Here's an interesting survey of the Storage Networking scene:
Vendors aren’t Waiting for Standards
Most observers of the SAN debate agree the storage
arena players will eventually come together and
operate from the same standardized, interoperable
rule book. Yet just when we’ll see such teamwork
is anybody’s guess.
Many industry watchers loudly declared this year
would be the year of the SAN–of course, they said
the same thing last year. Even if all the major
vendors agreed by the year-end on a set of
interoperable standards, it would take years to
certify them and iron out the differences,
analysts say.
Despite continuing interoperability debates, vendors
are already shipping SAN products using the evolving
standards. They’re driven to do so by end users
who are crying out for solutions for their burgeoning
data. The 2-GB Fibre Channel proposed specification
not yet official is already being adopted by vendors
such as Seagate and IBM. Both companies are now
reportedly shipping products that implement the
standard.
EMC also reports that 12 vendors are now shipping
SAN products built using its Fibre Alliance MIB
implementation, according to Jim Rothnie, senior
vice president of product man-agement at EMC.
"Look, customers can’t afford to sit around and
wait. They need working, manageable solutions,
and they need it now."
sw.expert.com - size 274.7K - Server/Workstation Expert
It looks like 3Q2000 will give us the first real
indications of how powerful the 2Gbps FC product
cycle will be. Unlike the 1Gbps FC product cycle,
the 2Gbps FC product cycle benefits from the
ethernet-style MIB (management information base)
and the FC switch physical layer interoperability
specs before the standards committees. These
agreements were forged during 2Q2000.
Selected Numbers from EMC and McDATA
Total ESN McDATA FC
FC Systems (EMC only) speed
1997/1998 $823M + $ 7.0M 1Gbps
1Q99 $270M (est) ** $ 4.8M 1Gbps
2Q99 370M (est) ** 8.5M 1Gbps
3Q99 400M (est) * 13.2M 1Gbps
4Q99 380M (est) * 21.6M 1Gbps
1999 $1.4B * $48.1M
1Q00 $600M $250M $29.3M 1Gbps
2Q00 $749M $400M 39.5M 1Gbps
3Q00 - - - 1-2Gbps
4Q00 - - - 1-2Gbps
2000
+ FC systems introduced in late 1997
* Not disclosed
**ESN (DAS, SAN, NAS) introduced in 1H99
Note: During the last CC, EMC's guidance was
flattish quarter to quarter growth in 3Q2000
due to possible component tightness. Like 2Q00,
that translates to robust double- and triple-
digit Y/Y growth in different parts of the
business. |
