Consolidating data in an organized and highly accessible yet secure fashion is one concept many organizations are finding is helping increase productivity throughout the company. Unified storage, which is also referred to network unified storage (NUS), is a concept that the principles of cloud architecture are built upon – the idea of a single area to pool resources for data storage and application virtualization. The effects this will have on organizations will vary depending on several factors from hardware utilized, knowledge of staff and adherence to the IT service management practices.
Sometimes the need to consolidate a business’s information systems is because of an organic internal growth that has occurred over time. Other times, business mergers have patched together dissonant systems into one messy but functional infrastructure. Either practice often yields the same result – a system that mostly conforms to meet business needs but is not completely optimized because of hardware and software relationship nuances. Often, a good IT staff can fit these pieces together with solid scripting and tightening of access protocols but such practice will require consistent maintenance as time goes on.