EMC to Serve Up IP SANs

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) will turn the heat up on Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) and a handful of startups gaining traction with IP SANs when it rolls out new iSCSI Clariion systems later this month.

Industry sources say EMC will announce iSCSI versions of its low-end Clariion AX100 and midrange Clarion CX300 and CX500 platforms in mid-February and begin shipping in March. EMC will bring out single and dual-controller AX100i systems, and dual-controller CX300i and CX500i systems. On the high end, the CX500i will use four processors and hold up to 120 drives.

If all goes as anticipated, the rollout will be the most extensive iSCSI offering yet from any major Fibre Channel SAN player. But it won't be EMC's first foray into iSCSI. According to IDC (see NetApp Banks on iSCSI), EMC actually ranked second in the iSCSI market for the third quarter 2004, with a 22.1 percent share. EMC has offered native iSCSI for its high-end Symmetrix SANs and Celerra NAS systems, but not the Clariion line (see Is EMC Overshooting on iSCSI?).

NAS titan Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) has been the acknowledged iSCSI SAN leader up to now, with 43.1 percent of the market from the third quarter of last year by IDC's reckoning.

Meanwhile, other big players are also expanding their iSCSI footprints. IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is in the early stages of selling an entry level iSCSI system through an OEM deal with Adaptec Inc. (Nasdaq: ADPT). (See IBM Slips iSCSI Into SAN.)EMCs stronger move into IP SANs is no surprise. Last October EMC CEO Joe Tucci said he expected iSCSI to begin to sell in the second half of this year in small and medium-sized enterprises, but not in large data centers (see Tucci Touts ILM).

That appears to be happening now. IDC numbers show iSCSI third-quarter 2004 revenue increased nearly 44 percent from the previous quarter. At least one financial expert, who asked not to be named, thinks the IP SAN market is growing faster than 25 percent, with EqualLogic Inc. and LeftHand Networks Inc. making sizeable gains last quarter. Other IP SAN startups Intransa Inc., Sanrad Inc.,and StoneFly Networks Inc. also claim brisk sales.

By including a midrange system in its rollout, EMC will continue a trend started by several of the startups. IP SANs started out at the low end, but vendors such as EqualLogic and Intransa added midrange systems to their platforms late last year (see EqualLogic Expands SAN Line and Intransa Rolls Out IP SAN).

“Most iSCSI vendors wanted to avoid going head-to-head with EMC, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Hitachi Data Systems, so they went after SMBs first,” says senior analyst William Terrill of the Burton Group. “And they’re doing well because iSCSI costs less and is easier to set up. Now the iSCSI vendors are finding enterprises looking to add new systems also want iSCSI, and they’re moving product up into the midrange.”

Terrill says customers aren’t replacing Fibre Channel SANs with iSCSI, but he expects most new SANs in the low and midrange to be iSCSI going forward. He does think iSCSI might start replacing Fibre Channel when copper 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapters are available later this year. iSCSI currently maxes out at 1-gig while Fibre Channel supports 2-gig and will soon reach 4-gig.An EMC spokesman said the company would not comment on its iSCSI plans for Clariion.

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch