'Straddling the fence' on virtualization

Steve Duplessie   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Storage Stories  

Google's Universal Search for Business Complexity is Good Bringing Order and Security to your Mobile Workforce: Corporate Mobility Policy and Device Management 2007 Gartner Magic Quadrant Report Psomas Achieves Global Work-Sharing and Accelerates the Mobile Worker Yankee Group: "Disaster Strikes! Is Your Business Ready? Disaster Preparedness for Mid-Sized Firms" Virtual Reality SCSI Inflection Point: The New Era of Serial Attached SCSI Virtual Reality Sign up to receive Storage Resource Alerts

May 1, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Q: You have said that network-based intelligence has been slow to happen. Can you give examples of where it has worked? -- F.F., Baltimore

A: Sure. There are a bunch of pocket successes so far out there, and a lot more will start happening soon. For example, StoreAge sells their software (think of it as a superclustered volume manager distributed across heterogeneous machines) so that it executes not only on servers but also on the Troika (now owned by Q-Logic) platform. I understand it works well.

Falconstor has all sorts of services that can execute on an "appliance" in the network, from migration to replication to continuous data protection.

Brocade has its Data Mobility software, which runs on their Rhapsody-based switch platform in the fabric that enables heterogeneous migrations. EMC's InVista [software on a switch] is also designed for migrations, at least initially.

You can say that guys like Acopia, Neopath and Rainfinity (now EMC) are network-based intelligence platforms designed to provide file-based migration capabilities (and global name-space, etc.).

IBM's SAN Volume Controller sits in the Fibre Channel fabric to provide block virtualization and some services. I could go on all day.

Perhaps the most shining success of network-based intelligence is the IP network itself. Talk about virtualization! It wasn't that long ago that you had to manually establish connections of each device on the net, but who does that anymore? Plug something in, it just works. You don't spend all day long understanding interdependencies, charting addresses in Excel and doing extensive planning before you add a node to your IP network -- but you sure do in storage. The storage world hasn't learned yet that the value is not in the interface but at a much higher level. That's why things still don't plug and play in storage.

My point in that previous article was that the pure play network guys haven't loaded intelligence directly on the switching infrastructure yet (see "EMC has the best virtualization story"). They are all working on it, but they don't have it yet. Brocade, McData, and Q-Logic are all shipping an off-switch intelligence platform, and Cisco is still committed to joining the fray. It's an interesting bit of fence-straddling they all have to do, however, since the original storage manufacturer has been responsible for selling all the storage switches, and a lot of them feel that by the switch guys loading their boxes with "smarts," it can take away from the value the storage guys bring. It's an interesting dance to say the least.

For example, look what happened when Brocade bought NuView (a software play using Distributed File System, or DFS, for global namespace functionality). EMC got very, very irritated, and immediately upped the ante with McData, who it was very, very irritated with last year when they bought CNT. The fact that Brocade probably has no intention of selling the NuView software as is but will likely incorporate the DFS engine into their switch was lost on the folks in Hopkinton. And, since EMC buys a couple hundred million dollars' worth of Brocade gear each year, they have the chance to make their feelings heard -- loudly.

Continued...
1 | 2 | NEXT  

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Freshly hired pilot fish gets his first assignment, and it takes only a day or two to write some quick-and-dirty..." Read more... "Sales of lower resolution televisions, such as 720p and 1080i, are outpacing true hi-def flat panels this year, which may..." Read more... Read more Storage posts or See all Blogs

Wall Street's collapse puts IT spending in (some) peril Oracle tries to step up on high-end databases Microsoft fights Ballmer testimony in 'Vista Capable' suit More top stories...

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business iPhone grabs top smart phone spot Apple doesn't need Jobs, analyst says

Opinion: Famous tech myths that just won't die Here's the scoop on widespread fables about Bill Gates, the iPhone kill switch, Internet2, Al Gore and more. 10 great Wi-Fi gadgets for work and play Add these Wi-Fi devices to your network for a new world of wireless productivity and entertainment. Chrome fades as users return to IE, Firefox Users who abandoned Firefox and Internet Explorer for Google's Chrome browser are starting to revert to their old favorites. The five best desktop Linuxes you haven't tried One of the pleasures of Linux is that you can try out different distros to see which one works best for you. Here are five to take for a spin. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone See your link here

Enabling Data Centers that Are Both Automated and Dynamic Enabling Data Centers that Are Both Automated and Dynamic View this webcast now! Go to the webcast  The Business Value of Tape Storage Download this complimentary Technology Briefing today! (Source: Dell) Reliable. Long-lived. Portable. Affordable. Energy-stingy. These and many other attributes of tape storage are virtually assuring a continued market for tape storage, a conclusion reached by IDC and many others. Combined with other storage solutions, tape is an integral part of any data archiving strategy. Download this executive briefing  Brocade and the File Area Network - A Taneja Group Solution Profile Get this white paper now! (Source: Brocade) This Taneja Group report examines how Brocade FAN solutions are creating a stateless end-to-end file and block data infrastructure. Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Case Study: Golder Associates Case Studies Real Customers, Real Results Psomas Achieves Global Work-Sharing and Accelerates the Mobile Worker View more whitepapers

• Wall Street's collapse puts IT spending in (some) peril
• IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business
• Oracle tries to step up on high-end databases
• More top stories 

Business Continuity Zone An organization's business continuity plan helps keep critical functions running during an emergency–the power fails, a virus is unleashed on your network, a natural disaster has occurred. Even the slightest downtime or loss of data can cripple your operation. CDW can help you prevent disaster by implementing a well-planned recovery strategy. Click here to visit the Zone See All Zones

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!

Jack Demo Have WAN acceleration solutions got your head spinning? Our Technology Demo sorts it out. See how our technology offers a comprehensive solution to the entire WAN performance issue including mobile workers' needs. Download this demo and discover how everyone, from branch office workers to executives and sales people on the go, get the same LAN-like access to their enterprise applications and data they enjoy when they're at headquarters. Go now!

• The MacBook Brick

• Apple 'brick' is a manufacturing process

• Researcher finds evidence of massive site compromise

Read more news 

• What is up with all-inclusive hourly rates?

• Team building activities

Read more Shark Bait