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Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J Fieb who wrote (4355)	1/28/2002 10:34:46 PM
From: D. K. G.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4808

The Three iSCSI Amigos Tired of hearing the same old "iSCSI just doesn't cut it" jibes -- often spouted by competing Fibre Channel vendors -- Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), Nishan Systems Inc., and Alacritech Inc. set out to perform tests that would dispel some of the criticisms leveled at this technology (see Vendors Join on iSCSI Demo). byteandswitch.com

To: J Fieb who wrote (4355)	2/4/2002 2:51:54 AM
From: Gus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

A little known benefit – IP SANcastle is lumped together with the 487 other smaller convergence switch players that are fighting to tie geographically remote SAN islands together. What separates SANcastle from the pack is something that the Fibre Channel guys ought to be bragging about: A SANcastle box can effectively offload server TCP/IP (a hot topic today!) in a Fibre Channel environment. If a user has a Fibre Channel SAN, all the servers in that SAN are also attached to Ethernet. Inter-node communication and server-to-client communication both cause the dreaded pig known as TCP to rear its ugly head. By sticking a relatively cheap SANcastle box in the middle, users can offload the TCP processing down to the Fibre Channel HBA and effectively eliminate 80%-plus of the cycles that server required for TCP. This scenario directly translates to better application and server performance and can dramatically reduce Ethernet network traffic and congestion. No one seems to know about this, but anyone running a Fibre SAN today will benefit so dramatically, it will be impossible to not justify the minor expense. The real beauty is that nothing else in the environment needs to change – it just makes the whole darned thing work better. Since no one sold TCP performance as a benefit when they justified their Fibre Channel purchase, this is all gravy. Steve is right about this one. It's only a matter of time before the Fibre Channel vendors move in the direction of accomodating server-to-server traffic on the SAN. Right now customers are still growing into their SANs so it will take time and probably a stable budget period or two before they can be expected to move from the basic server-to-storage messaging to include storage-to-storage messaging and finally, to include server-to-server messaging as their SANs expand and as new applications are developed that take advantage of the deterministic (read: predictable) environment of the SAN. In so many words, any rapid customer uptake in this area will decisively end the 2nd generation SAN interconnect war and set the early stage for the 3rd generation SAN interconnect war that already has 10Gbps as the natural convergence point for FC, Infiniband and Ethernet. The natural reference for this progression can be found in the first generation SAN environment (ESCON) since the only way to communicate with a mainframe is still through the dynamic point-to-point connections created by the ESCON (FICON) directors. All print servers, file servers, application servers and storage devices (disk and tape) continue to use the half duplex ESCON interconnect (full duplex FICON interconnect) to communicate with the mainframe or clustered mainframes. Effectively, the ESCON directors (and FICON directors) and adapters can already handle server-to-storage, storage-to-storage and server-to-server traffic. The difference between the mainframe SAN environment and the open system SAN environment, of course, is that the mainframe architecture has effectively remained in the hands of one vendor (IBM) for more than 30 years so it has more mature parallelism and operating performance (sustained to peak loads) characteristics than multi-vendor open systems. 20+ year-old Unix, for example, has fragmented over the years into multi-vendor memory hogs that still do not have the same type of parallelism or peak performance levels as mainframes. NT/W2K is only 10+ years old and it is going through what promises to be a gruelling 32-bit to 64-bit transition period along with Intel's own transition from 32-bit CISC to 64-bit EPIC. As the saying goes, it generally takes Wintel software application at least 3 full versions to fully exploit the increased power of the hardware. What these all mean, of course, is that unlike the homogeneous mainframe environment, the risk-averse customers will most probably move more gradually from homogeneous server-to-server messaging before moving fully into heteregeneous server to server messaging on the SAN.As the joke goes, open systems mean maximum choice which also means maximum confusion.<g> My sense is that this evolution will generally trail the way customers are migrating their applications from the mainframe environment to the Unix environment to the NT/W2K environment. Like the way that porcupines mate, they continue to do it very, very slowly because while applications ultimately drive infrastructure sales; changes in business processes do tend to lag changes in software which, in turn, tend to lag changes in hardware. In the Wintel platform, for example, software generally tends to improve at a 10% rate a year while hardware generally tends to improve at a 30% to 35% rate a year. Storage networking technically narrows this inherent gap between Wintel hardware and software and gives it a faster track into the data centers that one would expect given the relative immaturity of this unified platform. It's entirely conceivable that, thanks to networked storage, I/O-challenged NT/W2K will probably do unto Unix what was done unto the Mainframe by Unix if you accept the premise that Linux is just another Unix variant that does very well at refining settled ground but does not do too well in taming unsettled ground -- always a touchy point to make. Anyway, most companies are typically deploying SANs and NAS before or after their LAN upgrades (generally from 100Mbps to 1Gbps) with the goal of ultimately tying together those SANs and NAS in an enterprise-wide SAN such as that exemplified by McDATA's 7,000-port deployment SAN deployment which consists of multiple director-based backbones that are just now branching out into switch-based department and workgroup SANs. As many here know, CMNT and INRG provide the best way to follow the SWAN component of those enterprise-wide deployments. Right now, some insights can be gleaned from the way customers are deploying the following: 1) Stand-alone NAS -- tactical way to deploy and consolidate general purpose file servers. 2) SAN with hybrid SAN/NAS front-end -- strategic way to start deploying and consolidating all types of storage. Note the server consolidation and application consolidation happening in conjunction with the dynamic pooling of storage. 3) SWANs plus SANs with hybrid SAN/NAS front-ends -- connects all the networked storage in the enterprise to provide a consistent view of the data. A good example is what appears to be happening at EMC which has products that span all three phases of deployment. Its NAS business increased by more than 80% from 3Q01 to 4Q01 indicating to me that instead of instead of buying more Symmetrix, its large installed SAN base continues to fill out its networked strategy by deploying lower-cost Celerra Highroad, Chameleon and software. Most of the CMNT and INRG SWAN business is still coming its channel extension installed base -- typically the largest companies in the world -- with some business coming from the surviving xSPs.

