Blocks Of Data Meet Their File FormBlocks Of Data Meet Their File Form

Business users can't do much with blocks of data, but that's the way information moves across Fibre Channel-based storage area networks. Auspex Systems Inc. says it has a solution: a storage device that turns the blocks of data into information files.

Unveiled this week, the Network Storage Controller network-attached storage device, or NSc3000, attaches to existing storage area networks via a central switch that sits between the servers and the storage, reads blocks of data off any disk, and converts the data to files. Available in April, the NSc3000 starts at $45,000.

In addition to making the data more usable because the device reads and sends it in file form (such as a Word file), multiple users can access the information. Blocks of data can't be accessed by more than one user simultaneously. "A CRM app attached from a server to a hard-disk storage system is available to only one user at a time," says Bob Iacono, VP of marketing at Auspex. "On our NAS device, we'll use the same disk for the data, but multiple users can access the file simultaneously."

Though Auspex lost ground to competitors EMC Corp. and Network Appliance Inc. in recent years, the NSc3000 may have an edge on the competition. EMC and Network Appliance require companies to use their proprietary disks and software when connecting network-attached storage devices to storage area networks, Meta Group analyst Phil Goodwin says. "The EMC approach is very complex and expensive," he adds.

Auspex's new storage device appeals to Kamran Pechrak, manager of the Unix group at Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, Calif. "With every other vendor, you have to buy their disks. With the NSc3000, we're supposed to be able to connect any kind of disk rather than a proprietary disk," Pechrak says. "We could avoid cost completely and use some legacy disk [we already have] or we can put in a high-performance disk system from EMC or Hitachi Data Systems."