The key impediment to iSCSI a year ago was the lack of "targets"--storage arrays and tape devices with connections designed to support block access via the protocol. This is changing rapidly with excellent entries from Snap Appliance and others, and a flood of new boxes about to hit the streets from brand-name vendors like EMC and Network Appliance. Most of the gear also leverages S-ATA disks, providing maximum capacity at rock-bottom prices.
Several Fibre Channel vendors have responded to iSCSI's cost advantage with "dumbed-down" HBAs and switches offering less expensive "entry-level" fabrics they claim are comparable in price to iSCSI. And they toss out other considerations, including the greater familiarity with Fibre Channel today, the "inherently superior" security of Fibre Channel over IP and the widespread availability of quality FC targets, as evidence that these are competitive offerings. We'll see.
Below is our brief analysis of the vendor responses to our questionnaire. Keep in mind the different markets served by the respondents and the audiences to which the answers are aimed. You'll find the complete responses here.
Adaptec
Fresh from announcing its acquisition of NAS and iSCSI target array maker Snap Appliance, Adaptec made clear that it's going after iSCSI in a big way. Once the industry leader in parallel SCSI technology, Adaptec was late to take the plunge into Fibre Channel, viewing the technology as transitory. In the late 1990s, it dabbled in, then quickly exited, the FC world, instead pursuing an IP-centric approach to storage networking. We think that had it moved forward with its proprietary UDP-based, rather than TCP-based, implementation of serial SCSI four years ago, Adaptec would own this burgeoning market. However, after deciding to adopt a standards-based approach, the company put aside its EtherStore product and waited for the IETF-sanctioned protocol.
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