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Intelligent SAN platforms also address network connectivity requirements by enabling routing across SAN islands. This results in network infrastructures that are highly scalable and independent of the underlying protocols such as Fibre Channel or IP.

By offering highly optimized storage I/O processing, intelligent SAN platforms such as intelligent switches, directors, and storage appliances are enabling the core requirements of ILM that include centralized management, high resource utilization, and high availability. Successful implementation of ILM practices depend on having this foundation layer in place.

Migration to Intelligent Storage Networks
Storage administrators will have to start with getting the right storage infrastructure in place when considering implementing ILM. Administrators are often presented with two broad choices for deploying intelligent storage infrastructures, i.e., storage appliances and intelligent switches/directors. Storage appliances offer storage applications running on general-purpose servers or custom-built hardware that enable I/O acceleration. Intelligent switches or directors supported by the co-existing storage application offer I/O acceleration and enable more scalable deployments. Administrators will have to understand the choices and ensure that their infrastructure upgrades are in sync with their ILM objectives.

Conclusion
Executing ILM practices brings about storage optimization, efficient data protection, increased management efficiency, and overall cost reduction. These advantages are driving end-user implementations. Intelligent storage infrastructures provide the necessary foundation for implementing ILM tools and practices. Intelligent SAN platform vendors are proposing multiple alternatives for deploying intelligent storage infrastructures. Storage administrators should understand the choices and plan their infrastructure upgrades accordingly to begin the transformation to intelligent storage networks.

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