Commentary: VA Linux tees up in the storage
server market
Gartner Viewpoint
Special to CNET News.com
September 13, 2000, 4:55 p.m. PT
By Pushan Rinnen, Gartner Analyst
The network-attached storage (NAS) marketplace, led by
Network Appliance and EMC, has convinced hard disk NAS
sellers that there is much green to be gathered in the
Internet service industry.
That is clearly the motivation that compelled VA Linux
Systems to enter what appears to be an ever-crowding market
for storage servers to house data for Internet service providers
and application service providers (ASPs). NAS devices are
intelligent server storage systems that are sold at various
prices.
Relatively inexpensive rack-mountable low-end NAS servers from Quantum and Maxtor
have
been successful with smaller ISPs. VA Linux likely will be hard-pressed to compete in
that
low-end market, as Quantum and Maxtor are selling 240GB in a 1U-high box for less
than
$5,000. The low cost per gigabyte is derived from these two sellers' less-expensive
integrated
development environment drives, as compared to the small computer system interface
drives
used by VA Linux.
However, VA Linux's scalability, good hardware redundancy and density should provide
it with
a market opportunity in the midrange ASP market. At the high end, leaders Network
Appliance and EMC should enjoy their success, not only because of their higher
scalability,
but mainly because of their more intelligent storage management layer, such as SnapShot
and TimeFinder.
For the regional ASPs that are experiencing explosive storage growth and companies
that run
storage-hungry applications, VA Linux's NAS products are a much less costly
alternative. VA
Linux, on the other hand, should enhance its storage management software features. |
