V-Switch Alliances Take Shape

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) have emerged as the two clear frontrunners in the SAN virtualization switch derby, but it's still far from certain how this space will ultimately play out.

Both have lined up partnerships with three major industry players -- EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) -- which plan to integrate their storage management software with Brocade's and Cisco's virtualization switches. The advantage of hosting storage applications in the network, say these vendors, is that it delivers a central point of management across the entire storage infrastructure.

"The ability to have one network provide services across multiple storage arrays opens up many new possibilities for how you manage those resources," says Soni Jiandani, VP of marketing in Cisco's storage technology group.

This week, Cisco and Veritas -- after more than a year of toil and trouble -- finally managed to turn out a working prototype of the Veritas SAN Volume Manager (SAN VM) running on the Cisco MDS 9500's virtualization module. Apparently, getting the Veritas code to run in the network was significantly more complicated than either party had anticipated. The two companies say they will both sell and market SAN VM to their respective customers. After a beta program this summer, they expect to ship the software sometime in the second half of the year (see Veritas Demos With Cisco, Andiamo Loses Ground, and Andiamo: Getting Warmer?).

Cisco wouldn't divulge particulars about its application module for the MDS. The most Jiandani will say is that it's a hardware-accelerated system: "We've invested in silicon so they can scale, but it's also tightly integrated with the software."Separately, Veritas this week also showed a preview version of its volume management software running on the Brocade SilkWorm Fabric Application Platform switch (from its acquisition of Rhapsody Networks), but the companies didn't say when it would be available (see Brocade Teams Up With Veritas).

Those developments follow the announcement by EMC and Cisco last week to develop EMC's software for the MDS platform box and also to submit a standard set of APIs to the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) that would let software interface with virtualization switches. EMC previously said that it intends to work with Brocade on the Rhapsody switch. HP has also engaged with both switch vendors for its Continuous Access Storage Appliance (CASA) (see EMC, Cisco Do the Deed, Brocade Loads Code, Signs EMC, and HP Opens Doors to CASA).

So, who's in the lead?

Chris Gahagan, senior VP of storage infrastructure software at EMC, says Brocade and Cisco are roughly in the same place right now. Which is to say, they're still months away from actually shipping anything.

"They're both pretty close in terms of functionality and performance," he says. But, he notes, "You can't buy hardware that's GA [general availability] today. And the interfaces are still in flux." Brocade expects to deliver its switch to OEMs in the fourth quarter; Cisco is also looking to ship in the latter part of the year.That said, Cisco may have the edge because its application services module has been designed as an integrated module for its Fibre Channel switch. Brocade's offering will initially be delivered as a separate 16-port device, though the company insists it will look and smell like a member of the SilkWorm fabric.

Meanwhile, McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA), the other notable SAN switch incumbent vendor, has sketched virtualization into its roadmap and expects to deliver an application module for its director-class switches next year. "When the market is going to be spending money on this, we know we'll be there," says Mike Gustafson, McData's senior VP of marketing.

As the big vendors proceed to tie up with each other, virtualization switch startups may be left in the margins. They may be able to find other paths to market, but without securing deals with the storage systems OEMs their opportunities will be much more limited. Startups in this segment include Candera Inc., Maranti Networks, MaXXan Systems Inc., Sanera Systems Inc., and Troika Networks. So far, none of these players has demonstrated anywhere near the degree of traction with the major OEMs that Brocade and Cisco have (see Candera in the Wind, Sanera Turns On the Juice, Troika Strikes Back, MaXXan Axxes Staff, Maranti Hires SAN Virtuoso, and Smart SAN Switches: Not This Year).

The Veritas X-Factor

On the software front, Veritas is the wild card in the tangle of partnerships surrounding network-hosted storage applications. In its favor, the company owns 70 percent of the market for volume managers today, and it has already established strong relationships with Cisco and Brocade."We believe Veritas is very well positioned in this new segment as a result of the Cisco and Brocade partnerships," wrote Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Jason Ader in a note to investors yesterday. "Veritas's fabric-based volume management product is expected to offer customers a seamless transition from host-based volume management (same look-and-feel, functionality)."

But Veritas will face a crucial obstacle as it tries to establish itself in the network-based virtualization realm: It lacks a built-in sales channel. The large storage systems vendors -- today, anyway -- act as the conduit for most sales of SAN hardware, and companies like EMC and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) will naturally push their own virtualization offerings, not Veritas's. The same predicament faces startups developing network-resident storage software, such as Incipient Inc. and Topio. [Ed. note: "Kiss me goodnight, Eddie!"]

Cisco and Brocade could act as sales agents for Veritas here. But they will have to balance their enthusiasm for pushing the Veritas option with the risk of annoying their OEM partners. Cisco, for example, has discovered that those deals are absolutely vital to its initial entry into the SAN market (see Cisco Puffs Up Reseller Deals).

Veritas, as noted, does hold the dominant position in volume management software. And that's precisely why EMC is adding volume management capabilities to its PowerPath software -- to seed an installed base of customers that are using EMC's volume manager instead of Veritas's (see EMC Turns Up the Volume).

"It's not 'yet another volume manager just to build another volume manager,' " says EMC's Gahagan. "It's the first volume management software that's designed for networked storage. We're preparing for a network-intelligent solution."He says the volume manager in EMC's PowerPath 4.0 uses a central metadata server, whereas Veritas's software stores that information with each individual volume. "We had the advantage of not having a volume manager built in the Dark Ages," Gahagan says. [Ed. note: Was that around the same time the candle-powered Symmetrix was introduced?]

Here's a rundown of the network-hosted storage application strategies of the major storage systems players to date -- none of which, we should point out, currently has Veritas or any of the virtualization switch startups on its short list of partners:

Current market dynamics favor the direction this group chooses, because customers are most comfortable buying certified and supported SAN infrastructure from their storage suppliers. Could that change? Certainly, but for now the deck is stacked against the players who are outside this circle.

Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch