KJ,
Our apparent disagreement has more to do with our respective experience in the networking field than with any technical issues. From your standpoint, I agree with you. I'm still baffled why there is any competition for Fibre Channel in the enterprise, since FC makes so much sense. But when I see ClusterNet, VIA, HIPPI, ServerNet, and the other existing proprietary schemes continuing to maintain or increase market share, there has to be a reason. (Fibre Channel SHOULD win this battle hands down. I think it is simply a matter of time.)
My perspective is from the low-end of the Fibre Channel market. I see the huge installed base of Novell, Unix, and NT networks wanting to move to Fibre Channel storage, in large part due to the large loops of storage devices that can be created. Granted, this is not the best solution for scalability, but it is relatively inexpensive in the short run, and the number of devices on each loop can be reduced as performance demands. From this perspective, something with the marketing clout of an Intel/Microsoft/Compaq combination (VIA) has to be taken seriously as a possible competitor to Fibre Channel.
Craig |
