Compaq Condemns EMC Middleware
Nov 09, 2001 (ComputerWire via COMTEX) -- Compaq Computer Corp is developing
its own storage software that will rival EMC Corp's WideSky middleware
initiative, which it has denounced as proprietary and harmful. The company has
also accused EMC of trying to mislead the market into believing that Compaq is
backing WideSky.
The statements from Compaq came on the same day that it announced a deal with
EMC to swap API access to storage hardware, a deal that Compaq said in no way
represents an endorsement of EMC's WideSky software. WideSky, which was
announced two weeks ago, is middleware on which EMC is promising to base
cross-vendor management tools.
"WideSky is just proprietary middleware. We believe it is actually
counter-productive for any one party to offer something like this. It's
straining credulity to think that Compaq is going to sign up to an initiative
where EMC is going to be the central management point. Everybody wants
cooperation and interoperability. That's one thing, but endorsing WideSky is
quite another," a spokesperson for the company said.
EMC's announcement yesterday of the API deal with Compaq (CI No 4,290) was
accompanied by statement that could easily be interpreted as implying Compaq
backing for WideSky. The statement was headed: "EMC Expands AutoIS/WideSky
Initiative with Compaq Agreement," and said the deal with Compaq will, in
combination with WideSky, allow EMC software to manage Compaq hardware.
An alternative to WideSky will be announced by Compaq in the "not too distant
future," the spokesperson said. "Unlike the EMC software, this will not not be a
strictly Compaq deal." The spokesperson refused to discuss whether it will
therefore involve other vendors - although presumably it will in order not to be
strictly Compaq initiated. IBM Corp yesterday declined to comment on any such
collaboration with Compaq, and ComputerWire was unable to contact Hitachi Ltd.
An EMC spokesperson said the company had not intended to imply that Compaq is
backing its middleware effort. The spokesperson added that WideSky could have
been made to support Compaq hardware with or without the API swap, but that
access to the controllers on Compaq's arrays via an API will make life far
easier for EMC.
So if the deal made it easier for EMC to create its "proprietary and
counterproductive" middleware, why did Compaq sign it? "Compaq's DNA is about
openness and interoperability for its entire technology stack. Ultimately the
rising tide of interoperability will lift all boats - and maybe it will lift
ours further than the other," the Compaq spokesperson said.
By Tim Stammers
tim.stammers@computerwire.com
Computergram International: Issue 4291, November 9, 2001 |
