This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

Klebanov is a technical solutions architect with Cisco Systems. He has 15 years of network industry experience. In recent years he has been closely involved with architecting data center solutions. He can be reached at klebanov@cisco.com or on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidklebanov

Each year, the editors and reviewers of the InfoWorld Test Center gather to look over the list of products that earned the highest marks in stand-alone reviews or came in first in multiproduct shoot-outs. We then determine which ones were particularly praiseworthy and present the very best with Technology of the Year awards. These awards inherently reflect the changes in technology that have occurred during the past year and serve to highlight emerging trends.

Storage area network (SAN)technology has been around since the late 1990s, but historically it was priced far out of the range of small IT departments. Now this option for making more-efficient use of data storage has become affordable for all but the smallest of IT shops.

Brocade this week rolled out 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 8Gbps FibreChannel modules for its routers and storage-area network switches designed to increase the wire-speed density of both platforms to better support network consolidation and improve service levels.

Tracking and cracking network performance problems is no easy task. More than a matter of identifying often mystifying bottlenecks, ensuring network efficiency requires an almost preternatural understanding of your organization's IT operations, as well as a thick skin for withstanding the heat when problems inevitably arise.

Compellent has launched Storage Center 5 incorporating several new features aimed at simplifying data replication and improving virtualisation.

Cisco Systems Inc. today announced a new network line card based on a services-oriented architecture (SOA) that offers four different functions for storage area networks (SANs) that can be licensed separately and deployed regardless of the back-end storage hardware.

Most CIOs have started considering virtual desktop infrastructure and other types of desktop virtualization, but only a minority has reached the deployment stage. (See related story, "As Windows 7 gains steam, VDI set to rise".) Virtual desktops can potentially provide more flexibility for users, make it easier to apply patches and reduce IT help desk calls, but there are still numerous problems that keep desktop pros up at night. Here are five pitfalls to watch out for.

In just a few short years, storage virtualization, also known as block virtualization, has proven its worth in the large enterprise and traveled that well-worn path from pricey boutique solution to affordable commodity. As a standard feature in all but the most modest mid-tier storage arrays, storage virtualization soothes a wide range of storage management woes for small and mid-size organizations. At the same time, dedicated solutions from top-tier vendors deliver the greatest ROI to large shops managing large SANs with intense data availability requirements.