Are the efficiency issues associated with DAS still a problem for most businesses?
It depends on what you mean by efficiency. Is it efficiency in terms of performance or is it efficiency in terms of utilization (making use of the storage), or is it efficiency in terms of protecting and using the data in an effective manner? From a performance standpoint for certain applications with certain types of DAS storage, performance can be as good if not better than a SAN-based device. This is true with a high-performance DAS array, such as an entry-level IBM DS3000, HP MSA 2000 or an EMC Clariion AX4 that’s configured in a direct-attached manner. The performance can be very good because you don’t have the associated network in between. But is it cost-effective? You have a single system using that storage and if the application is able to effectively utilize that and needs dedicated DAS, than it can be effective. So when you look at the effectiveness, how efficient it is to backup, protect and manage the data have all been the traditional value propositions of going into a sh
