CAS Matures, Confusion Remains

CAS is still being defined, even if few question its usefulness

February 10, 2007

2 Min Read
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Although content addressable storage (CAS) is moving into the mainstream because of compliance and rapidly growing digital content, there remains much confusion about what the technology is and its place in the overall archiving picture.

According to the latest Byte and Switch Insider, CAS is no longer an experimental technology for early adopters. It is considered a storage technology choice by mainstream businesses that have to deal with their offices moving to become paperless. However, it is not a term that customers bandy about, and even some vendors whose product fits the category are reluctant to call their products CAS.

The report, "Content Addressable Storage: Market Update," spells out a clear need for the technology because of regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA and litigation rules that mandate organizations keep information readily accessible for decades. Financial services, healthcare, and legal organizations have the greatest need for long-term archiving, although any publicly traded company is subject to regulatory compliance.

These are also early days for CAS standards, with the extensible Access Method (XAM) at the technical specification stage at SNIA. (See SNIA Touts New Storage Interface.) The report says XAM could be ratified by the middle of the year.

The report also identifies 10 major CAS players -- a mix of established storage vendors and startups. EMC's early and aggressive marketing makes it the dominant player, but it faces challenges from interesting contenders. (See EMC Preps Centera.) For instance, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) is making a strong run at the CAS market and startup Caringo technology is driven by Paul Carpentier, who developed software used for EMC's Centera CAS system. (See Hitachi Heads for the Archives and Caringo.)The report takes a detailed look at the contenders, as well as the technology behind CAS and the market forces driving its adoption.

Companies analyzed in the report include:

  • Bycast Inc.

  • Caringo

  • EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC)

  • ExaGrid Systems Inc.

  • Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ)

  • Hitachi Data Systems (HDS)

  • IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)

  • Nexsan Technologies Inc.

  • Permabit Inc.

  • Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW)

    Dave Raffo, News Editor, Byte and Switch

    Content Addressable Storage: Market Update is available as part of an annual subscription to Byte and Switch Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900.

    To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.byteandswitch.com/insider. For more information about all of Light Reading Inc.'s Insider research services, please visit www.lightreading.com/research.To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

    Lee Salem
    Sales Director
    Heavy Reading Enterprise
    415-947-6144
    [email protected]

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