Meanwhile, newer players EqualLogic Inc., Intransa Inc., iStor Networks Inc., LeftHand Networks Inc., StoneFly Networks Inc., and Xiran position their wares as the same kind of low-cost alternative. And so far, a few of them also appear to be holding their own.
Indeed, at least one says the only major challenge is meeting demand. Its a question of how fast the limited number of iSCSI vendors can engage the market, Intransa CTO Peter Wang says. Its a matter of keeping up with demand. Theres more than enough market for all the startups.
While Adaptec has been the most aggressive established player in low-end iSCSI, other big companies have entered the space, mostly at a higher end than Adaptec and the startups. Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) was among the first to offer iSCSI storage systems (see NetApp Casts Wider Net and Adaptec, NetApp Team on IP SAN). EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), which sells Symmetrix high-end SANs with iSCSI interfaces, is expected to announce native iSCSI connectivity for its midrange Clariion this month. Later this year, Dell is expected to offer an iSCSI version of the new low-end Clariion CX 100 that it will co-brand with EMC.
The entire midrange will become iSCSI within two years, Wang predicts. I believe well see a very fast ramp through 05 and 06.
Wang says the startups can win the midrange by carving a spot on the low end and scaling up, but its hard to imagine them holding off the likes of EMC, NetApp, IBM, or Dell once those giants decide the iSCSI market is big enough to tackle head-on.
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