Around the Web

January 6, 2003 (Computerworld)

The rise of SAN consulting
As IT managers struggle to put together storage area networks with products from different vendors, many are turning to SAN consulting services, according to this report from Byte and Switch. While the big players, EMC, Storage Tek, Veritas and Legato, are leading the market in SAN services, smaller companies, such as GlassHouse Technologies and Adexis, are working their way in.

Making storage resource management work for you
That's the title of the next Webcast in the Aberdeen Online Conference Series scheduled for Jan. 15 from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern. Storage resource management will play a bigger role as companies attempt to deal with the increased complexity of managed storage, Aberdeen says. Representatives from Veritas Software, Tivoli and Astrum Software will participate on a panel. Click on Aberdeen's Web site to register.

EMC co-founder resigns Ireland ambassadorship
Richard J. Egan, the billionaire co-founder of EMC Corp., has submitted his resignation as U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Egan ( the "E" in EMC) quit for "personal reasons" and has returned to his home in Hopkinton, Mass., which is also the home base of EMC. Check out Computerworld's article.

HP's enterprise systems group faces challenges
After the merger of HP and Compaq, the company now faces the task of making its many divisions profitable. And one of the most difficult units for achieving this goal , according to the Contra Costa Times, is "the enterprise systems group, which sells computer servers and data storage to big corporations." The article, which was picked up by IT Toolbox, noted that this division had the most overlap when the companies merged. The division lost $912 million in the last fiscal year, but HP CEO Carly Fiorina promised analysts it would be profitable this year. Time will tell.

Storage in miniature: The current trend in storage is in miniaturizing, which is why nanotechnology, among others, is getting a lot of attention. So says Charles Milligan, manager of advanced technology for StorageTek, in a wide-ranging interview with Enterprise Storage Forum. Milligan also predicted that miniaturization and commoditization will be the biggest shakers in the storage industry over the next five years.

Hitachi enters modular storage market: Hitachi Data Systems is taking on the modular storage market with the Thunder 9500 V Series of virtualized storage systems, according to this article from VNUNET. Offering "more performance, more disk, more scalability in a smaller size," the 9500 V series is an example of the trend toward miniaturization. One analyst notes that the specs look impressive, but expect to see "similar initiatives from other companies in the coming weeks."

StorageTek makes grab for middle ground: This article from vnunet says that data storage maker StorageTek is introducing its BladeStore high-capacity disk storage system with the aim of grabbing some of the market between "costly high performance online disk and low-cost, low-performance tape back-up subsystems."
Life sciences and data storage: Life sciences companies are huge users of data storage, and this article posted on ITtool box may not be exaggerating when it calls data storage the "oxygen" on which life sciences live. Noting that storage will be the biggest area of IT spending for life sciences companies, the piece gives a solid look at the kinds of storage being used by these companies.
SMI vendors - Allies or enemies? TidalWire's Storage Connection takes a look at how vendors are responding to the Storage Management Initiative (SMI), formerly knows as Bluefin, that would provide standards for interoperability among heterogeneous storage networks. "Standards are very good for users and not so great for vendors," notes analyst Anne Skamarock, who added that unless customers demand standards, vendors won't work together to support them either.

The low down on Direct Access File Systems: This article from Enterprise Storage Forum delves into the details on this "emerging commercial standard for network-attached storage on server cluster interconnects." DAFS, by the way, "grew out of an industrial and academic consortium led by Network Appliance and Intel," the article says.
Backup seminars The Enhanced Backup Solutions Initiative (EBSI) in cooperation with the Network Storage University is traveling around the country to offer seminars that "will unravel the mystery of Enhanced Back up" and will examine developments in less expensive RAID-capable IDE and ATA disk-based backup platforms. The seminar is free and corporate contributions support the program. The next one will be in Dearborn, Mich., on Dec. 5, followed by others in February in Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco.

