Interoperability push expected at storage conference

Lucas Mearian   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Storage Stories  

Google's Universal Search for Business Bringing Order and Security to your Mobile Workforce: Corporate Mobility Policy and Device Management The EVA 4400 Challenge Death to PST: Hidden Cost of Email Mismanagement 3PAR Thin Copy Desktop: A VDI-Optimized Storage Solution Deduplication and D2D Backup - Business and Technical Considerations The Business Value of Tape Storage Virtual Reality SCSI Inflection Point: The New Era of Serial Attached SCSI Sign up to receive Storage Resource Alerts

October 27, 2003 (Computerworld) -- At this week's Storage Networking World Fall 2003 conference, vendors such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Brocade Communications Systems Inc. plan to unveil technology that's designed to support increased interoperability between storage devices.

The conference, which is being held in Orlando and began today, will also feature dozens of user case studies and is expected to draw more than 2,500 attendees. The four-day event is co-sponsored by Computerworld and the Storage Networking Industry Association, a trade group in San Francisco.

Gary Pilafas, senior storage and systems architect at UAL Loyalty Services Inc. in Arlington Heights, Ill., said he expects to see greater integration of products through the Storage Management Interface Specification, a set of application programming interfaces (API) and protocols that let storage management tools control storage devices made by different vendors.

Pilafas uses storage resource management software from CreekPath Systems Inc. in Longmont, Colo., to access detailed information about the storage-area network (SAN) at UAL Loyalty Services, a unit of United Air Lines Inc. that manages its Web site and frequent-flier programs. "Tools like that become more powerful as these companies open up their APIs," Pilafas said.

SAN Connections

San Jose-based Brocade will announce a Fibre Channel-to-Fibre Channel router for connecting separate SANs installed across office campuses. The router will also give systems administrators the ability to configure ports for the iSCSI and Fibre Channel-over-IP protocols, according to Dave Stevens, the company's vice president of alliances.

The 16-port device uses Brocade's proposed Fabric Application Interface specification to act as a translator between SANs so they can share storage and server resources, Stevens said. The router is due in the first half of 2004.

In another integration-related move, HP plans to announce an initiative aimed at ensuring interoperability between Brocade's storage switches and SAN directors and rival devices made by Cisco Systems Inc. and Broomfield, Colo.-based McData Corp. HP resells products from all three vendors.

Steve Jerman, a storage management architect at HP's storage software division, said the company is running tests to ensure that its switch partners fully conform to the Fibre Channel standard.

By January, HP plans to release a set of free design rules that will give users a step-by-step guide to the configurations that are needed to achieve interoperability between Brocade and McData switches. Information about Cisco's devices should be added shortly after that, HP said.

"What happens is a lot of the manufacturers want to put added-value things on their switches," Jerman said. "We're getting those companies to follow those standards exactly."

Announcements

What's New McData: A new director-class storage switch Brocade: A Fibre Channelto-Fibre Channel router HP: Interoperability tests between storage switches from multiple vendors Quantum corp.: A disk-to-disk data backup and restore server

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

Q&A: U.S. Northern Command's CIO calls Unix 'the Betamax of software' SNIA unveils storage management spec IT managers look for ways to get better project buy-in

Interoperability push expected at storage conference Storage Networking World: Users want better management tools Q&A: EMC manager weighs in on the interoperability and solutions demo at SNW

"PNY announced this week that it was releasing a USB flash drive with the movie Ghostbusters on it. While it..." Read more... "The secondary server in this computer room is having problems with its disk drives. Fortunately, there's a simple short-term fix:..." Read more... Read more Storage posts or See all Blogs

At 10, Google reiterates commitment to CIOs Microsoft explains Seinfeld-Windows TV ad: just a 'teaser' Continuing coverage: Google's Chrome browser More top stories...

iPhone 3G owner sues Apple, AT&T over dropped calls, app crashes Mozilla: Firefox is faster than Chrome Upcoming Microsoft patch lineup could be 'massive,' says researcher

Microsoft warns of IE8 lock-in with XP SP3 Users of Windows XP SP3 who try out IE8 Beta 2 won't be able to uninstall either one under certain circumstances. Opinion: Why Google has lost its mojo -- and why you should care Google has gone from innovative upstart to fat-and-happy industry leader in what seems like record time. Preston Gralla explains. Review: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 offers some nifty new features Microsoft's latest beta of IE8 includes better tab management, new services such as Web Slices and Accelerators, and the new 'porn mode.' IT Schools to Watch 2008 These leading-edge graduate schools are moving at the pace of the IT workplace, delivering coursework that's relevant to today's IT professionals. 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 ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone Identity & Security Management 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  Virtual Reality Download this Computerworld briefing, a $49.95 value free, compliments of Riverbed Technologies. (Source: Computerworld) Is your organization facing the struggles of ineffective capacity utilization, growing data volumes, labor intensive storage management, and a need for better disaster recovery? The data center is real, but storage is turning virtual at many organizations that need to manage these exploding storage needs. Learn how your organization can benefit from storage virtualization in this new Computerworld Report, available free for a limited time, compliments of Riverbed. 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. Death to PST: Hidden Cost of Email Mismanagement Extend, Replace, or Convert; which is the best way forward for COBOL Applications? The Trend from Unix to Linux in SAP Data Centers View more whitepapers

• Q&A: U.S. Northern Command's CIO calls Unix 'the Betamax of software'
• Interoperability push expected at storage conference
• SNIA unveils storage management spec
• Storage Networking World: Users want better management tools
• IT managers look for ways to get better project buy-in
• Q&A: EMC manager weighs in on the interoperability and solutions demo at SNW

• At 10, Google reiterates commitment to CIOs
• iPhone 3G owner sues Apple, AT&T over dropped calls, app crashes
• Microsoft explains Seinfeld-Windows TV ad: just a 'teaser'
• 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!

• Google scrubs search cache of Chrome download site

• Google's Chrome aims to kill Windows, make Web the OS of choice

• Google Chrome browser: Dethroning Microsoft or killing off Mozilla?

Read more news 

• Whoah the humanity!

• Try, try again

Read more Shark Bait