ATA disk drives deliver the best cost-per-gigabyte and highest capacity, while SCSI drives offer the best price-for-performance and availability. Emerging applications like disk enhanced backup and fixed-content storage call for cost-efficient ATA disk drives. However, deploying new systems to meet these requirements increases complexity and support requirements. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) will enable one system to meet the needs of a wide range of applications. Storage systems based on SAS will lower support costs by permitting IT managers to create pools of storage that can be allocated as needed based on requirements for performance, availability, capacity and cost.
