RXT is not marketed as primary storage, but its potential to leverage removable SATA disk and its support for a broad range of connectivity options make it a potential spoiler in the iSCSI versus FC competition. We even slipped a question into the survey that mentioned RXT by name as a low-cost alternative for SMBs considering a SAN. We hope the Spectra Logic folks will keep their sense of humor as they read vendor responses to this question.
For its part, Spectra Logic didn't represent the RXT as a "SAN killer"; in fact, it doesn't market the RXT as primary storage at all. Instead, it used its insights into the SMB market to reinforce the logic of the iSCSI value proposition.
Spectra Logic, (800) 833-1132, (303) 449-6400. www.spectralogic.com
Jon William Toigo is a CEO of storage consultancy Toigo Partners International, founder and chairman of the Data Management Institute, and author of 13 books. Write to him at [email protected].
We composed 20 questions designed to ferret out how storage vendors really feel about iSCSI. Fourteen vendors responded, and as you might expect, their stances varied dramatically based on their respective Fibre Channel market shares. But one thing came through crystal clear: iSCSI isn't going away, and it won't be marginalized. Whether it falls prey to the kinds of interoperability problems that plague Fibre Channel users (and swell FC vendor coffers) remains to be seen. If iSCSI is in your future, or if you just have a penchant for standards-based technologies, these responses are required reading.