Vendors and Strategic Storage Requirements

When evaluating vendors, the first consideration will be whether the solution is appropriate to your core needs (for example, server consolidation). Capacity, "good enough" performance, and of course cost are also important.

Items for your RFP/Scorecard will Include:

• Support for virtual infrastructure such as VMware
• Raw vs. usable capacity
• Flexible volume sizing
• Thin provisioning
• Data deduplication
• Snapshots & replication
• Management features included or extra
• Internal storage tiering (multiple disk types supported)
• RAID type and multiple RAID group support
• Storage network interface: iSCSI, FC, NFS, multiple
• Performance: IOPs and Megabit per second throughput
• Disk type: FC, SAS, SATA, solid state

Free Download

Use the Storage Acquisition Business Plan Template to define and articulate your network storage needs.