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| 5 Methods for SAN Storage Cost Reduction |
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| Written by Molly Webster |
| Thursday, 07 April 2011 08:49 |
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A storage area network (SAN) never stops evolving. To keep up with the business's ever-changing enterprise storage requirements, the IT Director, CIO, or Storage Administrator should regularly purchase new SAN products to expand or upgrade the system. If you find yourself frustrated at the cost to store, manage and guard information, the following five guidelines can help you put your self in a situation to negotiate, decrease cost, and afford world-class SAN storage infrastructure. 1. Get Used and New Overstock SAN Storage - Savings of 20-80% are to be discovered by leveraging used and new-overstock storage. Information center consolidations, canceled deals and bankruptcy frequently push the latest technology into the used marketplace, giving IT managers a cost efficient alternative for capacity upgrades, DR projects and tiered storage. 2. Assess Your Needs - Before you cut a buy order, ask yourself and your team the tough question -Do you actually need all new equipment? Sure, most organizations will require new equipment for mission critical data - perhaps 20%, but that leaves the other 80% unaccounted for. Take into consideration possibilities for example replacing small drives with big drives in legacy arrays, swapping out the controllers and used storage arrays as options to decrease costs. 3. Decrease Capacity - When buying from the manufacture, look at purchasing a minimum configuration, allowing you to purchase new-overstock or used upgrades to complete the capacity requirements. By making use of this method you need to expect savings of 30-50%. Not every single answer can use this strategy, but it's worth exploring. 4. Use Multiple Suppliers - You know the saying about putting all your eggs in one basket. Use a two-vendor strategy, or, in the event you have to use only one vendor, purchase used, overstock, or new-surplus SAN storage from time to time to keep the manufacture on his toes. 5. Check alternative manufacturers - EMC, IBM, HP, HDS and others are all authorized to sell Brocade SAN equipment, and Brocade can sell it to you directly. By exploring your options to source things like Brocade and CISCO MDS SAN infrastructure it is possible to put budget dollars back inside your pocket or use the cost savings to super size the configuration. About the Author: If you're in the market for IBM Storage or EMC Storage, we are the leading supplier for all your technology storage needs. You will save thousands on good quality new and refurbished hardware equipment. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites                             |