For a lot of NAS-based systems -- even Windows Storage Server (WSS)
with an iSCSI target --
unified storage capability is probably not
significantly more costly than a basic
NAS system; maybe just an added charge for
extra software. If you look at the block-based storage systems,
they're typically more expensive because there is more
specialized hardware and they're tuned for higher (and more
consistent) performance. There is actually a bit more expense
for block-based platforms that have added another interface card
to support NAS because the NAS adapter is specially designed to
suit the block platform. Comparing block and file storage
systems that are generally available today, the file-based (NAS)
systems are typically less expensive because they're simpler and
easier to understand.
Listen to the
unified storage FAQ audiocast.
Go to the beginning of the
Unified Storage FAQ Guide.