With built-in support for iSCSI protocols in the Windows Server platform, Microsoft is working to drive iSCSI SAN as a solution that could make SANs viable for small and mid-sized companies, like community banks or insurance agencies. EqualLogic, a provider of iSCSI SAN solutions, announced last month it will participate in the Microsoft Windows Simple SAN program aimed at that market. One user said his company’s move to iSCSI (or Internet-based Small Computer System Interface) storage saved considerable cost and management time, without sacrificing performance.

As an iSCSI-based storage solution, EqualLogic can be significantly cheaper than Fibre Channel based storage, though some who are new to the technology need reassurance that the technology’s savings won’t come at the expense of performance.

“I was initially a bit skeptical about performance,” said Jim Tarala, CEO of Schenck Business Solutions, a Wisconsin CPA firm that had been looking to upgrade from an EMC Clarion FC 4700 when it selected EqualLogic. “We brought it in, did some testing, abused it a bit, and it was never slower than what we saw with the existing EMC on Fibre Channel. That was comforting, that it was always better than what we had.”

Beyond cost, the system has been built around automating the set up and ongoing management process, to save smaller firms the expense of lengthy management requirements.

“When you look at set up and configuration, you often look to three to four weeks. Our system sets up with the ability to create volumes of free capacity within 20 minutes, because the software automation is built-in. Setting up volumes, setting up arrays and connecting servers to storage can be done with less than five button clicks,” said John Joseph, vice president of marketing at EqualLogic. “The user pops up on a Web browser and the technology exists on the array – there’s nothing that has to sit on the server.”

It also has built in self service-based load balancing, as well as built in self-healing and failover.

“There’s failover to a hot spare power supply; if a fan fails there’s failover to a spare fan. We’re not asking people to put on roller skates,” Joseph said.

Tarala said the management utilities have made a difference for his team. “Anytime we had to do anything of any magnitude with the EMC we had to bring in a technician to create volume or rearrange or resize the server infrastructure. The ease of use has been a big relief,” he said. “And as you add an array the bandwidth scales automatically.”

Tarala, whose firm implemented his first array from EqualLogic about a year ago, is now considering its fourth. The company has grown to 7.5 terabytes of capacity.