Gus, IBM going OEM with storage systems for PCs:
yahoo.cnet.com
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IBM sells storage systems to PC makers
By Joe Wilcox
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 2, 2000, 5:40 a.m. PT
IBM today cranked out new storage systems that it will sell directly to PC makers.
The new storage systems incorporate RAID controller technology IBM acquired with the purchase of
Mylex last summer.
PC makers can incorporate the new offerings--storage servers and network
attached storage (NAS) appliances--into products running either Unix or
Windows NT. PC manufacturers resell the IBM products under their own
brand label.
"Providing IBM-produced technology to other IT sellers, in many cases its
own competitors, is one of IBM's three primary growth strategies, along with
services and software," Greg Enriquez, vice president of IBM's OEM
(original equipment manufacturer) storage systems division, said in a
prepared statement.
The first product, the IBM ProFibre Storage Array, is designed for handling
applications requiring mass amounts of storage, such as e-commerce
transactions over the Internet, video editing or data warehousing.
The briefcase-size device, which incorporates Mlex RAID controllers and
IBM hard drives and enclosure, offers storage capacity from 9 GB to 2.8 TB.
The new storage system supports both Fibre Channel and SCSI, which are competing high-speed
ways of connecting storage devices together or attaching them to servers.
IBM also announced it would begin selling new NAS products, but not until later in the first half of the
year. The ProFibre Storage Array is available immediately in limited quantities.
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This one mentions EMC:
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IBM to offer disk storage systems to computer makers
NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday it will offer new disk
storage systems to other computer makers to use in their products.
``This is the first time IBM has sold complete disk storage systems, not just components, through the OEM
(original equipment manufacturers) channel in a significant way,' said Greg Enriquez, vice president, IBM
OEM Storage Systems.
The new products are the first use of technology from data storage technology developer Mylex Corp., which
IBM acquired in September.
The new line of Windows NT and UNIX storage server systems and network attached storage are part of an
effort to compete in the fast-growing market of providing disk storage systems to computer makers.
That market, boosted by explosive growth of computer networks and the Internet, is currently valued at $1.2
billion, according to International Data Corp. The total storage market under all operating systems is seen as
growing to $47 billion by 2003.
``The storage market continues to grow, and many of the vendors cannot make the same investments into
research and development that IBM can,' said Janet Waxman of IDC. ``And IBM also OEMs these products to
themselves.'
The first product is the IBM ProFibre Storage Array, a high performance storage system that attaches to a
server running the Windows NT or UNIX operating systems. It is designed to handle storage-intensive tasks
such as electronic commerce, video editing and data warehousing.
The system, which is made up of IBM hard disk drives, Mylex redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID)
controllers, and an IBM enclosure is scalable from 9 gigabytes to 2.8 terabytes, or enough to store the
contents of a large library.
IBM said it will be offering network attached storage later in the first half of this year.
Current leaders in the market to provide disk data storage systems to computer makers include EMC
Corp.'s Data General/Clarion, Storage Technology Corp. and LSI Logic Corp.
``As Clarion exits and moves away from the OEM business, a lot of it is going to LSI Logic and IBM
wants to capture that business,' said John MacArthur, storage analyst at International Data Corp.
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Well, if Clariion goes away from it, I'd just soon LSI got it rather than IBM. Indicates the healthy state of the storage biz, no doubt, with Blue going after it.
Tony |
