Storage Consolidation

ALSO CALLED: Data Consolidation, Consolidation, Storage Centralization
DEFINITION: Storage consolidation, also called storage convergence is a method of centralizing data storage among multiple servers. The objective is to facilitate data backup and archiving for all subscribers in an enterprise, while minimizing the time required to access and store data. Other desirable features include simplification of the storage infrastructure, centralized and efficient management, optimized  … 
Definition continues below.

STORAGE CONSOLIDATION DEFINITION (continued): …  resource utilization, and low operating cost.There are three storage consolidation architectures in common use: network-attached storage (NAS), redundant array of independent disks (RAID), and the storage area network (SAN). In NAS, the hard drive that stores the data has its own network address. Files can be stored and retrieved rapidly because they do not compete with other computers for processor resources. In RAID storage consolidation, the data is located on multiple disks. The array appears as a single logical hard drive. This facilitates balanced overlapping of input/output (I/O) operations … 
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