What is a Data Warehouse?  

"A Data Warehouse is a repository of integrated information, available for queries and analysis. Data and information are extracted from heterogeneous sources as they are generated....This makes it much easier and more efficient to run queries over data that originally came from different sources."   Stanford University

Data is one of the most important assets of any organization.  Network Associates of CT  offers products which can help you manage, share and protect your data effectively and efficiently. We offer the industry's broadest and most complete line of network storage filers, disaster recovery solutions, optical storage systems, and upgrade solutions to ensure your company's data is available throughout your network, 24x7x365.

The explosive growth of corporate data has taken regular file servers by storm. Now, scalability and advanced data management features are a must for any enterprise that is looking to consolidate storage onto a single platform.

Immediate, online backup technology allows the backup of entire volumes of data quickly, efficiently, and with no data access disruption. Take a near-instantaneous image of your data volume for backup purposes, eliminating "backup window" concerns. Store up to sixteen versions of the your volume -- online and always ready for immediate recovery. Scale up your storage volume up to 16 TB and beyond with no downtime.

Introduction

The torrents of information storming in and out and through today's businesses could hardly have been foreseen when the first computer systems achieved desktop status. These units came equipped with the storage capacity of a goldfish bowl, by today's standards. Building on this early direct-attached storage architecture, IT departments soon answered increasing information demands with general-purpose servers and direct-attached storage, typically attached using a SCSI high-speed interface. Now, these processing and storage initiatives are hard pressed to support and direct the monumental data requirements of ERP, MIS, and data warehousing for today's companies.

Thanks in a large part to the Internet, today's information influx does not stop. Data is created, transmitted, stored, and delivered around the clock. And both internal and external customers are becoming more dependent on rapid, reliable access to company data. Those companies that are not yet Net-operational feel the pressure to get there, fast. This scenario also leaves Internet and applications service providers as well as dot-com organizations scrambling for reliable, scalable solutions. Overall, businesses need to meet skyrocketing storage needs and they'd like to do so without an exponential increase in IT talent-professionals who are difficult to find and expensive to hire. Network-Attached Storage (NAS) may be the answer

What is a NAS Device?

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a concept of shared storage on a network. It communicates using Network File System (NFS) for UNIX« environments, Common Internet File System (CIFS) for Microsoft Windows environments, FTP, http, and other networking protocols. NAS brings platform independence and increased performance to a network, as if it were an attached appliance.

A NAS device is typically a dedicated, high-performance, high-speed communicating, single-purpose machine or component. NAS devices are optimized to stand alone and serve specific storage needs with their own operating systems and integrated hardware and software. Think of them as types of plug-and-play appliances, except with the purpose of serving your storage requirements. The systems are simplified to address specific needs as quickly as possible-in real time. NAS devices are well suited to serve networks that have a mix of clients, servers, and operations and may handle such tasks as Web cache and proxy, firewall, audio-video streaming, tape backup, and data storage with file serving.  

NAS Solutions for Today's Business Issues

IDC predicts that by 2006, more than $12.5 billion will be spent annually on NAS storage solutions. (Source: Taming the Storage Growth Beast with Network-Attached Storage (NAS), ¨ 2005, International Data Corporation.) The analyst group believes the demands of Internet service providers, application service providers, and dot-coms for reliable, cost-effective, and rackable systems will help drive the proliferation of NAS solutions.

Decreased IT Staff Costs

On the front end, businesses welcome extreme amounts of information and strive to manipulate it for use in real time. On the back end, IT professionals, with their current infrastructures, scramble to accommodate the exponentially increasing data burden. General-purpose servers, especially, require large amounts of skilled personnel time to solve storage and file access challenges.

In contrast, a NAS device requires little IT staff time and effort. Management is accomplished through a graphical user interface (GUI) in a Web browser, which enables NAS access from anywhere on the network. Since a NAS filer is preconfigured to support specific file-serving needs, administration is simplified, and this ease of use results in fewer operator errors. Also, because more capacity can be managed per administrator with NAS than is possible with general-purpose server storage activity, the total cost of ownership is lower.

Scale Fast, Without Downtime

Dot-coms and other rapidly scaling companies endeavor to make sure their IT infrastructures keep pace with their dynamic business realities. Building on the structure of your general server or servers may be required in some business areas. But burdening these servers with escalating storage needs can be ineffective and run counter to your accelerated business practices. As you add capacity for your general-purpose server, you'll face downtime. When you bring the system down to increase its storage, your business applications will be unavailable, which may slow-if not halt-productivity.

On the other hand, expanding storage with NAS is simple and nonintrusive. You can install a new filer within 15 minutes as opposed to hours or days required to install or add traditional storage. More advanced NAS devices can increase storage on-the-fly, eliminating the need for you to add another node on your network. This means your users access what they need when they need it, responding in real time to a marketplace that demands immediate action.

Relief for Your Server

A NAS filer helps by offloading tedious and bandwidth-consuming file serving tasks from your server. This allows your server to use its power to process your data with improved availability and performance.

Have you checked your general-purpose server's workload lately? If it is handling file serving activities, chances are it is handling too much. You face increased risk of latency when your general-purpose server must complete high-priority file serving tasks while handling applications, electronic mail, and a myriad of other critical business tasks.

Multi-OS Connectivity and Data-Sharing

Whether your company is busy merging or acquiring, or simply growing, you will no doubt face the demands of a heterogeneous operating environment. A NAS device can answer this challenge with its capability to serve two chief operating system camps: NFS (UNIX) and CIFS (Microsoft Windows). One of the undeniable strengths of NAS is its capacity to support these protocols and allow for cross-platform data sharing. This is an increasingly important attribute as the business usage of data-intensive application files such as digital media (audio, video, and photography) becomes more common.

Leveraging Existing Infrastructure

By adding NAS nodes to your network, you can leverage your network investment and your current network administration skills. NAS can be deployed on your network anywhere it is needed. It also can be integrated with larger management tools, like Microsoft Management Console, Tivoli, and HP Openview, allowing you to maximize your use of these products. And NAS does not require costly network operating system (NOS) licenses.

Often, IT centralization is asked to simplify responsibilities and conserve company efforts, but it accomplishes neither if remote branch and satellite offices must operate without IT support. NAS can help you realize the intent of centralization by allowing you to add storage in a remote office and manage it via the Web-based GUI from anywhere on your network-including your central/home office. This means you can reap higher performance from existing infrastructure at the remote office and keep management "at home."

Transparent Backup

Another benefit of NAS is its transparent backup activities. Filer backup can be completed without affecting the performance of your general-purpose or application servers. Your CPU does not have to calculate what to back up and when. Simply direct your filer to complete backup at a specific time and it will use industry-standard procedures to complete this task.