The momentum behind IP storage is clearly building. The entrance of Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) into the storage market is a case in point. It's no coincidence that the world's leading router vendor picked a spot for itself in storage early on, or that CEO John Chambers sees storage as one of a handful of billion-dollar segments on Cisco's agenda (see Storage: A Cisco Billion Dollar Play). Clearly, Cisco sees storage as a key element of corporate networks, one that will synergize with its IP expertise.
Other vendors have caught the drift. EqualLogic, EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA), and Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) have integrated iSCSI into their products and thrown their weight behind IP storage.
There are some holdouts: Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) continues to downplay iSCSI. But Sun may have to get on board or risk being left behind. It failed to crack the top ten companies in Heavy Reading's Fall 2003 Storage Networking Market Perception Study,, despite having high brand recognition (see Sun SANs Slapped).
Bottom line? Fibre Channel created the storage networking market. But IP will eventually rule it. There may be lots of stops, starts, and compromises along the way, but the handwriting is on the wall. For every organization that has a Fibre Channel SAN today, a moment of truth will arrive, when the infrastructure will need to be substantially upgraded or replaced. Odds are, companies will go with the IP flow.
iSCSI isn't an end in itself. It's the start of something bigger, namely, a migration toward increased and eventually universal use of Internet Protocol on networks of all kinds storage ones included.
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