While the buzz whirls around product news coming out of Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco this week, here is a preview of Apple’s just-released Xsan storage software, by InfoWorld Senior Analyst P.J. Connolly: “The first thing on my New Year’s list is Apple’s Xsan storage networking software. As one would expect, the interface is pretty, but don’t let the GUI lull you into Candyland. Xsan is far and away the leading candidate for storage product of the year, because it takes an accepted SAN file system — in this case, ADIC’s StorNext — and adds excellent integration with the Mac OS X operating system. “The result is an inexpensive way to support Macintosh clients on an existing StorNext SAN, to create an Xserve-based SAN for Linux, Unix, and Windows systems, or a combination. At $999 per computer, Apple brings SAN technology within the reach of small and midsize enterprises. “In an Xsan environment, user files — up to 16TB — are transported over a FC (Fibre Channel) network, while file system meta-data and management information use a private Ethernet IP connection. Apple’s documentation assumes Xsan will be used in what some would call a “pure” SAN, where as many as 64 clients and control-lers can connect directly to the FC fabric. An alternative configuration uses servers to present volumes in a NAS configuration. “Although this configuration can already be accomplished with the basic Mac OS X Server and appropriate hardware, Xsan provides better control over file locking, and almost completely eliminates the chance of file contention.”Check out the entire review here. Technology Industry