IP Steals Spotlight at Storage Show in Phoenix - Page 2

SNW wouldn't be right if it didn't feature a dizzying number of standards interoperability demonstrations from vendors, their partners and standards groups, such as the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA).

SNIA Monday said storage networking vendors of the SNIA Supported Solutions Forum (SSF) will embark on the largest demonstration of interoperable Fibre Channel switches at the show this week.

The demonstration will consist of heterogeneous storage area networks (SANs) built with switches and storage devices from SNIA SSF members including Cisco, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, INRANGE Technologies, McDATA, QLogic and Sun Microsystems. The availability of the previewed multivendor SAN switch products is slated for this summer.

Analysts argue switch interoperability is a key factor in building and managing heterogeneous SANs because it enables IT staffs to interconnect devices from different storage vendors within the same fabric. End users will also be able to build on that by building "edge products" such as IP storage routers and blade servers that host embedded Fibre Channel switches.

Phil Mills, chairman of the SNIA Supported Solutions Forum, described the multivendor switch demo is an examples of vendors who have put aside their competitiveness to work for the good of the customer and the industry."

While multivendor switching is important, it's hardly the only demonstration at SNW. Many industry experts will no doubt anxiously await Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S, ée Bluefin) demonsrrations of interoperability from major vendors. Hopkinton, Mass.'s EMC and fellow SNIA members are demonstrating an infrastructure using the draft of the highly-anticipated SMI-S to achieve interoperability among some 30 storage management software and storage hardware products.

As one of the developers behind the complicated standard, EMC has begun to implement SMI-S into its storage infrastructure and management products. EMC's contribution to the demonstration includes early versions of SMI-compliant EMC Symmetrix DMX and EMC CLARiiON CX series storage systems and EMC ControlCenter software and VisualSAN management software using the SMI Provider and SMI Client specifications.

EMC is joined by the likes of Veritas, Brocade, and Hitachi Data Systems in this endeavor. Veritas will help to define a volume manager for the SMI-S version 1.1 based on technology from its volume management and virtualization solution, Veritas Volume Manager. Veritas will work with other SNIA members to create a specification that will define the software management structure for host and operating system block-level virtualization.

Meanwhile, Brocade has collaborated with vendors on a CIM-enabled SAN infrastructure featuring a SMI-S-compliant version of the Brocade Fabric Access API. Brocade is also making a developer's release of the Fabric Access API to its partners. Based on CIM/WEBM and the original Bluefin specification, this API will allow Brocade partners to develop SAN management applications that are compliant with the emerging SMI-S specification.

HDS is working to use the SMI-S to improve its HiCommand Management Framework architecture. In addition to working toward interoperability for Hitachi Freedom Storage systems and Hitachi storage management software, Hitachi Data Systems is assisting other storage vendors in advancing their SMI-S support by providing a stable SMI-S interface from which to test their products.

In related storage news, EMC teamed with LEGATO Systems and Nortel Networks on a business continuity software item that makes it possible for several data centers to act as one to keep businesses running. In the case of a catastrophe, transactions are routed to an alternate site with no need for manual restore or restart procedures. The announcement is part of a parade of such products to hit the scene since September 11, 2001. Analysts have often remarked how desirable business continuity products are for enterprises.

"Enterprises increasingly need to find ways to integrate storage networks and crucial business data across the wide area network to support business continuity, disaster recovery and compliance with government regulations," said Jamie Gruener, senior analyst at the Yankee Group.

Gruener said the product from EMC, Legato and Nortel makes the complex problem of tying multiple SANs (storage area networks) together between multiple corporate sites easier.

Though relatively new to the enterprise storage game, Microsoft offered a pot of news Monday as well, announcing that is backing the IETF's RADIUS for secure authentication of SANs.

The SNW 2003 conference will play host to a number of other demonstrations from the aforementioned and additional vendors through Thursday, April 17.