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IBM has resumed its aggressive positioning against rival EMC
by tweaking its storage management software to run on EMC hardware.
Describing the maneuver as a “silver bullet” for the storage management sector, Big Blue says its IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller, which allows users to virtualize storage for managing multiple devices and freeing up capacity in their storage area networks (SANs)
IBM’s TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller Version 1.2 already offered support for rival products from HP and Hitachi Data Systems
, and can now manage EMC’s CLARiiON and Symmetrix lines of storage hardware as well.
Bruce Hillsberg, director of storage software strategy at IBM, says the idea to interoperate with EMC hardware came from consumers who have dual procurement strategies and mixed environments.
“They’re looking for ways to simplify and get better asset utilization out of what they already have,” reports Hillsberg, who told internetnews.com that customers can stripe, migrate, and reallocate data without affecting host applications, allowing capacity rebalancing for more efficiently using the storage they already have installed.
The executive also noted that beginning April 30 the product will support new and older operating systems, including Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Microsoft Clustering, Solaris 8 and 9, HP-UX, Red Hat Enterprise Server 2.1 and 3.0, and VMware EX 2.1.
The strategic play is also a move by the Armonk, N.Y.-based company to drive a wedge between EMC and its customers by offering a choice that few in the industry could have imagined before — fierce rivals, EMC and IBM rarely share or open up technology secrets for fear of giving an edge to the other.
But now customers that have had to separate their EMC equipment from their other storage devices will be able to shuttle data throughout systems such as IBM’s TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (“Shark”) or EMC’s Symmetrix lines without having to worry about the usual incompatibilities.
Though he agrees IBM’s move was designed to pick off EMC customers by offering more choice, Sageza Group Research Director Charles King told internetnews.com the seeds of this upgrade were planted when EMC and IBM inked a rare interoperability pact last October to exchange management interfaces.
“Frankly, it’s something IBM needs to do,” says King. “In looking at the most recent quarterly earnings announcement, this is the third or fourth earnings announcement in a row where IBM’s main storage growth has been attributed to their [mid-range] FastT and tape products. Shark is nowhere to be seen.”
“About a year and a half ago, IBM talked about the importance of Shark for IBM’s growth strategy,” King continued. “I haven’t seen anything in the quarterly announcements about that.”
King also says that in a sector where heterogeneity is lauded, IBM needs to open up its Volume Controller as part of its strategy to explain why its storage products are fine for non-IBM environments.
IDC Storage Director Rick Villars agrees.
“I think it was something that they were getting some pressure on to deliver on,” Villars told internetnews.com. “The value of the SAN Volume Controller is to allow heterogeneous control in storage, and if it can’t connect to a major vendor’s products, it has less power.”
The offensive rekindles a long-standing battle between Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC and IBM, a battle that had been relatively quiet over the last several months as EMC consumed several companies, including Legato Systems, Documentum, and VMware, to build out its ILM portfolio.
Friday’s news is foreshadowing for a broader competitive battle IBM expects to wage with EMC. Big Blue will hold an event in Boston – essentially EMC’s backyard – next month to discuss its storage plans going forward, as well as details for its offensive against EMC.
Story courtesy of Internet News.
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