Virtual Iron Inks iSCSI Deal

Virtual Iron became the latest virtualization vendor to jump on the iSCSI bandwagon today, adding support for EqualLogic's iSCSI hardware to its software platform.

The vendor announced plans to move into the iSCSI space earlier this month, although this is Virtual Iron's first deal with an actual IP SAN vendor. (See Virtual Iron Dangles iSCSI Savings and Virtual Iron Announces 3.5.)

Virtual Iron, which is attacking market leader VMware on price, is again playing the dollar card in its partnership with EqualLogic. "ISCSI certainly addresses the cost issue," says Mike Grandinetti, Virtual Iron's chief marketing officer, adding that Fibre Channel is significantly more expensive than iSCSI.

There is no doubt that iSCSI is growing in popularity as a cheaper alternative to Fibre Channel, and more and more vendors are looking to tap into the technology. (See 10-Gig iSCSI SANs Set for Takeoff, The iSCSI Subtext to 10-GigE, EqualLogic Tops Offs SAS Series, and Overland Offers Appliances.) Analyst firm IDC, for example, estimates that from now through 2010, iSCSI SANs will show a CAGR for worldwide revenue of 74.8 percent, compared to 4.1 percent for Fibre Channel. (See Connecting the iSCSI Dots.)

The big selling point of iSCSI virtualization is that users can link storage into their virtual infrastructure without buying additional kit. Firms looking to connect a Fibre Channel SAN, on the other hand, would have to invest in Fibre Channel HBAs, which can cost around $2,000 a pair.At least one user told Byte and Switch that virtualization and iSCSI and are a perfect fit. "Using these two technologies together has helped us develop a hosting infrastructure that's really effective, especially when you compare it to a lot of the technologies out there like Fibre Channel," says Paul Lappas, vice president of engineering at San Francisco-based collocation firm ServePath.

The exec explained that he is using Virtual Iron's virtualization software in conjunction with EqualLogic's iSCSI-based PS Series boxes. "ISCSI is less expensive than Fibre Channel and you're able to leverage your existing Ethernet infrastructure to build out your SAN," says Lappas. "You don't have to buy these fancy Fibre Channel cables and switches."

Despite Virtual Iron's iSCSI marketing spiel, VMware has beaten them to the punch on this one. EqualLogic set up a similar deal with the virtualization leader last year, although today's announcement underlines the amount of activity in the iSCSI space.

Eric Schott, EqualLogic's director of product management, told Byte and Switch that a partnership with XenSource is also in the works. "The virtualization vendors have all been very eager to add iSCSI into their products because it reduces the cost and complexity," he says.

This would certainly tie in with recent iSCSI murmurings at XenSource. The vendor recently told Byte and Switch that an iSCSI-compatible version of its software is in beta tests and will be generally available later this month.It remains to be seen whether the Virtual Iron/EqualLogic deal will result in the two firms reference selling each others' products. "I am not making any promises, but that may be possible down the road," says Schott.

James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch