The advent of iSCSI enables small and medium businesses to reap the benefits of enterprise level Fibre Channel server storage solutions, without the expense of implementation and mandatory support expertise. Companies now have a cost effective server storage solution that provides high server performance, utilisation of existing network infrastructures, and centralised server storage.

iSCSI transmits data via TCP/IP over existing network infrastructures, but with high performance block level I/O. Instead of fragmenting and encapsulating actual data files into packets, as with NAS, iSCSI encapsulates much smaller SCSI command blocks. This results in data transmission speeds at nearly the same rate as direct SCSI connections, and relieves the network of bandwidth depleting file level storage traffic.

In addition, since block-level I/O is transferred over IP, high performance data server storage is no longer held captive to just LAN and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) environments, but is now applicable in WAN environments as well. Without the distance restrictions associated other server storage solutions, iSCSI presents an effective way to accomplish high performance offsite disaster recovery. Use of iSCSI is also a great way to consolidate or “pool” data, making server management a snap. This results in higher server storage utilisation which helps to keep IT costs down.

For more information about iSCSI storage please contact us for expert advice on 0121 693 9283. We also have a number of server and storage workshops happening over the next few months, please register for one of these workshops online.