Storage Makes The Move To IP

IP (Internet protocol) storage is one of the hottest topics in the SAN arena. While Fibre Channel is hampered in terms of the distances it can span, IP storage allows data to be shared between SANs in different parts of the country. As IP storage continues to gain in popularity, so do the installation and profit opportunities for VARs.

"Companies are moving towards SANs (storage area networks) because of what they offer as far as security, business continuity, and data recovery," said Robert Coackley, president and CEO of Campbell, CA-based SAN Valley. "However, Fibre Channel was intended to be a local area technology. When end users try to use Fibre Channel for remote connections of storage networks and disaster recovery, they run into problems."

There is now a variety of ways to move data long distances at high speeds, a reasonable cost, and with reasonable reliability. "You can accomplish this very cheaply by connecting to the Internet and tunneling through to a remote location," said Coackley. "However, for people with mission critical applications, there are thorny issues relating to security, latency, and guaranteed throughput. Moving data through the Internet is not as easy as it sounds."

Coackley thinks most end users are interested in having a connection through fiber optic metropolitan area networks (MANs) or virtual private networks. "In either of those scenarios, IP has a strong role to play," he said. "IP is the technology that allows data to be transferred over long distances."

Enter iSCSI And FCIP
Coackley believes the two IP proposals holding the most potential for storage are iSCSI (Internet small computer system interface) and FCIP (Fibre Channel over Internet protocol). With iSCSI, a SCSI data stream is converted to IP packets, transmitted over a TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) network, and then converted back to a SCSI stream. FCIP essentially links Fibre Channel SANs by encapsulating data and allowing it to be carried as a payload over IP.

When connecting SANs, Coackley stated it is best to have a transparent connection. For that reason, he thinks FCIP is a better approach than iSCSI. If an end user is doing disaster recovery or backup, they will not want to have to convert to a different protocol. However, for users creating a native IP storage fabric, the iSCSI approach would be more useful. "If you have enterprise data centers and want to provide workgroup or desktop applications access to that data, then iSCSI works very well," he said. Coackley also believes all of the IP storage proposals (see the May 15, 2001 Mass Storage issue of Business Solutions for a complete listing) will coexist, because each one is solving a different problem.

What will these new technologies mean to VARs? "I think there are definitely some interesting opportunities in the IP marketplace, certainly today but especially over the next 12 to 18 months," said Russ Ritchie, director of product marketing at Anaheim, CA-based MTI Technology Corporation. "There are a lot of new technologies coming down the pipe which will cause a lot of confusion in the marketplace at the end user level. When there is confusion, that is typically when resellers tend to thrive." Ritchie believes every technology has its limitations, and no one technology can be used for every application. Therefore resellers and integrators have the opportunity to go in and actually educate the customer on the different options that are available.

Many Protocols Lead To Massive Confusion
"In the next six months, the storage market will see the arrival of technologies like iSCSI," he said. "Shortly behind iSCSI will be DAFS (the direct access file system), which is being heavily supported by a lot of organizations in the industry. Soon after that, the market will be introduced to 10-Gigabit Ethernet and then Infiniband and 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel in 2003. In a period of about 18 months you will have a half-dozen new technologies that are going to impact the storage market in some way."

Ritchie believes each technology has a broad-based number of vendors that are already supporting them. Quite a few different manufacturers will offer each technology, which has the potential to create massive fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the market. End users will wonder which technology they should choose and which one will best fit their needs today and in the future. "That type of situation is tailor made for resellers," he said. "VARs and integrators can go to a customer and cut through all of the clutter, explaining what each technology is and does."

This approach will require VARs to make use of the consultative approach - using their knowledge and understanding and being able to explain to customers how the technologies work. There will be a lot of marketing hype about the advantages and disadvantages of each IP proposal. The misunderstanding and miscommunication for end users will center on what each one is, what it can do, and which is actually appropriate for their needs. VARs will have to know all of that going in.

As the number of connection options continues to multiply, VARs will need to understand how to use and effectively sell them to their customer base. The leading system integrators are already connecting SANs with IP networks, and they bring value to the customer by extending the enterprise SAN without burdening the company with the knowledge of how to operate it. This should be a new and very profitable opportunity.