iSCSI faces hazy future

InfoWorld - Depending on whom you ask, the iSCSI protocol, expected to be finalized in the next six months, either will play a significant role in the future of storage networking or will become just another unfulfilled technology promise. The debate raged on last week at the Storage Networking World conference in Orlando.
Keeping iSCSI's momentum alive is the expectation that as many as 30 new iSCSI products from major players, such as Cisco Systems Inc., will arrive in the next six months. These products will include arrays that run the protocol natively.
iSCSI already is appearing in some storage offerings. Last week at SNW, Cisco added a new feature called Network Boot to its SN 5400 Storage Router family. Network Boot allows a storage administrator to boot hundreds of servers from a disk subsystem located in a datacenter across an IP network, rather than booting each server individually.
This strong show of iSCSI support from storage vendors is "key validation of the iSCSI market," said Doug Ingraham, senior marketing manager at San Jose-based Cisco's storage router business.
Additionally, both Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp. have created native iSCSI drivers for their operating systems, Windows and AIX. Ingraham said Microsoft's support makes people less fearful of the new technology. "We're at the stage now where people are starting to get over the emotional, psychological factor [of adopting iSCSI]," he said. "We're moving away from 'iSCSI is neat' to showing how the technology is useful today."
But not everyone shares that optimism. "We're seeing zero interest in iSCSI within the datacenter," said Steve Beer, director of product marketing at Brocade Communications Systems Inc., an FC (Fibre Channel) switch vendor based in San Jose. "However, there is high interest in using IP technologies to extend the SAN with a gateway over distance."
iFCP (Internet Fibre Channel Protocol) and FCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) -- not iSCSI -- are the two protocols designed to extend and connect two or more FC-based SANs by encapsulating and sending the FC commands over an IP infrastructure. iSCSI, on the other hand, is heralded as an alternative to FC. It was designed to enable a server to access storage directly over an existing IP network, rather than over a separate, faster and more costly FC network.

Where will ISCSI land?
Beyond whether iSCSI will take off, the questions of where and when it will appear are up for debate.
"iSCSI is being targeted as an entry-level type SAN below the cost of FC-based SANs," said Mitchell Seigle, a senior

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