A storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote with computer storage devices to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system.A SAN typically in its own network of storage devices that are generally not accessible through the regular network by regular devices. The cost and complexity of SANs dropped in the late 2000′s, resulting in much wider adoption across both the enterprise and small to medium sized business environments.
Most storage networks are used with the SCSI protocol for communication between servers and disk drive devices. A mapping layer to other protocols is used to form a network:
* ATA over Ethernet (AoE),
* Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP),
* Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
* ESCON over Fibre Channel (FICON),
* HyperSCSI, mapping of SCSI over Ethernet
* iFCP or SANoIP mapping of FCP over IP
* iSCSI, mapping of SCSI over TCP/IP
* iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER),
Broadband Internet and How It?s Grown Over the Last Few Years
It’s obvious that you’ve been living under a rock if you’ve not noticed the massive increase of broadband users of late. Now Ofcom has released information showing us the true extent of the increase, with over half of the UK Adult population using their home connection on a daily basis.
Whether it’s logging online to watch ‘alternative endings’ to that film you watched last night or to download last weeks episode of this years hit drama; broadband internet is starting to become part of our daily routines.
Once online it’s hard to drag yourself away from all the exciting offers and interesting content available.
A growing trend has been reported in online videos, again attracting just over half of adults connecting via their broadband internet connection at home, with a quarter watching on a weekly basis.
Back in the day, users would never have dreamt about watching videos online as their 56kbps modems would struggle at the best of times, therefore reducing the amount of interest and need for these types of sites. Now people are beginning to see a turn-around, with an increased demand and purchase of sites such as youtube.com by search engine giant Google.
A year ago we were seeing companies offer ‘free broadband’ but the news was soon followed by an influx of bad press. On the plus side, end users are now seeing a greater reduction in costs as more and more broadband internet providers are entering the market place offering various new types of deals.