What features do you value most in your SAN?

First, the disclaimer... I am a product manager/planner for Dell enterprise storage products.  I specialize in the EqualLogic products but don't limit your comments only to EqualLogic.

 

Many of you use storage area networks, it might be an EqualLogic SAN, it might be a Compellent SAN, it might even be Powervault or (GASP!) another vendor's product.  The storage product planning team meets often with many customers of all sizes and industries, and we get lots of good ideas that we use to help shape the future of Dell storage solutions.  My purpose here is to broaden the discussion, to hear from even more of you, and the question that I am hoping that you will spend a few minutes thinking about is: What features do you value most in you SAN?

 

When answering this, please tell us a little about your environment.  How big is your overall orgainzation?  What industry are you in?  How big is your IT shop?  What applications are the lifeblood of your company?  If you are virtualized, what hypervisor do you use?  What storage products are you using today and why did you choose them?  And most importantly, what features of that storage solution are the most valuable to you and why?  And yes, it is OK to admit that you use more than one type of storage. ;-)

 

I hope that everyone who participates will get some good ideas from this discussion.

 

Thanks!

 

Keith