Eric: "…may I nominate EMC as a gorilla for SAN?" - Part II.
Apollo: Certainly. It's just that no one on this thread has been able to describe EMC's proprietary architecture.
Can you describe and a make a case for proprietary architecture held by EMC?
Architecture - A design. The term architecture can refer to either hardware or software, or to
a combination of hardware and software. The architecture of a system always
defines its broad outlines, and may define precise mechanisms as well.
An open architecture allows the system to be connected easily to devices and
programs made by other manufacturers. Open architectures use off-the-shelf
components and conform to approved standards. A system with a closed
architecture, on the other hand, is one whose design is proprietary, making it
difficult to connect the system to other systems.
webopedia.internet.com
Addressing Apollo's question specifically:
The entire EMC product line is based on a proprietary architecture which is a combination of hardware and software. EMC is investing $2.5 billion in research and development this year and next, with the majority going into software development. EMC is focused on developing a single solution for NAS and SAN requirements. Software sales growth is running at nearly 100% year-over-year. In the most recent quarter, software made up 16.3% of EMC's total sales. That's up from 10.9% only one year earlier.
The network storage model is creating strong demand for sophisticated software. EMC has responded with software products that are becoming an increasingly large component of the overall revenue mix. Witness EMC's CrossStor software. As with most software, up-front fixed costs and unlimited duplication at zero cost combine to form some very favorable economics. EMC's model has begun to demonstrate strong operating leverage by taking a play from the Microsoft economic handbook -- software sales. The networked storage model has opened the door for EMC to sell sophisticated software management tools. Over the past year, EMC has packed more than $1 billion of this software into its data storage boxes. Software sales growth is running at nearly 100% year-over-year. In the most recent quarter, software made up 16.3% of EMC's total sales. As you can see, software is becoming an increasingly important component of EMC's business model. The software side of EMC's business is ramping up so quickly that operating leverage is becoming quite strong.
fool.com
The advantages of software
fool.com
EMC's Proprietary architecture: Enterprise Storage Network:
Rather than being constrained by LAN, NAS, or SAN technologies alone, EMC has developed the EMC Enterprise Storage Network ™ (ESN)-the convergence of NAS and SAN into one infrastructure strategy, more powerful and more flexible than any one technology choice alone. HighRoad fuses the industry-standard file sharing of network attached storage (NAS) with the high-performance information delivery of a storage area network (SAN), for the first time creating one unified storage network.
Future of their proprietary architecture?
With EMC investing $2.5 billion in research and development they have formidable patent caches.
Open architecture?
I don't know, but here is one comment: "Some people talk of 'open' in terms of ability to access third-party hardware and servers, hubs, and switches and in that respect, EMC is the most open," said John McCarthur, vice president of storage research at IDC, Framingham, Mass.
techweb.com
Okay, I made my pitch…I know no one read this far so I'll quit at this…
Regards,
Eric |
