Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq: INTC) campaign to "PC-ify" the storage industry is already well underway, and one of the technologies it sees at the flash point of the transition to ubiquitous storage networking is iSCSI.
But the iSCSI revolution has stalled. Whereas the block-level IP storage networking protocol was once supposed to easily depose Fibre Channel SANs, it's fallen short of initial expectations, as even its most ardent supporters acknowledge (see IP SANs: Coming of Age).
That said, Intel is still a believer in iSCSI's inevitable ascendancy. Mike Wall, general manager of Intel's Storage Components Division (SCD), says it's just a question of when, not if: "Ninety percent of the time, if not more, it always takes a year or two longer for these new technologies to be adopted by the marketplace. But this is one that I'm sure will happen."
In fact, Intel has established a close partnership with Emulex Corp. (NYSE: ELX), one of the dominant suppliers of Fibre Channel host bus adapters a pairing that promises to provide the foundation for Emulex's transition to iSCSI (see Intel & Emulex: iSCSI Tag Team?).
Intel's SCD delivers storage system nuts and bolts, including I/O processors, PCI bridges, and RAID products for server and storage systems. The division's primary competitor is Broadcom Corp.'s (Nasdaq: BRCM) ServerWorks subsidiary.