image
courtesy of fibrechannel.org
Network Attached Storage Devices (NASD) are used today mostly for multi-interface systems, but have many implications for the future. They allow many workstations to access stored data concurrently. In some cases this is done through the internet so that a computer can access data from a remote storage device. Today, however, this is not yet practical. It takes time for the information to travel through the slow phone lines which creates a significant delay in comparison to the rate that data is accessed from the computer's hard drive. ISDN, cable, T1, and T3 lines do help to minimize the delay, but they cannot bring it to the point where it is virtually unnoticeable.
A new technology called fibre channels are being developed and may help to eliminate this delay. When multiple computers are accessing data simultaneously on different channels, the line provides a bandwidth of up to 1 terabit per second. A single line capable of transmitting data at this rate could just about handle all the traffic on the internet at any given time. This line can transfer data over a single channel at a rate of 266MB/sec to over 4GB/sec. Since the standard hard drive today is not usually any bigger than 4GB, this line would be able to virtually eliminate the delay experienced with network attached storage devices over the internet using T3 lines.
Unfortunately, there is a limiting factor. At this point the lines can only transfer data at these speeds for up to 10km. In order for network attached storage devices to become a convenient way to store data for a PC at home, this distance will have to be improved. Once this improvement occurs, personal computers will be able to use a network attached storage device as the main data storage device. A very large storage device could be stored in a warehouse and people could buy sections of storage to be accessed through the internet if fibre channels were implemented. Personal computers would be able to have much greater data storage capacities without having to be concerned about space efficiency because the storage device would not have to fit in the computer tower.
image courtesy of fibrechannel.org
image courtesy of fibrechannel.org
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Last Edited On May 14, 2000