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		Data Management & Storage Technology: Winners by Category Network-Attached Storage System Tape Storage System Enterprise Backup System

Of course, network managers may be reluctant to add any more traffic to an already stressed Ethernet backbone. The idea of added traffic from VoIP (voice over IP), streaming media and SANs on the Ethernet network has some administrators contemplating a career change. But as these technologies prove themselves, there will be greater acceptance of IP for everything.

Toward Interoperability

On the Fibre Channel switch front, too, interoperability is improving, switch density is on the rise and prices are coming down. Vendors are performing interoperability testing. The SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) has as its goal "ensuring that storage networks become complete and trusted solutions." In February, the SNIA opened the 14,000-square-foot SNIA Technology Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. This independent lab provides a testing and demonstration environment in which vendors can certify their equipment for interoperability. And the SNIA has come out with a thorough online dictionary of storage terminology (www.snia.org/English/Resources/Dictionary.html). The SNIA also has formed an IP storage forum to work on a standardized HBA (Host Bus Adapter) API. Finally, the group has expanded cooperation with the FCIA (Fibre Channel Industry Association). The SNIA is bringing sanity and consistency to the hyperchaotic SAN market. Look for it to continue to help define SAN storage.

The ISCSI initiative -- which puts SCSI storage blocks over Ethernet and the TCP/IP protocol -- also will emerge this year. This is an inexpensive way to implement storage, and the advantages are obvious: The infrastructure architecture is known, your staff is already trained in Ethernet and management is simpler. With the cost savings in using storage over IP solutions and with 10 Gigabit Ethernet on the horizon, this will be a popular solution.

NAS (network-attached storage), SAN's older sibling, has seen tremendous growth over the past year, too. Increasing drive densities and breakthroughs in IDE RAID controllers have enabled an impressive expansion of features and speed for these devices. American Megatrends and Promise Technology have delivered ATA-100 RAID, 3ware has shipped packet-switched IDE RAID arrays and Snap Appliances has a NAS device with a built-in JVM (Java Virtual Machine).

The price-feature war for NAS devices escalated in the past year, and we expect it to get even hotter. Companies are implementing lots of NAS devices because of the devices' affordable prices and their almost sybaritic ease-of-use features. NAS devices are great for quick data transfers between systems, as storage for special projects and machine images.

Rent-a-Rack

SSPs (storage service providers), which provide protected off-site data storage, backup services and data-recovery services, are in their infancy. Most are in IDCs (Internet data centers) so they can draw upon the bandwidth they need. But companies have been slow to accept this outsourcing. With the shortage of qualified storage professionals in general, many organizations have concerns about staff training at SSPs. Another concern is conflicting loyalty to multiple customers. SLAs (service-level agreements) are fine, but if it comes down to you and another customer with a bigger money contract, you know who will get the better service. Still, the overriding concern is security. Despite assurances, most companies remain wary. SSPs have their place, but defining that place and making sure these services deliver are crucial.

In our least glamorous category, tape backups, the speed and capacity of tape drives have expanded to keep up with increasing hard-disk-drive densities. New technologies like LTO (Linear Tape Open) and SDLT (Super Digital Linear Tape) are shaking things up with huge capacity and lightning-fast speeds. LTO has two formats, the 25-GB native Accelis format and the 100-GB native Ultrium format. SDLT is the next generation of the venerable DLT tape drive, offering 110 GB of storage in native mode. The DDS DAT format is now obsolete. DDS does not have the capacity or speed to compete with DLT1 or AIT. The AIT2 and Mammoth2 formats are holding steady, but they will lose ground if larger, faster formats don't arrive soon.

On the data-management front, e-commerce is driving database technologies to new heights, despite the spectacular crash of many dot-coms. In addition, data management is seeing tremendous benefits from the deployment of SANs. The speed, reliability and size of SAN environments have been a boon to database administrators. The ability to have storage dynamically allocated for the occasional need for "scratch" space to regenerate tables solves an age-old problem of space constraint. The adoption rate for storage products in this space could boom if the economy cooperates.

As for data warehousing, the two competing standards groups -- the Object Management Group and the Meta Data Coalition -- are merging. Ideally, the resulting group will combine the best of both standards. Companies are mining their data to achieve greater efficiencies and serve their customers better. But there are dangers inherent in data mining. Amazon.com and others have been made painfully aware of the privacy issues surrounding data mining. E-commerce firms need clear privacy statements so customers know what will become of vital information about their shopping habits.