EMC, IBM Are Talking Swap

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) -- two of the fiercest rivals in the storage industry -- may be close to reaching an agreement on exchanging application programming interfaces (APIs), which would allow them to manage each other's storage systems, according to a Wall Street analyst.

If the two vendors do reach an agreement to swap APIs, it would mean dtente for a conflict that has simmered for years.

Each side has pointed the finger at the other to explain the impasse. "We are perfectly willing to do API swaps," Clod Barrera, director of technical strategy for storage in IBM's Systems Group, told Byte and Switch last month. "We have been unable to reach any kind of agreement with EMC." EMC, meanwhile, has said IBM is the one dragging its feet (see EMC 'Wishes' for IBM).

Now they may be ready to call a truce. Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Jason Ader, citing a "reliable industry source," says IBM and EMC are in advanced API swap talks, with an agreement possible in a matter of weeks.

"The absence of cooperation between IBM and EMC in the storage management software space has been notable, especially now that EMC and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) have agreed on an API swap," he says. "This makes an IBM-EMC deal the last necessary step to open up APIs among all four top storage array vendors -- IBM, EMC, HP, and HDS."IBM has exchanged storage system APIs with HDS and HP. EMC has similar agreements in place with HDS, HP, and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) (see EMC and Hitachi Bury Hatchet, HP Makes API Triple Play, EMC, HP Catch Each Other's Codes, HP, Hitachi Trade APIs, IBM, Hitachi SAN Compatible, and EMC, Veritas Swap APIs.)

One of the reasons for the prolonged standoff is that IBM and EMC have fundamentally different strategies for how they plan to manage other vendors' storage systems. IBM is focused on using the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)-backed Storage Management Interface specification, which is based on the Common Information Model (CIM), to tap other devices. EMC's WideSky, by contrast, is a piece of EMC-developed middleware designed to do the same thing; EMC says it can plug CIM interfaces into WideSky once the standards become widely supported (see IBM's Tivoli Tightens Its Laces, The Common Code, Standards Clique Freezes Out EMC, and EMC Outlines CIM Support Plans).

Ader speculates that IBM is most likely offering its CIM-compliant API for Shark to EMC in return for access to the API for EMC's Symmetrix (see IBM's Shark Gets Bluefin).

EMC spokesman Mike O'Malley confirms that the two companies are in discussions but wouldn't describe where they stand. "We are in talks with a number of players in the industry, including IBM," he says. "That being said, we won't discuss the status of those talks or their finality until they are completed and we're ready to announce something... if and when such talks are completed."

Bruce Hillsberg, director of storage software strategy for IBM's systems group, emphasizes that IBM's multivendor storage management strategy is based on support for open standards. But he did allow that "there may be times when [an API exchange] makes sense."We would caution that a rumor about an imminent EMC/IBM agreement was circulating Wall Street more than a year ago. Is the buzz real this time?

— Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch