Quiet little announcements sometimes have a way of rattling lots of cages. The joint announcement this morning from
Nishan Systems and industry giants IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) may have that effect, as the announcement adds considerable muscle to the IP storage movement (see Nishan Announces IP Storage Protocol).
The announcement is that new IP storage software, Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), has been released as open source code and is available for download at
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~ips/IPS_Projects/ips_projects.html.
The significance of the announcement is that this bit of code essentially acts like DNS for IP storage -- providing a discovery and naming service for storage resources and devices within a storage network. DNS (Domain Name Service) does the same sort of thing for systems connected to the Internet and is at the core of what makes the Internet work. Availability of discovery and naming services with iSNS may also overcome any resistance within IT circles toward the adoption of IP storage.
According to John Kuhn, IBM's iSCSI Development Manager, the perception that the iSNS is the piece of the IP storage puzzle that is essential for iSCSI to function well is, "right on the money. The concept of discovery and naming is absolutely key to making iSCSI a bona fide solution."
"I think this is one more validation that IP storage is happening. The pieces are falling into place to create this infrastructure, particularly from a management perspective," says Gary Orenstein, director of marketing at Nishan Systems.
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