Faster communications between servers in a multi-tier environment.
Most SANs require applications specifically designed to support the underlying hardware.
As a result, very few applications are currently available for deployment in SAN environments. To address this issue, Microsoft has devised a new approach. Winsock Direct bypasses the kernel networking layers and communicates directly with the SAN hardware. Winsock Direct was introduced with Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server and is now available in Windows 2000 Advanced Server with the delivery of Service Pack 2. It is also available in the Windows Embedded family of operating systems.