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HP and Adaptec Bond Over iSCSI

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP) just cant get enough of storage networking, it seems. Hot on the heels of its acquisition of StorageApps yesterday (see HP Acquires StorageApps), it has announced an iSCSI initiative with Adaptec Inc. (Nasdaq: ADPT) (see Adaptec, HP Get Scuzzy).

This is good news for the IP storage camp, as it demonstrates that über player’s like HP are taking the relatively untried and unapproved standard seriously.

Both companies are voting members of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) iSCSI Group, but decided to form an independent alliance to push interoperability between their specific technologies.

The move has raised hackles in some quarters. "What the f*** is the point of having a [SNIA iSCSI] Group if anyone who feels like it is going to up and do their own testing?" huffs a product manager at a storage networking company, who requested anonymity.

The recent "official" SNIA iSCSI plug fest included as many as 31 vendors all aiming to kick-start interoperability tests. (see IP Storage Test Draws Crowd) “It’s impossible to work with them all at once, so you have to prioritize,” says Max Steinhardt, VP and general manager of Adaptec’s storage division. “HP and Adaptec both believe IP storage will be the fastest growing SAN fabric over the next four years, so we make good partners.”

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