What are the Different Storage Solutions

Enterprises of all types rely on data storage technologies to meet compliance requirements, run applications, backup valuable business data and store large media files such as video. Depending on your organization’s size, budget and goals, you’ll find a number of different data storage methods to choose from.

The type of data storage that’s right for your business will depend on a range of factors — the amount of data you need to store, who needs access, how much physical space you have available and more. To help you decide, here is a brief overview of the different data storage solutions on the market today.

Storage Area Networks (SANs)

A storage area network, or SAN, is a type of network-based storage solution that gives local users dedicated, fast access to block-level storage. The original purpose of the SAN was to improve application performance by separating storage traffic from the rest of LAN traffic.

Made up of connected switches, hosts and storage devices, SAN systems typically give access to network users through Fiber channel connectivity. This type of data storage is ideal for holding databases and other structured workloads.

Network-Attached Storage (NAS)

Similar to a SAN, network-attached storage is a network-based storage solution that stores unstructured data as files. A NAS solution may contain a single hard drive or multiple hard drives in a RAID level 1 array. NAS systems with RAID storage automatically take files written to the main drive and write them to the secondary drive, making this type of storage perfect for companies that require convenient data backup and recovery capability.

NAS systems are simple to deploy, manage and consolidate. They are also easy to scale, ideal for small to midsize enterprises and businesses with rapidly expanding storage requirements.

Converged Cloud Storage

Cloud storage involves storing business data with a remote third-party service provider. Because data stored in the Cloud is located offsite, it remains protected from fires, floods and other disasters that may affect a business’s specific area.

Converged Cloud storage combines storage and computing resources to improve performance and simplify data center operations. Converged storage is a type of scale-out architecture.

All-Flash Arrays

All-flash arrays are data storage technologies that use solid-state flash memory instead of hard disks. Both SAN and NAS storage methods can utilize all-flash arrays. The main advantage of using all-flash storage is speed — without any moving parts, flash arrays speed up read and write times significantly.

High-Density Storage

High-density storage solutions increase the amount of information that can be stored by a given storage medium by increasing areal density. Hard disk drives with higher density provide improved performance and speed while using physical space efficiently. While still under development, this type of storage is ideal for data centers and large enterprises looking to make good use of space.

Contact DataSpan to Learn More

At DataSpan, we believe businesses deserve storage solutions that meet their unique needs. We offer data storage solutions that provide excellent flexibility, security and responsiveness, so you can provide optimized experiences for your customers and employees. To learn more about the types of data storage we offer, find a local representative or reach out to us today.