Do you need NAS-SAN convergence? Users are unsure and may not be aware that the technology for convergence exists, according to this article from Infostor. Adding to the dilemma, "NAS-SAN convergence" has different meanings, said one analyst, because the phrase "has been hijacked by marketing people." The article also noted that most users view NAS and SAN as different technologies.

Explaining data storage For an oh-so-simple explanation of storage and its importance to the enterprise, check out this Storage Overview at ITtoolbox. It has an easy-to-follow writing style and links for further information.
10 areas to check when choosing a new file system: This article from Enterprise Storage Forum cites 10 factors to consider when selecting a new file system or volume manager. The list ranges from considering your file system size requirements to plans for backup.

What is HyperSCSI? Get the answer in this white paper posted on Linuxdevices.com. The paper explains how HyperSCSI, using an Ethernet-based network infrastructure, common-off-the-shelf hardware and established storage technologies can be turned into "a high-performance and reliable network storage solution."

Certifications: Are they worth it? This two-part series from the Enterprise Storage Forum offers good information on the certifications programs available to network storage professionals. I found the second part more interesting because it talked about the job-hunting and pay advantages of having the certifications but also raised questions about the value of the added training.,

Microsoft touts 'SAN friendliness' This article from Infostor notes that Microsoft wasn't "SAN friendly." But that is expected to change next year when Microsoft introduces SAN support, "including flexible volume mounting, boot-from-SAN, optimized drivers for Fibre Channel, and enhanced host bus adapter management."

IBM enhances Pixie Dust for 80G mobile drive: IBM Corp. says an enhancement to its 'Pixie Dust' technology has enabled it to break the current storage density record for hard disk drives and to produce the highest capacity mobile hard disk drive yet, according to this article from IDG.net.

Forum to support Storage Mangement Initiative The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is establishing a Storage Management Initiative (SMI) Forum to drive the adoption of technologies and interoperability, according to this article from the Enterprise Storage Forum. The forum has set a goal of having 60% of all vendors' products compliant with the SMI Specification by 2004, and 100% in 2005.

Free Web seminar: Learn the 12 key elements of a disaster-recovery program at this Nov. 12 seminar from BetterManagement.com. The presenter is Angela Devlen, who's responsible for corporate disaster-recovery planning at Partners HealthCare System and an expert on emergency preparedness. A free registration is required.

Fibre Channel-SAN specialist exam For those who want to build a solid foundation in storage networking, a new level 3 specialist exam for Fibre Channel-SAN Certification has been launched by the Storage Networking Industry Association and the Infinity I/O, the appointed certification program developer, according to this article from the Enterprise Storage Forum Web site.
A network storage primer: For those trying to figure out the difference between a SAN and a NAS, this two-part series on Storage Basics from the Enterprise Forum can be of help. Another tutorial on SANs is available from storage networking vendor Dot Hill Systems Corp. Free registration is required.

The Storage Networking Industry Association also offers a series of technical tutorials on such topics as Backup, Business Continuity, Infrastructure Design, IP Storage, Networking for Storage Professionals, SAN Management, Security, Storage for Networking Professionals and Virtualization. The tutorials can be downloaded but Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or above is required.
Is the Enterprise Storage Market Losing Luster? This article in Tidalwire.com notes that while big enterprises account for 92% of storage revenue in 2002, that number is expected to shift as more small to mid-sized businesses seek storage solutions. The advice to storage vendors: Have a strategy in place that targets the needs of smaller companies.

Enterprise Storage Forum serves up Part 2 of its series on Basics of SAN Implementation. The article addresses such topics as SAN backup considerations, clustering and the integration of SAN appliances.

Bluefin competing with APIs, CLIs, proprietary scheme? This article in Storage Networking World explores Bluefin as it compares to other storage management specifications.

For the latest in computer storage news, check out IDG.net, a sister Web site to Computerworld. This site includes articles and opinion from IDG publications including Infoworld, ITworld and the worldwide IDG News Service.