3Com Enters Storage Area Networking Market; First Major Networking
Company in SANs Unveils Comprehensive Strategy for Market Leadership
BW - 11:04 a.m. Nov 02, 1998 Eastern
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2,
1998--3Com Corporation (Nasdaq:COMS) today announced its
entry into the storage area networking (SAN) market. The move
is a strategic initiative for 3Com that introduces the
StorageConnect(tm) Fibre Channel line of SAN products,
creates alliances with key storage equipment and application
vendors and launches hardware and software compatibility
programs. SAN: Explosive Growth Expected
Several factors, including explosive growth of enterprise data,
limitations in current storage architectures and escalating storage
management costs, are driving many organizations to evaluate
more flexible networked storage environments such as Fibre
Channel storage area networks.
"3Com has been instrumental in the development of the local
area networking (LAN) industry and has demonstrated the
expertise and leadership necessary to deliver interoperable
network components in early markets," said Doug Spreng,
senior vice president of 3Com's Client Access Business Unit.
"As the first major networking company in the storage area
networks market, 3Com will help lead storage networking
through the early marketplace towards open, standards-based
interconnectivity where it is broadly available to the mainstream
customer."
A SAN is a dedicated network connecting servers and storage
peripherals that improves data availability, cost of ownership
and server performance. A SAN consists of server adapters,
hubs and switches, and network and storage management tools.
SANs combine the flexibility, manageability and scalability of
networks with the high bandwidth and reliability of storage I/O.
The Fibre Channel SAN market is expected to be a $1.5 billion
(US) market by the year 2002, according to 3Com internal
analysis. 3Com Announces StorageConnect Product Plans
3Com's SAN products will be sold under a new brand, 3Com
StorageConnect. Initial products are expected to be available in
early 1999. In order to encourage market adoption of Fibre
Channel SANs, 3Com will deliver its StorageConnect products
as part of pre-tested, interoperable configurations that create
SAN solutions satisfying specific business needs. Integration
Alliances Drive Compatibility
As a first key step in delivering compatibility and developing
tested SAN solutions with the 3Com line of StorageConnect
Fibre Channel products, 3Com has forged integration alliances
with three storage industry leaders: the CLARiiON Advanced
Storage Division of Data General Corporation, Legato Systems,
Inc, and MTI Technology Corporation. CLARiiON
3Com and CLARiiON are acting jointly to develop, test, and
qualify an interoperable, High Availability SAN solution that
addresses the pressing need for continuous access to mission
critical data. The 3Com and CLARiiON RAID solution will
include a combination of high-availability software and
advanced management tools, as well as highly-scalable RAID
arrays.
The result will provide customers with a flexible storage
architecture that meets their immediate needs for continuous data
availability, and also scales easily for future growth. Key
components of this solution include highly-scalable
CLARiiON(R) FC5000 Series full Fibre Channel arrays,
Navisphere(tm) Storage Management Software, and Application
Transparent Failover(tm) (ATF) high-availability software.
Legato Systems and MTI
3Com, Legato Systems and MTI will address one of the biggest
challenges IT managers face today, backing-up mission-critical
data without affecting network traffic or access to resources.
The three vendors will produce an interoperable LAN-Free
Backup solution using SANs. 3Com will contribute
StorageConnect Fibre Channel adapters, hubs and network
management tools. MTI provides industry-leading RAID arrays
and tape libraries. And Legato Systems delivers its advanced
data protection applications: Legato NetWorker and
SmartMedia.
Additionally, 3Com and MTI will collaborate to deliver an
interoperable Data Consolidation SAN solution that includes
MTI's StorageWare JBOD and Gladiator RAID. The 3Com and
MTI Data Consolidation SAN solution will result in a modular,
high-performance, highly-available and scalable data storage
solution, that allows safe capacity sharing for multiple open
system servers. StorageConnect Compatibility and Solutions
Programs
To support its solutions-based approach to the SAN market,
3Com is formalizing two compatibility programs: the
StorageConnect(tm) Compatibility Program and the
StorageConnect(tm) Solutions Program. The StorageConnect
Compatibility Program will assure customers of robust
hardware interoperability between 3Com StorageConnect
products and participants' storage products.
The StorageConnect Solutions Program addresses the need for
the integration of SAN topologies with SAN-enabling storage
management software. Under the StorageConnect Solutions
Program, 3Com will work with Independent Software Vendors
(ISVs) to integrate and test solutions that address immediate
customer problems. CLARiiON, Legato Systems and MTI
Technology are the first participants in the 3Com
StorageConnect Compatibility and Solutions Programs. 3Com's
SAN Roadmap Addresses Shift in Customer Server and Storage
Architectures
To achieve SAN leadership, 3Com is embarking on a
four-phase strategy fostering migration to SAN architectures and
integrating SANs into enterprise network infrastructures. The
3Com SAN strategy addresses the fundamental change in how
server-attached storage environments are viewed. 1.
Infrastructure and Alliances - Phase one of 3Com's strategy is
the launch of its line of Fibre Channel networking products for
Microsoft NT, UNIX and Novell NetWare, including Fiber
Channel
adapters, hubs and switches. In addition, 3Com is launching the
StorageConnect Compatibility Program and Solutions Program,
described above, in conjunction with industry-leading storage
equipment and application vendors. (See related Integrated
Alliance announcements made today with CLARiiON, Legato
and MTI.) 2. Transcend(R) Tools for SAN - In phase two,
3Com will integrate
its 3Com Transcend(R) network management tools and
techniques
into the 3Com StorageConnect line of Fibre Channel products
thereby enabling centralized, enterprise-wide management of
both
LAN and SAN infrastructures and lowering administrative
costs. 3. LAN/WAN/SAN Integration - Phase three scales SAN
connectivity to
3Com WAN and LAN backbones, extending the benefits of
Storage
Area Networks across campus distances and to remote sites for
applications such as disaster recovery. 4. Advanced SAN
Services - Phase four brings policy-based networking
to storage systems in order to provide for services such as
security, traffic management and fault management in SANs.
This
phase will also allow offloading the server from disk-intensive
traffic using intelligent SAN services. About 3Com
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations
worldwide to stay more connected by communicating and
sharing information and resources anytime, anywhere. As one
of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video
communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking
solutions to nearly 200 million customers worldwide. The
company provides large enterprise, small and medium
enterprise, carriers and network service providers, and
consumers with comprehensive, innovative information access
products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable
and high performance local and wide area networks. For further
information on Storage Area Networks, visit 3Com's World
Wide Web site at 3com.com.
3Com and Transcend are registered trademarks and
StorageConnect is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. All other
trademarks are property of their respective companies.
Copyright 1998, Business Wire
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