To: J Fieb who wrote (4355)	2/5/2002 8:50:08 AM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 4808

Important director data point today..... Tuesday February 5, 7:02 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Inrange Technologies Corporation INRANGE Announces Record Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2001 Revenues Fourth Quarter Revenues of $72.5 million and Pro Forma EPS Of $0.03 Exceed Expectations LUMBERTON, N.J., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Inrange Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: INRG - news), a subsidiary of SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPW - news), today announced fourth quarter and full year 2001 financial results. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001, revenues were a record $72.5 million and pro forma earnings per share were $0.03, both exceeding consensus estimates and previously-issued company guidance. For the full year, revenues were a record $260.9 million, and pro forma earnings per share were $0.07. The company's pro forma results exclude restructuring, special, and asset impairment charges, and the amortization of goodwill and other intangibles. On an actual basis, earnings per share were ($0.12) for the quarter and ($0.21) for the year ended December 31, 2001. Commenting on the company's fourth quarter results, Sherrie Woodring, interim President and CEO, stated, ``This was an extremely strong and productive quarter for INRANGE's storage networking business. Our team spent the fourth quarter focusing on every aspect of our business and positioning the company for solid financial performance, continued technological leadership, and market share growth, and we are extremely pleased to have delivered such outstanding results in all three areas. By any measure, INRANGE's fourth quarter performance was exceptional.'' FINANCIAL DETAILS: Fourth quarter revenues increased 32% on a sequential basis to a record $72.5 million. For the full year, revenues increased 12% to a record $260.9 million. During the year, the company completed the transition to a pure play storage networking company with the divestiture or discontinuance of several legacy products. Excluding legacy products, revenues grew 56% in 2001. Fourth quarter revenues in the Open Storage Networking business increased 56% on a sequential basis to a record $31.1 million. For the full year, Open Storage Networking revenues grew 102% to $99.1 million. INRANGE continues to gain market share in the storage networking director market, particularly in business opportunities where scalability, availability, and throughput are the customer's most critical decision-making factors. Product revenues of $54.6 million grew 44% on a sequential basis, driven by significant growth in SAN infrastructure products including FC/9000 Fibre Channel and FICON directors, as well as Virtual Storage Networking products which are used in business continuance and disaster recovery applications such as remote data mirroring and replication. Service revenues grew 4% on a sequential basis to $18 million, as the company continued to integrate the three professional services businesses acquired in 2001, and to transition the consulting business focus to storage networking products such as data center planning and migration, disaster recovery planning, SAN security, and enterprise backup and recovery. Pro forma fourth quarter net income was $2.2 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, exceeding company guidance. For the full year, pro forma net income was $6.1 million, or $0.07 per diluted share. Restructuring, special, and asset impairment charges totaled $16.8 million for the fourth quarter. For the full year, restructuring, special, and asset impairment charges totaled $32.4 million. Including the impact of these special charges, and the amortization of goodwill and other intangibles, the company's diluted earnings per share was ($0.12) for the quarter and ($0.21) for the year. Demonstrating the company's continued focus on working capital management, days sales outstanding decreased 20 days to 88 days on a sequential basis and inventory turns increased from 5.1 to 6.0. 2002 GUIDANCE: Based on what the company sees today, it is forecasting revenues of approximately $285.0 million for 2002. This represents forecasted growth of approximately 20% for INRANGE's storage networking products and services, net of revenues from legacy products, which are expected to continue to decline. INRANGE expects full year 2002 pro forma earnings to be approximately $0.12 per share. The company expects its normal seasonal selling patterns to continue in 2002, and therefore is targeting revenues of $62 million for the first quarter. This represents forecasted growth of approximately 20% over first quarter 2001 revenues for INRANGE's storage networking products and services, net of revenues from legacy products, which are expected to continue to decline. The company is comfortable with current consensus estimates of pro forma earnings per share of $0.00 for the first quarter of 2002. MANAGEMENT COMMENTS: Sherrie Woodring, interim President and CEO, stated, ``In 2001, INRANGE established itself as a major storage networking player. Among our many accomplishments, we created and then extended the industry standard for core director scalability. While our competitors are still trying to scale their directors past 64 ports, we established technology dominance at 128 ports in early 2001, then expanded to 256 ports at the end of 2001. Scalability equates to simplicity, lower cost of ownership, and investment protection for our customers. Our forthcoming Advanced Storage Network Solutions will enable intelligent data mining, advanced