So, how does the Microsoft iSCSI code stack up? While users would probably latch on to any initiator Microsoft released, end users and vendors that have tested the new software say the technology is impressive.
"We've done some benchmarks on throughput... and on an average, Microsoft is pretty much at the top," says Ari Bose, CIO of networking vendor 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS). "And it's vendor-agnostic, as long as you're on Microsoft's operating system. That's pretty important... Our data center is a very heterogeneous environment." [Ed. note: Uhhhh, right... Microsoft will support any vendor you like, as long as it's Microsoft.]
3Com has been testing the initiator for the past three and a half months, Bose says, and plans a global rollout of iSCSI to its data centers within the next couple of weeks, although the company will hold off on using the new technology for its most mission-critical data for now. Implementing an IP SAN using Microsoft's iSCSI drivers has allowed 3Com to consolidate the number of servers serving the Americas from 14 to two, according to Bose.
Meanwhile, other IP SAN vendors are also thrilled with the Microsoft initiator. John Joseph, VP of marketing at EqualLogic Inc., says he's very impressed with the software's performance, although he says it's a bit too early to recommend one initiator over another. "It's an excellent piece of work," he says. "People are enthused over the quality and performance of the product."
Alacritech Inc., which offers a TCP offload engine (TOE) iSCSI adapter that supports the Microsoft initiator, doesn't hesitate to recommend it over other Windows iSCSI initiators from third-party vendors. Among others, for example, Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) had written its own iSCSI stack for Windows (see Win2003 Zooms on Alacritech).
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