The Business Case for Storage Networks

The Business Case for Storage Networks

by Bill Williams
Released October 2004
Publisher(s): Cisco Press
ISBN: 1587201186

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Book description

Understand the business case for storage networks and lower your total cost of ownership with this comprehensive guide

  • Introduces the benefits of storage networks, providing a comprehensive business case for the adoption and deployment of storage networking solutions

  • Provides a complete overview of the TCO methodology for storage networks

  • Summarizes the EVA, NPV, and ROI metrics used to evaluate projects, ensuring their financial success

  • Outlines the best practices for executing a storage migration strategy

  • Includes a TCO calculator and decision-making checklist that you can use to assess your decision

    • When adopting a storage networking solution, you need to understand the business case for your decision. Yet this process is fraught with many business and technical considerations. How will the adoption of a storage networking solution affect your current infrastructure? How will your IT team grapple with the addition of a new technology? How can you turn the cost of your storage network into a business benefit, strengthening your bottom line and paving the way for future success?

    Storage networking technologies promise a high return on investment (ROI) and have the potential to reduce the cost of corporate IT functions, which can result in significant savings. The increased efficiency associated with networked storage also promises a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for storage, and a lower, fully burdened cost of storage means greater long-term savings for large and small corporate datacenter environments. SAN technologies also offer increased business continuance capabilities for increased uptime and availability.

    The Business Case for Storage Networks covers the problem of direct-attached storage (DAS) and the solutions offered by storage area networks. It details the experiences of IT decision makers and implementers who have deployed SAN solutions to address the formidable problems facing their companies, which are now overwhelmed with expensive, inefficient, and difficult-to-manage DAS solutions. The Business Case for Storage Networks addresses the problems of storage growth and increased consumption, the role of the IT department as a cost center, and how SAN technologies can help save money in the long run, helping you make an informed decision about your storage networking investment.

    This volume is in the Network Business Series offered by Cisco Press. Books in this series provide IT executives, decision makers, and networking professionals with pertinent information on today's most important technologies and business strategies.

    Table of contents

    1. Contents (1/2)
    2. Contents (2/2)
    3. Foreword
    4. Introduction
    5. Part I: The Storage Networking Value Proposition
      1. Chapter 1 Industry Landscape: Storage Costs and Consumption
        1. Storage Management Matters
        2. Implementing a Storage Vision (1/2)
        3. Implementing a Storage Vision (2/2)
        4. Commoditization of Hardware
        5. The Impact of Competition on IT
        6. The Impact of Legislation on IT
        7. Utilization and Yield (1/2)
        8. Utilization and Yield (2/2)
        9. Conclusion
        10. Summary
        11. End Notes
      2. Chapter 2 The Business Impact of Storage Networking Technology
        1. Tangible and Intangible Benefits of Storage Networking
        2. Technology Solutions Associated with Storage Networking
        3. Increased Availability
        4. Backup and Recovery Options
        5. Replication
        6. SAN Extensions
        7. Total Cost of Ownership
        8. Conclusion
        9. End Notes
      3. Chapter 3 Building a Value Case Using Financial Metrics
        1. Using Payback, ROI, NPV, and EVA (1/2)
        2. Using Payback, ROI, NPV, and EVA (2/2)
        3. Value Case Analysis (1/3)
        4. Value Case Analysis (2/3)
        5. Value Case Analysis (3/3)
        6. Conclusion
        7. End Notes
      4. Chapter 4 How it Should Be Done: Implementation Strategies and Best Practices
        1. Technology Adoption
        2. Storage Technology Primer (1/3)
        3. Storage Technology Primer (2/3)
        4. Storage Technology Primer (3/3)
        5. Choosing the Right Vendor
        6. Changing the Support Model Paradigm
        7. Service Level Management
        8. Execution and Functional Roles
        9. Conclusion
        10. References
      5. Chapter 5 Maximizing Storage Investments
        1. Enterprise Storage Software (1/2)
        2. Enterprise Storage Software (2/2)
        3. Cost-Saving Strategies for Storage-Centric Firms (1/4)
        4. Cost-Saving Strategies for Storage-Centric Firms (2/4)
        5. Cost-Saving Strategies for Storage-Centric Firms (3/4)
        6. Cost-Saving Strategies for Storage-Centric Firms (4/4)
        7. Conclusion
        8. References
    6. Part II: Case Studies
      1. Chapter 6 The Cancer Therapy and Research Center
        1. Executive Summary
        2. Storage Environment
        3. The Move to Storage Networks
        4. Future Initiatives
        5. Conclusion
      2. Chapter 7 Internet Service Provider
        1. Executive Summary
        2. Storage Environment
        3. The Move to Storage Networks (1/2)
        4. The Move to Storage Networks (2/2)
        5. Capacity Planning and Utilization
        6. SRM
        7. Future Initiatives
        8. Conclusion
      3. Chapter 8 Cisco Systems, Inc.
        1. Executive Summary
        2. Environment
        3. The Move to Storage Networks
        4. Implementation (1/2)
        5. Implementation (2/2)
        6. TCO and ROI
        7. Tiered Storage Implementation
        8. Capacity Planning and Utilization
        9. Conclusion
        10. References
      4. Chapter 9 Retail Grocer
        1. Executive Summary
        2. Storage Environment
        3. The Move to Storage Networks
        4. SAN Consolidation
        5. Future Initiatives
        6. Conclusion
        7. References
      5. Chapter 10 Financial Services
        1. Executive Summary
        2. Storage Environment
        3. The Move to Storage Networks
        4. Storage Management
        5. Future Initiatives
        6. Conclusion
    7. Part III: Appendixes
      1. Appendix A: Decision Maker Implementation Checklist
      2. Appendix B: The Business Case for Storage Networks: Storage Strategies for Lowering TCO
      3. Appendix C: TCO Calculator (1/2)
      4. Appendix C: TCO Calculator (2/2)
    8. Index
      1. A
      2. B
      3. C
      4. D
      5. E
      6. F
      7. G
      8. H
      9. I
      10. J-K
      11. L
      12. M
      13. N
      14. O
      15. P
      16. Q-R
      17. S
      18. T
      19. U
      20. V
      21. W
      22. X-Y-Z

    Product information

    • Title: The Business Case for Storage Networks
    • Author(s): Bill Williams
    • Release date: October 2004
    • Publisher(s): Cisco Press
    • ISBN: 1587201186