Use storage area networks to extend data access across your organization while maintaining central, secure management control

Raise Your Storage Infrastructure to a Strategic Priority

The business imperative to maintain online access to all data, all the time, has pushed the challenge of data storage management to the top of you IT infrastructure priority list. Studies show that storage requirements for Fortune 1000 accounts at least double each and every year. Often, the response has been tactical, workable solutions — from storage devices located inside or directly attached to the server to Network Attached Storage (NAS) implementations that move devices away from the server and connect them directly to the network. Neither solution, however, addresses this strategic question: how do you store data without tying up network capacity? Enter storage area networks.
Storage area networks (SANs) answer the needs of today’s data intensive network environments by creating a dedicated, centrally managed secure infrastructure that makes storage devices available to all servers on the SAN.

Avoid Poorly Planned SAN Implementations

SAN implementations are not projects that should be taken lightly. SANs must be implemented correctly or your company risks poor performance, data loss or additional, unnecessary costs associated with your storage infrastructure. That’s where CDI steps in. Our professional services team has the deep technical knowledge and experience to plan, design, implement and test SANs accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Our SAN project engagement approach consists of three phases with one goal in mind — to ensure your storage needs are met and your expectations exceeded. CDI’s SAN services cover:

• Planning and Design
• Verification of business requirements and delivery of configuration recommendations
• SAN architecture design, which includes:
• Port layout to provide redundancy at the host bus adapter (HBA), cable, gigabit interface converter and switch processor levels
• Standardized naming conventions for World Wide Name nicknames, zones, and zone sets
• Design zones and zone sets developed according to industry best practices
• Implementation and Testing
• Configuration and deployment of Fibre Channel switches
• Installation of HBAs, along with associated drivers and firmware
• Set up of the Storage Resource Management software
• Documentation, Knowledge Transfer and Acceptance
• Production, delivery and review of the configuration documentation and a process by which knowledge transfer is conducted

No SAN Too Small or Too Large

The CDI team utilizes best of breed products and services to help ensure a seamless, reliable SAN. Whether only two servers are required on a network to access a central pool of storage devices or several thousand servers are needed to access terabytes of data, CDI is the company you can rely on to meet all your SAN needs.

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