Huawei Sets Sights on IP SANs

Hong Kong-based Huawei-3Com (H3C) is putting together the pieces to make an Asian IP SAN push, as U.S. vendors are eager to come along for the ride -- with products U.S. customers may never get to see.

In the past four months, H3C has revealed partnerships with IP software vendors FalconStor and Intransa, chip startup iVivity, and systems OEM Xyratex. H3C is a joint venture between Chinese networking vendor Huawei and U.S.-based 3Com. (See Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd..)

So far, H3C's storage plans have come out in drips through releases from its U.S. partners. The iVivity deal disclosed this week, for example, calls for H3C to integrate iVivitys 1-Gbit/s and 10-Gbit/s programmable iDiSX storage chips into its storage and networking products. (See H3C Picks IVivity Chips.)

Separately, HC3 previously said it is getting a 3U 16-drive storage system from Xyratex that it will market as the Neocean IX5000 iSCSI SAN. (See Xyratex Lands Huawei-3Com.) H3C also says it will run Intransa’s Storcontrol IP SAN software with some modifications on the IX5000, and it has a deal with FalconStor for data protection software. (See FalconStor Teams With Huawei-3Com.)

While H3C hasn't provided any launch timeframe or specs for its Neocean IX5000, its partnerships paint a clear picture of its goal of becoming an iSCSI player. One of the U.S. partners told Byte and Switch H3C could begin shipping storage systems late this year, with volume shipments expected in 2007. The source says H3C plans to market the system only in China and Asia for the foreseeable future.