Chinese Shockwaves

8:15 AM -- I have never visited China, but the country on the other side of the world is looming ever larger in my day-to-day existence. (See Redrawing the Storage Map and Spam's Next Wave.)

Barely a day seems to go by at Byte and Switch Towers without some China-related press release landing in my inbox, as U.S. firms scramble to get a slice of one of the world's fastest growing technology markets. (See Panasas Adds Facility, Expands, Voltaire Expands Global Presence, Voltaire Opens China Office, Sepaton Reaches 500, PMC Opens in Shanghai, and Brocade, Bank Consolidate.)

At the same time, Chinese vendors, led by the likes of Huawei and Lenovo, look set to leave their mark on the Western technology market. (See China: Storage Superpower? and FalconStor Focuses on China.)

The realities of living in a truly global economy were apparent this week, when fears of an economic slowdown in China caused stocks to plummet across the world. From the Nasdaq to the Nikkei, share prices have tumbled amidst talk of a new capital gains tax in China.

Most storage vendors have seen their stocks run red over the last few days, although there are probably some anxious boardrooms amongst private firms, too.