SAN vs i5 disk was: Any thoughts on the PowerVM and lx86 announcement?

Are SAN's really any cheaper? I thought that as soon as you mentioned SAN
people assumed you had infinite pockets. Much like the price difference,
back in the day, between a rack mounted twinax to balun distribution panel
versus the exact same thing as stand alone.

We have an IBM 2109-F16 SAN switch in between our 5704 fiber cards and our
high end tape drive. Not only do you have the initial outlay but each
port to hook up a fiber cable costs $300. And it's a ridiculous small
thing that simply plugs into a hole and has two holes for the fiber cable.
We have 13 ports. Thus that's $3,900 (not counting the box) right there.
What does a SAN cost - ready to run?

Rob Berendt