Storage News

The Winners and Losers in the Oracle/Sun HDS Split

In the fallout from the Oracle/Sun-HDS split there will be winners and losers. InfoStor believes that the 'angriest bunch' will be Sun shops that have been happy buying their high-end HDS storage arrays from Sun in bundled server/software/storage deals that translate into reasonable prices. Still, as pointed out by InfoStor in this Editorial column, there are plenty of other ways to buy HDS arrays: direct from Hitachi, from HP, and through HDS’ many channel partners.

"Some observers suggested that the breakup was a deep blow to HDS, but I think Hitachi will get its share of the business with or without Oracle. (And bear in mind that the Sun-HDS reseller deal only involved HDS’ high-end USP arrays.)

"And if not, the breakup could be good news for other high-end storage vendors, most likely EMC. In fact, EMC and Oracle are best buddies and maybe EMC had something to do with the Oracle/Sun-HDS breakup. (Then again, since when does Larry Ellison make decisions based on outside pressure?) It’s possible that Oracle will fill in the new gap at the high end of its storage lineup by inking an HDS-like reseller deal with EMC, where Oracle could leverage a much broader partnership than it had with HDS."