The report examines the current and future adoption of SANs that use the iSCSI protocol to connect storage and server resources, ESG of Milford, Massachusetts said. Besides assessing the uptake of iSCSI technology, ESG undertook this research project to uncover why organizations are implementing iSCSI SANs, to identify the benefits and challenges experienced by those iSCSI early adopters, and to understand why some organizations are resistant to deploying iSCSI-based storage networking solutions, ESG added.
The report is based on a survey of 511 IT professionals at North American public and private sector organizations, ranging in size from less than 100 employees to more than 20,000 employees, ESG said. The questions addressed in this report include what are users’ current and future deployment plans for iSCSI-based SANs, what business and technology considerations are driving end-users to deploy, or stay away from iSCSI-based SANs, and for what types of applications are existing iSCSI SANs being used. ESG said. The report also had questions relating to whether future iSCSI deployments will augment or replace existing SAN infrastructure, which features or attributes of iSCSI storage systems are important to users, and who makes iSCSI purchasing decisions and from what budgets are purchases typically funded, ESG added.
The findings of this report provide a comprehensive picture, and a positive outlook for iSCSI-based storage networking solutions, ESG said. The report found that iSCSI adoption is in the early mainstream, ESG added. Of the 511 organizations surveyed, 17 percent have iSCSI SANs deployed in a production environment, ESG added. With an additional 20 percent of respondents planning to deploy an iSCSI SAN, combined early adopters and planned adopters represent 37 percent of the organizations surveyed, ESG added.
The ESG report also found that lower costs and ease of management drive iSCSI adoption. Nearly two-thirds of iSCSI early adopters believe that their organization has reduced SAN capital expenditures since deploying an iSCSI SAN, it added. In addition, nearly half of early adopters found they had decreased SAN deployment time, increased their rate of server connectivity, and had enjoyed generally easier ongoing management of their SAN resources since deploying an iSCSI SAN, ESG added.
The ESG report found that early adopters did not have an issue with iSCSI SAN performance. Conventional wisdom has long held that iSCSI does not offer the same levels of performance as other storage networking technologies, yet ESG’s quantitative and qualitative research indicates that iSCSI early adopters have not experienced any performance issues with their iSCSI SAN and overall, are satisfied with the technology, ESG added.
The ESG report also found that the existing technologies of non-adopters meet their current needs, though many will consider iSCSI SANs during their next SAN purchasing cycle. The primary reason why organizations say they have not deployed an iSCSI SAN is simply because they believe their current networked storage solutions meet their needs, it added. However, close to fifty percent of these organizations say they would reconsider iSCSI SANs once their current technology reaches end-of-life or full depreciation, ESG added.
The ESG Research report provides current and future analysis of the iSCSI market based on quantifiable data, ESG said. Everyone has an opinion but having hard data, that shows what customers are doing, is critical in accurately assessing a market, it added. This research demonstrates that early adopters are extremely satisfied with their iSCSI SANs, and that the number of planned adopters is increasing at a rapid rate, ESG added.
ESG’s comprehensive analysis of the iSCSI market to-date, iSCSI Enters the Mainstream is 81 pages in length and includes 80 figures and tables, ESG said. The report also includes insightful quotes taken directly from the transcripts of ESG’s in-depth interviews with end-users, ESG added.
