Storage area networks (SAN) have presented an opportunity to rethink storage strategies. System architects can consider whether storage should be kept local or centralized. They can choose what sort of hierarchical storage management should be used and decide how the system should scale as the organization grows.
Apparently, storage software vendors are also rethinking their strategies, since many of them are coming out with new products or are reworking their existing products to make them more flexible. Smart Storage is an example.
"Our older products were used in vertical market applications," says Peter Smails, vice president of marketing at Smart Storage, Andover, MA. "Our SmartStor Archive product lent itself well to use with a single application or program. Our new Infinet product will let us sell directly to the data management market. We are creating a data management layer and augmenting storage virtualization to accept storage throughout an enterprise."
The new technology lets Smart Storage manage files not only within a local archive but also to provide policy-based storage management for remote storage on network attached storage (NAS) devices and centralized storage devices like SANs. The product will no longer be confined to a single server.
Smart Storage is not unique. KOM Networks, Kanata, Ontario, is also developing a total storage virtualization product, StealthWorx. Like Smart Storage, KOM's goal is to break away from the application-specific storage archive and manage storage for the entire enterprise.
Among the features of StealthWorx are such enterprise-friendly tools as policy-based file migration, server clustering, file destruction, and the ability to rebuild the system's metadata server from the stored data in the event of a disaster.
"Our file migration policies let users determine where a file resides based on age, usage and legal requirements," says Victor Winney, KOM's vice president of marketing. "Being able to destroy files saves memory and extends the useful life of existing storage hardware. For example, brokers are required to keep files for seven years. Our system lets the files be deleted at the start of the eighth year. This saves storage space."
BakBone Software, San Diego, CA, is converging two existing products, MagnaVault and NetVault. MagnaVault is an archiving product using magneto optical jukebox as the primary storage. It serves mainly to virtualize storage connected to a single server. NetVault is a network product, mostly used to copy files kept on networked storage and back up the files to a tape library.
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"By the fourth quarter, we expect to have a MagnaVault plug-in for NetVault that will give it the virtualization and archive support of the archive product while keeping the network awareness of NetVault," says Barry Mattingly, BakBone's vice president of marketing. "Combining both products will give users flexibility."
Unlike some SAN-specific solutions, a common feature in storage management products is their ability to reach all storage in an enterprise regardless of whether it resides on a SAN or on a local or wide area network. To retain this strength, storage management companies are making sure they are compatible with traditional Internet protocol (IP) networks. BakBone is using Internet protocol over all hardware, whether it's Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet or fiber channel. Smart Storage expects to support IP over Ethernet for LANs and WANs, and the SCSI command set on SCSI and fiber channel buses. By supporting IP protocols, these products can achieve full control of all storage throughout an enterprise.
True enterprise storage management will take time to develop. BakBone expects it will take some 12 to 18 months before it has its combined MagnaVault/NetVault system. Smart Storage's first major update to Infinet should be coming out as this story sees print. The next two years will be a watershed for storage management vendors as the category grows up.
