* What you can expect from EMC
Today, more on EMC. First, a non-surprise: Expect EMC to continue to build out its core product lines, particularly the Symmetrix DMX and several Clariion lines. The DMX3 in particular is going to get awfully big, and the Clariion (with apologies to Steve Martin) is trying to get small.
One point needs to be raised in connection with this. The industry (OK, I’ve been as guilty as the other guys) often refers to the Clariion as EMC’s mid-range and to the Symmetrix as the company’s high-end offerings. While this is true, broadly speaking, a more accurate view should take into consideration that several Clariion configurations are in fact much bigger than some of the Symmetrix boxes.
Within the crossover range, the decision will be based on system architecture (where that crossover is actually is depends on the drives being used, and so will shift upwards each quarter as drives get bigger). The decision will also be based on the type of drives (serial ATA and eventually serial-attached SCSI and Fibre Channel) you want to use rather than just on the total mass of storage.
Now, the new stuff. Expect EMC to grow its commitment to iSCSI, extending iSCSI connectivity throughout most of its product lines. Interestingly, this definitely includes the high-end Symmetrix boxes, so the old definition of iSCSI as providing a “storage-area network for the everyman,” while perhaps still true, becomes irrelevant. EMC’s move means that iSCSI is now a high-end solution as well.
This is good news for IT for two reasons. First, it is another validation of iSCSI from a major storage player. Second, it means that choosing high-performance SAN storage no longer requires managers to line up behind Fibre Channel because that is the only choice they have. In doing this, EMC is recognizing a trend that has been underway for more than a year now: Managers want to make SAN buys based on which deals are most suitable for their needs and not because there is only a single technology choice available to them. (This is why at an increasing number of sites you can now find both SAN infrastructures running right next to one another.)
Expect to be able to do in-the-box tiering with the high-end DMX3, which will take advantage of the new low-cost Fibre Channel drives. Ditto for SAS in most of the existing SATA boxes. EMC will naturally have to upgrade the products’ midplane from SATA to SAS, but that should be fairly straightforward and should not add to the cost of those products.
Next time: EMC looks beyond its comfort zone and begins to come to grips with some of the non-storage aspects of enterprise IT.