security, application-based performance monitoring, and fabric extensibility within the most reliable, scalable storage networking solution available today. Our Virtual Storage Networking business, which grew 50% in 2001, has proven to be the choice for customers implementing business continuance through data sharing, replication, mirroring, migration, and archiving at extended distances. We launched Inrange Global Consulting to complement our product offerings and guide customers through the selection, implementation, and management of their storage networks.'' Woodring continued, ``The business value of information cannot be overstated, and the combination of technology, services, and experience that INRANGE offers makes us the strongest partner for companies seeking to lower the cost and complexity of storing, switching, extending, and managing information globally. The entire INRANGE team is energized by our results, which concludes what has been an extremely productive 2001, and we expect to further leverage our technology lead in 2002.'' About INRANGE (www.inrange.com) cc ... INRANGE Fourth Quarter 2001 Earnings Conference Call Scheduled to start Tue, Feb 5, 2002, 10:30 am Eastern Affordable SANs?... Industry Leaders Announce ``Affordable SAN Initiative'' More Than 35 Members Deliver SAN Solutions for Less Than $50,000 QLogic Initiative Significantly Reduces Entry Point to SANs ALISO VIEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2002--Supporting its vision of a storage area network (SAN) in every business, QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC - news), along with 35 key SAN storage and software developers, today announced the Affordable SAN Initiative. Members of the initiative intend to dispel the notion that storage area networks (SANs) are unaffordable for small and medium businesses by redefining and promoting SAN solutions for these customers with end-user pricing of $50,000 or less, a significant reduction in the typical $250,000 entry point to enterprise-class SANs. Affordable SAN Initiative members presently include: Acer, ADIC, ATTO, BakBone Software, BMC Software, Broadband Storage, Chaparral Network Storage, Ciprico, Computer Associates, Crossroads Systems, DataCore Software, Dot Hill, Eurologic Systems, Exabyte Corporation, FalconStor, Legato Systems, Inc., LSI Logic Storage Systems, MTI, Nexsan Technologies, Nishan Systems, nStor Technologies, Overland Data, Prisa Networks, Procom Technology, Qualstar, Quantum Corporation, Raidtec Corporation, SAN Valley Systems, Seagate Technology, Spectra Logic, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, VERITAS Software, Vicom and Zzyzx Peripherals. ``This initiative sums up what we stand for at Sun Network Storage: providing more customers with more choice for their network storage infrastructure,'' said John Maxwell, vice president network storage marketing, Sun Microsystems. ``Our Sun StorEdge arrays provide customers with a low-entry point and high scalability to ensure a low Total Cost of Ownership. We look forward to working with the many members of the initiative to see how we can best serve customers demanding high-performance storage solutions at a low-cost.'' A typical SAN solution today includes the installation of one terabyte of disk storage and a tape library shared by eight servers across a redundant fabric. The cost is approximately $250,000, completely out of reach to the vast majority of small and medium businesses. The Affordable SAN Initiative breaks down this cost barrier with SAN configurations targeted at two-four node server workgroups supporting applications such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server. In the coming months, members of the Affordable SAN Initiative will announce products that provide SAN disk storage, tape storage, information protection and availability and storage management solutions -- all for under $50,000 MSRP. ``Cost and complexity have haunted the Fibre Channel SAN industry and caused slow adoption. We love the fact that QLogic is taking a leadership role in driving down the cost and simplifying the implementation of SANs,'' said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst, Enterprise Storage Group. ``This will lead to more people reaping the benefits of networked storage, which is good for the users, good for the industry and good for QLogic. What's not to like?'' ``In today's era of tight budgets, users are demanding more for less,'' said Nick Allen, vice president and research director at Gartner, Inc. ``Lowering the entry cost for SANs addresses these demands and will stimulate the market.'' ``Aberdeen research shows that the overwhelming majority of enterprises that have installed a SAN are very satisfied,'' said David G. Hill, research director, Storage and Storage Management, Aberdeen Group. ``However, installing a SAN can be very expensive and many enterprises have not been able to put together a compelling business case for a storage area network. The Affordable SAN Initiative changes the purchase-decision landscape -- justifying a SAN will be much easier as the investment mountain just became a molehill. QLogic and the other members of the Affordable SAN Initiative should be given a pat on the back by organizations that no longer have to lean over backwards to try to justify a SAN.'' ``To date, the perception of high costs, and the fear of vendor lock-in have kept many IT departments from deploying a SAN,'' said Eric Sheppard, senior research analyst at IDC. ``The Affordable SAN Initiative addresses both of these perceptions by helping to minimize the capital costs associated with SAN deployment while ensuring IT departments have a significant choice of products from familiar suppliers.''