Storage companies agree to work together
June 04, 2001 01:39 PM ET
by Michelle Rushlo
Six data storage vendors announced today
an alliance designed to bolster adoption of
storage area networks and to assist
customers struggling with products from
various sellers.
The alliance between Brocade
Communications Systems (BRCD) and
McData (MCDT), which make storage
networking equipment, and storage providers
Compaq Computer (CPQ), EMC (EMC),
Hitachi (HIT) and IBM (IBM) marks a
change in an industry that has been hesitant to cooperate.
"Network storage, in particular [storage area network]
implementation, has essentially been a lock-in strategy for a lot of
these vendors," said Bob Zimmerman, an analyst with Giga
Information Group.
Back to earth
The vendors, emboldened by rapidly expanding sales, focused on
selling whole systems and then growing the accounts rather than
ensuring their products worked with those from competing vendors.
"There were lots of pieces, but they were Erector sets, Lincoln Logs
and Legos. If you notice, none of them have holes that make them
link together," Zimmerman said. The alliance is an indication
"storage is finally coming back to earth."
Under the agreement, which is being overseen by the Storage
Networking Industry Association, the vendors have created a
configuration using Brocade and one using McData in which
products from the four vendors will work together. Other
configurations are expected to follow.
EMC, IBM, Hitachi and Compaq have also agreed to work together
to service mutual customers when they have problems with
heterogeneous systems.
"Customers have asked for this," said Brenda Christensen, an SNIA
board member, in a news conference today. "The storage industry
has made a quantum leap toward interoperability."
More to come
The alliance, however, does not include several storage vendors like
Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Hewlett-Packard (HWP) or
management software vendors like Veritas Software (VRTS).
SNIA officials say that will change.
"This was initially opened to a small manageable pioneering group,
but it will be open to all vendors," Christensen said.
James Opfer, a Gartner Dataquest analyst, said vendors outside the
alliance could face problems if they don't supply similar products
that work together.
But he said, "It's hard to see how this can be anything but beneficial
to customers."
Easy to use
What it does is provide an orderly way for customers to solve service
problems quickly rather than being passed back and forth between
various vendors.
"It's important that customers believe they have a definite path to
resolve problems," Opfer said.
Zimmerman said the ease-of-use perception is particularly important
in the current market because there is a lot of inertia among
customers who are hesitant about being locked into a particular
vendor.
"They've got to reignite the storage sales," he said.
And though more work will have to be done before the systems are
as open as customers would like, the alliance marks an
"incremental but necessary step," he said.
Gruß Dr. Broemme
June 04, 2001 01:39 PM ET
by Michelle Rushlo
Six data storage vendors announced today
an alliance designed to bolster adoption of
storage area networks and to assist
customers struggling with products from
various sellers.
The alliance between Brocade
Communications Systems (BRCD) and
McData (MCDT), which make storage
networking equipment, and storage providers
Compaq Computer (CPQ), EMC (EMC),
Hitachi (HIT) and IBM (IBM) marks a
change in an industry that has been hesitant to cooperate.
"Network storage, in particular [storage area network]
implementation, has essentially been a lock-in strategy for a lot of
these vendors," said Bob Zimmerman, an analyst with Giga
Information Group.
Back to earth
The vendors, emboldened by rapidly expanding sales, focused on
selling whole systems and then growing the accounts rather than
ensuring their products worked with those from competing vendors.
"There were lots of pieces, but they were Erector sets, Lincoln Logs
and Legos. If you notice, none of them have holes that make them
link together," Zimmerman said. The alliance is an indication
"storage is finally coming back to earth."
Under the agreement, which is being overseen by the Storage
Networking Industry Association, the vendors have created a
configuration using Brocade and one using McData in which
products from the four vendors will work together. Other
configurations are expected to follow.
EMC, IBM, Hitachi and Compaq have also agreed to work together
to service mutual customers when they have problems with
heterogeneous systems.
"Customers have asked for this," said Brenda Christensen, an SNIA
board member, in a news conference today. "The storage industry
has made a quantum leap toward interoperability."
More to come
The alliance, however, does not include several storage vendors like
Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Hewlett-Packard (HWP) or
management software vendors like Veritas Software (VRTS).
SNIA officials say that will change.
"This was initially opened to a small manageable pioneering group,
but it will be open to all vendors," Christensen said.
James Opfer, a Gartner Dataquest analyst, said vendors outside the
alliance could face problems if they don't supply similar products
that work together.
But he said, "It's hard to see how this can be anything but beneficial
to customers."
Easy to use
What it does is provide an orderly way for customers to solve service
problems quickly rather than being passed back and forth between
various vendors.
"It's important that customers believe they have a definite path to
resolve problems," Opfer said.
Zimmerman said the ease-of-use perception is particularly important
in the current market because there is a lot of inertia among
customers who are hesitant about being locked into a particular
vendor.
"They've got to reignite the storage sales," he said.
And though more work will have to be done before the systems are
as open as customers would like, the alliance marks an
"incremental but necessary step," he said.
Gruß Dr. Broemme
