Ethernet gets in on the SAN act

Virtualisation is rightly being promoted as an important technology for storage (See upcoming technology brief, Total Telecom, Sept 1). But networking is also playing an important role. Orange Business Services launched in June i-SAN, a Fibre Channel-over-Ethernet SAN service connecting data centres, which Orange Business claims is a first.

The service which uses Orange’s metro Ethernet network is available currently only in France and is aimed at small to medium enterprises. The uptake in France during 2007 will determine whether Orange Business proceeds with a service rollout in other countries.

“Using Ethernet is a lot more flexible than using dedicated fibre between sites,” says Rob Hodgkinson, global practice director, IT services at Orange Business Services. Ethernet also allows point-to-point and point-to-multipoint data backup, and it is scalable: increasing the bandwidth between sites is straightforward.

I-SAN supports synchronous and asynchronous backup at data rates of 1, 2 and 4 Gigabits per second at distances up to 1000km. “i-SAN suits requirements that typically need 1 Terabyte of backup a day, not firms that may use 100 Terabytes a day,” says Hodgkinson.

However, analysts question how innovative the i-SAN service is. “This [SAN over Ethernet] is not a new service and has been available for awhile, especially within the financial community,” says Carl Greiner of Ovum. “Also because of the cost of data centres, they are being put in remote locations – and such sites are not always on MANs.”