More articles by Gerald Williams

In the second part of our series on 'Standards and Certifications' we take a look at Brocades's qualification programs for its fabric solutions for storage networks. These products alleviate the processing overhead on the server and offload backup and recovery traffic. Interoperability is essential.

This article is the first in a series which will look at how accreditation programs like those available from Brocade, IBM, and EMC work, and at how they can be valuable. Before we start looking at the specific programs, however, a historical view of the storage arena and the related technologies will make it easier to understand how these certification programs came into being.

The cost of storage is dropping, but IT managers also are seeking a better strategy that will support immediate storage requirements and allow expansion in the future. Vendors now offer an array of options that the manager must consider before investing in additional disk storage. This Briefing examines the risks and benefits involved in choosing attached, networked, or IP-based storage topologies.