So how will vendors bridge the gap between NAS and SAN?
In a converged environment, multiple servers with different interfaces attach to the same storage pool, with each machine able to communicate with the other devices. For instance, EMC customers can get the benefits of a shared NAS/SAN infrastructure with Celerra, a NAS server that relies on EMC's Symmetrix array for storage. Compaq Computer Corp., too, offers a Celerra-like product, the Storage-Works NAS Executor E7000, for use in Compaq storage environments.
However, analysts agree that the most powerful force driving the NAS/SAN convergence is open-storage networking (OSN). OSN is based on the concept that ...