainment The introduction of digital radio, High-Definition television
(HDTV) and IP-TV increased the capacity requirements ten-fold compared to their
analog, lower-quality counterparts. In addition, this digital content is being distributed in
completely new channels satellite radio, mobile TV and the Internet, requiring multiple
file formats to be produced, maintained and managed concurrently.
Internet The Internet Generation refers to the population group of young people born
in the personal computer age. This generation treats the Internet as an integral part of
life and therefore expects a more social Internet. This trend is often associated with
the terms Web 2.0 and social networking, which describe the transformation of older
social Internet services (such as Internet Relay Chat and newsgroups), to new Internet-





2


Exanet Inc., 30 Montgomery St., Suite 604, Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: 1-888-5-EXANET (1-888-539-2638)
www.exanet.com


enabled services blogs, forums, RSS and tagging, as well as new home entertainment
products Internet-ready game consoles and Massive Multiplayer Online Game
(MMOs), and online virtual reality websites.
These new products and services require both unprecedented capacity and scalability
as the number of worldwide Internet users is increasing rapidly. In addition, performance
and availability requirements are reaching or even surpassing the levels of traditional
enterprise applications, as the business opportunities of the Internet do not seem to end
anytime soon.
Cable and Telecommunications - New mobile services, high speed communications
and the introduction of IP telephony as a means of cost reduction are throwing more
users into overloaded environments. Service providers are looking for innovative ways
to attract these new customers, but cut operational costs at the same time. Scaling the
IT environment in line with the business is therefore of premium value in this market.
Financial and Legal Services Recent corporate and accounting scandals, as well as
increased public awareness to personal privacy have resulted in new government and
industry regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA in the US, and many other
regulations around the world. Since most of the regulations call for long-term archiving
of records, as well as ongoing internal and external audits, there has been a dramatic
increase both in the capacity and performance requirements of archives. It is for that
reason that a new market has emerged called active archiving.
Life Sciences Various accomplishments in human genome research in the beginning
of the century have created new industries: biotechnology and bioinformatics. Genetic
testing and research (using DNA sequencing technologies) is revolunatizing the
healthcare industry by providing the means for early detection of diseases, and more
recently the cures for these as well, thru a treatment called gene therapy. These
technologies raise the computational needs of research and standard healthcare labs
across the world. Storage requirements are not left behind, si