Q. Where to start?
SMB should plan, build and manage their information infrastructure. It starts first with an audit that maps out their entire IT environment, followed by the classification of their data which tracks the lifecycle of each of their informational asset class such as databases, application data, contracts, invoices, customer data. That would give them a good handle on their performance requirements.

From there, they can go on to make a decision if they would like to use SAN, NAS or even CAS to archive and store their information for faster information retrieval and better management.

Most SMBs start with NAS consolidation as a first step and move on to combine SAN and NAS as their IT environment become more complex.

It gives them the best of both worlds as they enjoy productive protection which enables them to keep their business running at all times in the primary storage site and do all the housekeeping work on the secondary site, which also acts as a back-up copy, business continuity and fast information availability and file sharing. We are seeing an increasing number of customers deploying both SAN and NAS.

Q. How can you keep it simple?
The smart strategy is to break down the purchase process into smaller, more easily implemented components. The following four-step implementation process tends to work well in small to mid-sized businesses:

Step 1: Consolidate storage
It is not unusual for growing businesses to be heavily Windows based and rely on the attached storage that comes when they purchase servers. As a result, their storage resources are fragmented and difficult to manage. The reality is that consolidating storage doesn’t have to be complicated. For smaller companies, storage consolidation doesn't have to mean a SAN or NAS. It can be done with just one storage array with a mix of Fiber Channel and ATA drives. It doesn't mean more expensive storage; it means getting more out of the storage you have.

Step 2: Address backup and e-mail management issues
Many companies with smaller storage infrastructures have no companywide backup or e-mail management strategy; instead, they address recovery issues on a piecemeal, server-by-server basis. The business risk is huge, but they balk at the time and money necessary to build a comprehensive information protection and recovery policy. Backup software which automates many backup procedures and does so across the entire storage platform, can in itself constitute a simple backup policy.

Step 3: Build tiered storage
Again, growing companies might hesitate before moving into a tiered storage strategy, which ties the value of information to the price and performance of the storage where it resides. But implementing tiered storage is itself a relatively simple process. It can be as basic as having a simple storage array and having a mix of Fibre Channel and ATA disks, and doing snapshot copies.

Step 4: Optimize with management tools
By layering software on top of the storage infrastructure, IT managers can set automated data policies and manage information better, saving money and streamlining operations. There is host of software out in the marketplace designed to make your lives easier such as e-mail management, backup, data and e-mail archiving, content management, centralized management of heterogeneous storage.

Small and midsize businesses can approach information management step-by-step, such as starting with an e-mail archiving project, and work from there to other projects. Small successes will build their confidence and enable companies to progressively reap the rewards of a long-term plan.

Q. What else should I look out for (e.g. standards, emerging technologies, TCO)?
One thing that we do wish to emphasize is interoperability. Companies will do well to put interoperability right at the top of their selection criteria for ISCSI or FC-based storage systems as it affects a host of other issues such as investment protection, scalability, implementation and maintenance cost.

For example, implementing network storage such as a SAN can become very complex. The information infrastructure impacts every part of the IT environment from applications, servers to databases. Every device and connection must work well with the others. We strongly recommend assessing vendor claims. Find out how much they spend on ensuring interoperability. There are no short cuts. Ensure that you are getting the highest levels of interoperability as SMBs can least afford to find out that their storage system is having compatibility issues with another device or application in their IT infrastructure.

These tech tips were contributed by Verdayne Nunis, director of marketing, EMC South Asia.

For more storage related information, visit ZDNet Asia's storage management toolkit.

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