Compaq aims for San and Nas fusion

Company launches Nas Executor E7000

Compaq claims that it has ended the debate about storage area networks (Sans) versus networked attached storage (Nas).

As part of a new product range announced last week, the company unveiled its Nas Executor E7000, a device that connects to a local area network like a server, but allows access to data stored behind it on multiple vendors' arrays connected to a San.

"The device serves files in a Nas, but has a Fibre Channel back-end connected to a San," said Roger Archibald, vice president of enterprise storage at Compaq.

Nas Executor puts Nas and San into a single storage pool, which can then be delivered as blocks into the San or as files into the Nas.

"It is the fusion of San and Nas into a single networked storage architecture," Archibald added. "Companies that have made an initial investment in a Nas can leverage that into a San environment."

Rich Baldwin, president of US-based reseller Nth Generation Computing, said the new products were "the biggest news from Compaq storage in years".

Baldwin said that Nas Executor maps all storage on the San, regardless of the vendor, allowing any server access to data on any pool of storage. "The virtualisation does not happen in the array, it happens in the appliance. It's virtualisation done right," he said.

The Executor has Compaq's VersaStor technology embedded into it, Archibald said, which provides virtualisation for all StorageWorks Modular Arrays.

Many competitors are focusing on in-band virtualisation but require the addition of an external appliance to do the management.