Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Sony Enters NAS Fray: Page 2 of 3

For instance, aside from its compatibility with the Sony tape libraries, the FSV-M1 is a rather generic product, analysts warn. Like a slew of other offerings, it is based on server appliance software from Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT).

Quantum Corp.'s Snap Server Division and Maxtor Corp. offer similar products. Major PC makers, such as Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) also are making or reselling low-end appliances.

Analysts say the sheer volume of competitors has caused companies like Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP), whose entire focus is on NAS, to gloss over the low end of the market. Network Appliance hints that its low-end product is sold merely to round out its line for existing customers with larger storage requirements.

Analysts also say Sony lacks name recognition in the industry. “Sony doesn’t carry a strong storage brand,” notes IDC

analyst Brad Nisbet, Ultimately, he says, Sony may fare better if it OEMs its NAS gear to a major computer maker.

On the other hand, as more companies enter the low-end NAS market, price competition will be keen -- a factor that could work in Sony's favor. “This will be a distribution game more than anything else,” says Arun Taneja, an analyst with The Enterprise Storage Group Inc.
“And Sony does high-volume distribution very well.”