Introduced in the early 2000s, SANs were initially limited to enterprise class computing. Today, high-speed disk costs have gradually dropped and SANs have become a mainstay for greater organizational storage.

SAN implementation simplifies information life cycle management and plays a critical role in delivering a consistent and secure data transfer infrastructure.

SAN solutions are available as two types:

• Fiber Channel (FC): Storage and servers are connected via a high-speed network of interconnected fiber channel switches. This is used for mission-critical applications where uninterrupted data access is required.
• Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Protocol: This infrastructure gives the flexibility of a low-cost IP network.

Both provide advantages based on business requirements.

The advantages of SAN include:

• Storage Virtualization: Server capacity is no longer linked to single storage devices, as large and consolidated storage pools are now available for software applications.
• High-Speed Disk Technologies: An example is FC, which offers data retrieval speeds that exceed 5 Gbps. Storage-to-storage data transfer is also available via direct data transmission from the source to the target device with minimal or no server intervention.
• Centralized Backup: Servers view stored data on local disks, rather than multiple disk and server connections. Advanced backup features, such as block level and incremental backups, streamline IT system administrator responsibilities.
• Dynamic Failover Protection: Provides continuous network operation, even if a server fails or goes offline for maintenance, which enables built-in redundancy and automatic traffic rerouting.

SAN is offered by server manufacturers, such as IBM and HP. Server-independent SAN providers include EMC and Network Appliance.