Comdex - EMC and NetApp agree on iSCSI and little else

LAS VEGAS - EMC and Network Appliance rarely see eye-to-eye on anything, but the two storage companies do agree that users will need to wait several years before they get their hands on an emerging technology that promises to make data management easier.

Executives from EMC, Network Appliance and IBM met Wednesday at Comdex for the "Storage Smackdown," a heated debate moderated by Network World Editor-in-Chief John Dix about the current state of storage and where the industry is heading. While the companies attacked each other's pricing and strategy, they were in accord around the highly touted iSCSI standard for linking data storage systems over IP.

The iSCSI standard was designed to let users send large chunks of data over an IP network, making it easier to link disparate storage servers. Companies such as IBM have already launched iSCSI products, but it will take three to five years before such products become commonplace in the data center, said Michael Parker, director of technical business strategies at EMC.

One user at the event sees iSCSI emerging slightly sooner but agreed the technology will take time to mature.

"We are looking at it now, but it will not play a big role for at least three years," said Perry Passin, manager of LAN operations at Olympus America.

The move toward iSCSI is part of a growing trend in the industry to push data sitting on large back-end storage servers out onto a network where more users in a company can access the information. Unlike EMC, Network Appliance has centered its storage philosophy around this network mantra since its inception but now finds itself meeting head-to-head competition in the network-attached storage (NAS) market.

This year EMC will overtake Network Appliance in NAS revenue for the first time, according to preliminary figures for 2001 from IDC. Network Appliance, however, continues to ship more NAS units and claims this lead is a testament to EMC's notoriously high prices.

"EMC is making more in revenue because on a per-unit basis they are charging three times as much," said David Hitz, founder and executive vice president of engineering at Network Appliance.

Hitz's comments stirred applause from the audience and a sharp comeback from the competition.

"We just passed Network Appliance on NAS revenue -- not volume or units, but revenue -- which is usually how you count these things," Parker quipped.

While both vendors had their say, Network Appliance made a good impression on Olympus' Passin, who has found EMC to be "pushy and expensive" and was intrigued by what its rival had to say.

"I am interested in purchasing a NAS device," Passin said. "I would say that Network Appliance is certainly worth taking a look at after hearing this."

The companies now plan to extend this NAS battle into the iSCSI market.

"When iSCSI came along it became clear that we needed to consider it seriously," Hitz said. "We will be shipping iSCSI support in the second half of next year."

Likewise, EMC is putting large amounts of research and development dollars behind iSCSI, Parker said, and looks to tempt users with products of its own.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.