ENSA and storage as a utility

Something new is happening in the world of computer storage devices. We're starting to think of storage as a utility service accessed transparently, much like electricity or telephone service. While storage has always been an integral part of computer systems, new products and recent advances in technology have made this area even more important.

One of those advances is Compaq's Enterprise Network Storage Architecture (ENSA), an initiative that allows storage devices to be located just about anywhere in the world. The first phases of ENSA are in operation today, and Compaq continues to develop its capabilities.

ENSA consists of storage products, servers, network infrastructure, linking devices and management tools. Together, they allow vast amounts data to be pooled across an entire company. The overall effect is an environment that simplifies data management, built over a dedicated, high-performance Fibre Channel storage-area network (SAN).

ENSA goes beyond conventional SAN implementations in its intelligence, geographic distribution and management. The concept of a single storage pool greatly simplifies storage acquisition and management. You can use storage devices that are physically near your computer, or you can access storage devices in the next building, or across the country - and all of this storage space can be controlled through centralized management. ENSA does a good job of investment protection too, because it incorporates existing technology.

Some of ENSA's features include:

• Accessibility. ENSA consolidates backup of multiple servers onto a single backup tape library so that geographically distant LANs within an enterprise share a common pool of storage. This allows vast amounts of physical capacity to be pooled across the enterprise for presentation to application servers wherever they may be.
• Scalability. ENSA automatically allocates physical storage capacity across the storage network to individual applications based on the amount actually used. It continuously monitors server capacity needs and projects capacity automatically from the storage pool. As the needs of one server decline, the physical storage can be recovered automatically and returned to the pool for reallocation to other virtual volumes. This occurs dynamically and transparently.
• Manageability. ENSA lets you create central policies to control disks automatically anywhere within the storage network. It simplifies remote system management by allowing disks for any application server to be created from any location. ENSA disks can also be reassigned to other servers and reconfigured from any location as needed. Compaq ENSA supports storage products from other vendors, too.

For more information about ENSA, visit www.compaq.com/storage

To continue the general discussion of storage, I'm going to ask you to visualize storage as a utility, just like electricity. In this vision, the service provider handles interruption of service, as well as repairs and maintenance. Disks, tape, optical media and software are all part of the deal and available to end users, who simply plug into a network connection.

Imagine accessing all of the disk space you like through a service provider. Businesses such as Storage Networks already are selling online computer storage on a pay-for-what-you-need basis. This is possible because storage characteristics - access and control, performance and capacity, reliability and availability - can be scaled to custom fit the requirements of users anywhere on the network.

Back-up service is another business that can operate this way. It might be nice to ship that bothersome task off to another company and have them do your backups for you, don't you think? Send me your thoughts at wayland.hancock@currid.com.

Linda Musthaler is vice president of Currid & Company, a Houston-based information technology assessment company. You can reach her by e-mail at linda@currid.com.

Technology Executive archive
Past newsletters.

Compaq ENSA

"Compaq describes storage management strategy"
IDG News Service, 04/24/00