Apple Bites Into Storage

Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and networked storage are rarely mentioned in the same breath without drawing a puzzled look. The folks at Apple hope to change that with a new SAN file system geared mostly toward digital video applications and low-cost storage.

Apple today started shipping its Xsan file system, which it announced as a beta product last February (see Apple Ships SAN File System). Storage product manager Eric Zelenka hopes the file system gives it a more compelling storage story for its XServe RAID storage systems.

I still run into people who say, ‘Apple? Storage?’ ” Zelenka says. “This should bring us a whole new set of customers.”

Apple first got into storage with its XServe RAID arrays in February 2003 (see Apple Slices RAID). Apple claims a fair share of customers in the high-performance computing and life-sciences verticals through partnership with InfiniBand vendors, but its storage is used mostly by existing Mac customers looking to network their direct attached storage. (See InfiniCon Delivers InfiniBand for Apple and Voltaire Touts Largest InfiniBand Switch.)

Xsan makes it easier to share and manage storage on XServe RAID arrays. The 64-bit cluster file system lets up to 64 users simultaneously access a storage volume, which comes in handy for post-production video work. It also supports striping across multiple arrays.Xsan beta customers include Bunim/Murray Productions, which edits MTV‘s The Real World and Road Rules and Fox’s The Simple Life television shows.

“XSan is good for building a Fibre Channel network for workstations running I/O intensive applications, like video editing,” says Peter Kastner, an analyst for consultant firm Vericours.

But Zelenka says Apple hopes to go beyond video and Mac-only shops. He hopes the Xsan’s low $999 price tag and a new storage support plan for XServe RAID will appeal to users looking to bring Macs into storage networks. XServe RAID systems cost less than $20,000, including Xsan and Fibre Channel HBAs.

Apple faces a couple of hurdles in breaking out of Mac shops, though. For starters, you can only use Xsan in a heterogenous network (one that combines Apple computers with other platforms) through Advanced Digital Information Corp.‘s (Nasdaq: ADIC) StorNext file system, which is compatible with Xsan but adds to the cost and complexity (see ADIC Works With Apple). The other problem Apple has in storage is perception.

Although he thinks Apple can make inroads in storage this year if it makes it a priority, Kastner admits the idea of Apple storage in the enterprise would “raise eyebrows” among CIOs. “A lot of CIOs will be from Missouri on this one,” he says. [Ed note: Missouri is the Show-Me state.]One storage administrator charged with developing strategy for a large heterogeneous enterprise SAN confirms that notion.

“I’ve been hearing good things about Apple’s storage,” says the admin, who asked not to be named. “The only problem is, it’s got the Apple name, and that turns off a lot of traditional enterprise storage people.”

Apple has done better convincing storage vendors that it’s for real. Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) named Apple among its Resilient Low-Cost Storage Initiative partners last month along with Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Engenio Information Technologies Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), MPC Computers, and Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP). (See New Roads to Reliability and Oracle Teams With Storage Vendors.) Oracle is using four XServe RAID arrays in its reference system for the initiative.

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch