The Network Is The Storage Device

A new protocol allows for the usage of an Ethernet network and a bunch of low cost disks to store large amounts of data.      "Anyway...," the boss burbles in simulated intelligence mode, "I was just wandering through the department today and a thought struck me. What with the rising cost of disk it might be an interesting plan to use our networks as a storage medium..."      He goes on to paraphrase the food-waste-product that we fed him, while commenting that he's fired off an order for 20 drums of Cat-5.      The explosion is inevitable. The head of department, whilst in practical terms about as useful as loopback plug for an electric type-writer, did spend about six years teaching networking fundamentals to first year university students. -- The BOFH wins an award from his peer group..., from 1997's ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE) protocol creates a storage area network (SAN), using an Ethernet network along with those ATA drives, NetworkWorld writer Brantley Coile (who co-authored AoE) Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.