Lee, thread:
"...the "front end" - between the server and the storage equipment...
"...the "back end" - to connect the network of disks inside the storage equipment...
EMC is having the most success at the front end so far, having sold over $500 million of fibre channel-enabled systems over the past 4 quarters.
EMC's primary supplier, SEG, is driving the migration to FC disk drives at the back end. If I am not mistaken, SEG is still pricing its FC drives on par with its most advanced SCSI drives to accelerate the migration.
Interestingly enough, last year both EMC and SEG each went out and bought a Fibre Channel company -- EMC and McData; SEG and Gadzoox Networks -- to anchor their FC efforts.
It used to be that the vendor who sold the server was a cinch to clinch the storage subsystem sale as well. Now, that is no longer the case as the storage purchasing decision is increasingly being decoupled from the server purchasing decision. As the bandwidth in the networks increase, this trend is expected to eventually benefit the storage vendors that can provide end to end storage solutions -- disks, backup (mixed media -- robotics + tape drives, MO, DVDs, etc), and services (integration and support).
Against this backdrop, I am curious to see how a small independent like Data General will carve out a niche for itself. The heavyweights in the high end segments -- IBM, EMC, STK, etc -- don't really compete in the small to medium size markets which not surprisingly are the fastest growing segments. Not surprisingly also, Dell is getting into this increasingly profitable fray by leveraging its build to order model (currently going from 7 to 4-5 days inventory and eventually going to, get this, 0 as in zero!!) and coupling it with the combined systems integration and support resources of Unisys and Wang (about 13,000 strong worldwide).
By the way, I don't think Data General has any kind of sustainable FC technology edge unless they have a proprietary software and firmware that allows even faster shipment of bytes inside and outside the RAID box in which case it becomes acquisition bait for the majors. EMC, in particular, has repeatedly declared that it wants to use its cash hoard to increase the services part of its business and that it is also shopping for proprietary RAID technology that will boost performance.
Regards,
Gus |
