IPS is standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Working Group, a standards organization that identifies problems and opportunities in IP data networks and proposes solutions to the Internet community.

IPS can also be used in intranet or extranet and may also connect a storage area network (SAN) to remote areas.

The benefits of using IPS include:

• Maintaining minimum disruption
• Providing broader connectivity options
• It is less complex than fiber channel
• Meeting high performance standards for storage
• Using existing network infrastructures while reducing costs
• Allowing storage traffic to be routed over a separate network
• Using less expensive hardware components than fiber channel
• Having operable architecture and fewer issues than fiber channel
• Using TCP/IP networks to connect or extend SANs universally

The IPS framework is applied through networking infrastructures linking current SCSI, fiber channel and other devices with gigabit Ethernet support networks. The end components can be used as storage devices or servers on all current storage structures within the ISP and, for direct integration, with the gigabit Ethernet network.