Task Force on Network Storage Architecture: Task Force Agenda

Garth A. Gibson - School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891

Storage systems represent a vital market that is growing faster than the
personal computer market. Its primary constituents are magnetic and optical
disk drives, magnetic tapes, and large-capacity (robotic) assemblies of drives
and cartridges. Storage hardware sales in 1995 topped $40 billion, including
more than 60,000 terabytes of hard disk storage. In recent years, the amount
of storage sold has been almost doubling each year; in the near future it is
expected to sustain an annual growth of about 60 percent. This enormous growth
rate has been accompanied by a 35-50 percent per year decrease in the cost per
byte of storage. Consequentially, insuring the continued vitality of storage's
architecture in future computing systems is essential.
The goal of this task force is to chart out this interaction between local
area network and storage architecture. Our primary tasks will be to: 
- document the trends and forces that are driving this convergence; 
- define networked storage and distinguish its flavors; 
- identify critical technologies and major technological obstacles; 
- plot avenues for community-wide adoption and deployment; and 
- identify viable alternatives and chart litmus tests between alternatives.