APRIL 03, 2002 Go to previous Byte and Switch News Analysis
IBM Leaks Storage Tank Details
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Storage Networking World -- Linda Sanford, senior VP and group executive of IBM Corp.'s (NYSE: IBM - message board) storage group, shed a bit more light on the company's Storage Tank initiative -- which has been on a slow boil for a year and a half -- describing it as a single, SAN-wide file system.
Storage Closet
McDATA Corporation
She also took the opportunity to bash EMC Corp.'s (NYSE: EMC - message board) WideSky initiative, and she urged the industry to make storage networks less complex and more self-managing.
The next generation of SANs requires three things, Sanford said: open standards, virtualization, and a single file system.
Storage Tank, she said, will provide that single, SAN-wide file system. The software will enable universal access to storage and simplify the management of multiple servers. Because it's a single file system that encompasses all of an enterprise's storage, Storage Tank also ensures that business policies are consistently enforced. "The data and the policies stay together," Sanford said.
IBM's goal with Storage Tank is to reduce the overall cost of managing storage. "I believe the new challenge for all of us in this industry is to reduce complexity," Sanford said. "For every $1 spent on hardware, $8 is spent on management... We are holding our customers back."
Last month, IBM hired Mike Zisman to head up its storage software group, and Storage Tank is one of the main projects under his command (see IBM Zips Up Software Strategy).
But where is Storage Tank? When IBM first announced it in December 2000, it was supposed to be available in the second quarter of 2001. Sanford didn't say when it will be ready, and she somewhat defensively explained that creating a global file system is hard work. Really hard work.
Storage Tank "is not just another routine product," she said. "We're not making pencils here. It's invention... It's serious, complex development work."
IBM is alpha-testing the code, which Sanford said has been tested running databases, file servers, and clustering applications.
As evidence of why global file systems are particularly important, Sanford cited three SAN management startups: Sistina Software Inc., TrueSAN Networks Inc., and PolyServe Inc.
"Look where the VC money is going in the storage industry," she said. "It's going to startups developing SAN-wide file systems."
Tom Isakovich, CEO of TrueSAN, was horrified when he heard Sanford mention his company. "We're not trying to create a single file system -- we're concentrating on block storage," he tells Byte and Switch. "We're complementary to IBM." TrueSAN obviously does not want to be seen to compete Big Blue, as this would rule out partnering with them or potentially being acquired by them.
Sanford, at another point in her presentation, stressed that the storage industry needs to embrace open standards that are "not the proprietary creation of any vendor."
In an obvious reference to EMC's WideSky initiative, she said: "When one storage vendor proposes exchanging proprietary APIs, everyone must design their software to work with many different interfaces... We do not consider the exchange of proprietary APIs to be the endgame by any measure."
Chuck Hollis, EMC's VP of markets and products, says both vendor-controlled initiatives like WideSky and industry specifications are necessary. WideSky aims to provide an API layer for software to manage any SAN element, and it will give customers management features that are more comprehensive than any industry standard will, he says.
At the same time, EMC is supporting the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)'s efforts to provide standard management interfaces based on the Common Information Model (CIM) specification (see EMC Drives Management Standards, Analyst to Users: Stick With SNIA, Users Frosty on EMC WideSky, EMC 'Wishes' for IBM).
"We've been tarred with the proprietary brush, but we're saying 'CIM is here,' " he says. Hollis adds that while IBM says it's supportive of open standards and interoperability, it isn't walking the walk. IBM "isn't participating in vendor-led initiatives like WideSky, and they're not participating in industry standards like CIM. So where are they?"
Elsewhere at SNW today, a few executives slated to be on the bill were no-shows.
Nora Denzel, VP and general manager of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (NYSE: HWP - message board) storage group, was scheduled to speak today -- but she didn't show up. Tom Rallens, VP of marketing for storage, explained her absence. "Nora sends her apologies she couldn't be here," he told SNW attendees. "We are going through a little project called a merger, and she has some work to do." That's putting it mildly (see HP, Compaq Face Devilish Details).
Meanwhile, McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA - message board) CEO Jack McDonnell was also not at the show; a spokesman says he was attending to an urgent personal matter. |
