the451 | Storage virtualization

Storage virtualization is one of the hottest areas in IT today. While investors have spurned most of the technology market, they have continued to invest heavily in this segment.

Why? The need for storage is rising exponentially, and storage virtualization allows users to cut costs and increase flexibility. Put simply, storage virtualization separates the representation of storage to the server operating system from actual physical storage.

Such is the importance of storage virtualization that a multitude of well-established and emerging IT companies have recently started developing many different technologies, each of which is claimed to address this 'holy grail' of storage management.

The451 is pleased to announce the publication of an extensive new report on the storage virtualization market. The report is 174 pages and provides a comprehensive overview of the market and its future direction.

Request more information

Please fill out this form completely.

First name

Last name

Job title

Company & Department

Email address

Work phone

For more details about the report please fill out the form above, or contact our sales staff:

By email at , or by phone at 212 505 3030 in the US.

What does the report conclude?

Storage virtualization is a massive potential market, but its future path remains far from clear. This report clearly articulates what different companies need to do to be winners in this space by profiling over 30 companies and assessing the impact of standards, the development of the storage market and the needs of users. The report took over five months of research and includes extensive primary research including interviews with senior management at over forty storage companies, and extensive research of the SNIA membership. Key conclusions include:

For storage companies, they must be able to articulate a strong vritualization strategy by the end of 2001 at latest to secure a place at the table. To secure confidence in strategy, products should be in the field and first customers referenceable by the end of 2002.
For software companies, many seem well-placed as software is the key to competitive advantage in storage virtualization. They will need to promote their interoperability with, and independence from, third party hardware as a means of capitalizing on the opportunity virtualization presents.
For server companies, they must become more network-centric, and cannot afford to impose server-based solutions on unwilling customers. Longer-term, they need to be ready to take advantage of the market shift to servers that are grouped into logical, consolidated resources for specific functions such as database, CRM and ERP.
For investors, many are already exposed to start-ups in the storage virtualization market. They need to assess such issues as whether start-ups have the flexibility and scalability to meet user needs by being standards- and technology-agnostic, and whether they have the management vision to develop a winning strategy and the contacts to develop successful partnerships.
For end users, storage virtualization offers the opportunity to avoid vendor lock-in, gain higher ROI on storage investments, and reduce complexity. Yet, storage virtualization is no 'silver bullet' and many users still have to make the jump to network-based storage, before they can begin to reap the benefits of storage virtualization.

Report contents


Definitions and Conclusions
        "  Executive Summary
        "  Definition
        "  Methodology
        "  Implications for Hardware Companies
        "  Implications for Software Companies
        "  Implications for Storage Companies
        "  Company Rankings

Evolution of Storage Virtualization
        "  From Physical to Logical
        "  Storage Hardware: From Closed to Open
        "  From Direct Attach to Storage Networks
        "  Storage Software: Toward a Single Image (Block, 
                Volume and File Abstraction)
        "  Approaches to Virtualization (Host, Network and 
                Device Level)
        "  Categorization Overview: the Players and Where 
                They Fit.

The Major Players
        "  Compaq
        "  Dell
        "  EMC
        "  Hitachi
        "  HP (including StorageApps)
        "  IBM
        "  Network Appliance
        "  Sun
        "  Veritas
        "  The Others (including Auspex, Brocade, CacheFlow, 
                Computer Associates, Legato, McData, Sanrise, 
                StorageNetworks)

Thirteen Players to Watch
        "  BlueArc
        "  DataCore
        "  Datadirect
        "  FalconStor
        "  Fujitsu-Softek
        "  KOM
        "  Nishan
        "  OTG
        "  ScaleEight
        "  StoreAge
        "  Tricord
        "  Vicom
        "  Xiotech
 
The Next Wave of Startups
        "  Multi-protocol Switches
        "  SAN Software
        "  iSCSI Products
        "  Internet Acceleration/Caching
        "  Massively Scalable Storage Systems

Standards
        "  Fiber Channel vs. Ethernet
        "  Alphabetical List and Progress Report
        "  iSCI, FCiP, iFCP, iSNS, NDMP, DAFS, CIFS, 
                SNMP, FSPF, InfiniBand

Future Scenarios
        "  Market Size and Growth (comparison of analyst 
                figures, timescales)
        "  End Point: Where We're Headed (100Gb bandwidth, 
                universal ports, convergence of system and storage 
                networks, new workloads, data farms, etc.)

The451 provides same-day analysis of significant news, identifies the emerging trends and puts these developments into context within the industry. Members include investment analysts, strategic planning executives, business and product development teams, CIOs, CTOs, communications and PR experts, marketing specialists, competitive intelligence professionals and myriad other titles and departments. The common thread in membership is the value the451 brings to their work.

Return to main reports page >>

Return to the451 homepage >>

0.3201 s