SANs Demystified
Get up to speed quickly on storage area networks (SANs) in the real world. This detailed resource explains SAN technology and functions, showing how to manage, configure, and build your own SAN for a wide variety of applications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS SANs Demystified
Chapter 6: Case Studies
This chapter is a compilation of case studies intended to provide you with insight and information about the experiences of other companies that have implemented the storage area network (SAN) solution. This is not presented as an endorsement of any particular storage company. Grateful acknowledgment is extended to Storage Networking World On-Line (SNW) for allowing us to reprint from their archives. SNW is a publication that is dedicated to providing timely, useful information for planning and implementing high-end storage solutions and services.
SAN Implementation Saves Money and Boosts Network Performance at New York Life
A bottleneck problem and towering storage costs led to a happy, although complex, solution at New York Life, a Manhattan-based mutual insurance company with $84 billion in assets.
In fact, since moving from direct-attached storage technology to a SAN setup from EMC in Hopkinton, MA, New York Life has saved a couple of million dollars on storage equipment costs while also boosting network performance and availability, according to Michael Polito, a corporate vice president responsible for enterprise storage and business resumption services at the large insurer. In addition, the company has gained the ability to better monitor its network, which enables it to plan future server deployments more accurately.
However, although the move from direct-attached storage to a mesh network of 90 servers and 12 switches has spurred network performance, it also has increased information technology (IT) complexity, a situation that New York Life is moving rapidly to resolve.
In the Beginning
Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2003 under license agreement with Books24x7
