Network-attached storage (NAS) has often been considered to be less capable than storage area networks (SANs), especially for SMBs. But as NAS has matured, the technology has become faster and more secure.

By Sharon Florentine

Network-attached storage (NAS) solutions are often seen as a less-capable alternative to more complex and robust storage area networks (SANs). But that characterization couldn’t be further from the truth, especially as NAS vendors continue to add enterprise-class functionality and high-end features for the SMB market.

“NAS solutions are getting more robust in capacity; they’ve become much faster, and much more secure,” says Tommy Wald, CEO of Austin, Texas-based solution provider White Glove Technologies.

As virtualization has infiltrated the SMB market, the storage needs of these companies are growing by leaps and bounds. Virtualization requires that organizations have an easy-to-use, easy-to-access storage pool for virtualized data, and Wald believes NAS is the perfect complement to that technology. “With a NAS [solution], administrators can provide a more centralized storage pool than, say, a SAN solution, or individual drives where data is spread out across various servers and disks,” he says.

Another reason NAS is so popular with SMBs is the technology’s inherent simplicity, both in ease of use and ease of maintenance, says Greg Schulz, founder and senior analyst at The Server and StorageIO Group. “Users are more familiar with NAS than they realize,” says Schulz. “If you or your customers have ever worked with a Windows-type file-sharing system—for instance, a shared drive on a network accessible to many users—then they’ve used a NAS [solution].”

With NAS, administrators are spared the hassle of working with a server, and they don’t have to set up and configure a storage pool, explains Schulz, because vendors have taken out the underlying complexity. Once the NAS is attached to the network, it’s easy to move files to and from the device.

Scalability is also less of an issue than in previous iterations of NAS solutions. “The thing about SMBs is they grow,” says Wald, and with growth comes additional data. “Solution providers can get in there with a NAS product [and] make sure the solution grows with the customer."

When designing and deploying a NAS solution, administrators have lots of room to be creative. “You could simply add another NAS system to the existing drives and file system,” says Schulz. “Or, you could build a global name space that would consolidate separate NAS systems into a large shared pool.” This can be done with a Windows, Linux, or UNIX file share, depending on the needs of your customers.

Finding a NAS vendor is likewise a simple affair, with many solutions from OEMs such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, EMC, Seagate, and NetApp. Smaller players include Buffalo, Drobo (formerly Data Robotics), Iomega, Netgear, and Synology, among others.

NAS solutions have come a long way. And since they work as advertised, Wald notes that “they build loyalty, so customers stay with you.”