Faceoff in the Vertical

5:00 PM -- Given Isilon's love of publicity, the company's announcement yesterday of a new OEM agreement with Schlumberger is positively cryptic: fifty words and out. (See Isilon Signs Schlumberger OEM.) What gives?

Maybe there's not much to say. The news that Isilon has an OEM deal with Schlumberger, a big player in oil and gas IT consulting, isn't surprising. Isilon's been included in Schlumberger accounts for awhile, along with EMC, Network Appliance, SGI, and Voltaire. (Schlumberger wasn't able to provide a full list of their storage OEMs at press time.)

Then again, by playing it short and sweet, Isilon's taking the high ground. What better way to ensure any wrath from NetApp appears unprovoked, in the companies' ongoing clash over clustered NAS?

After all, it's just a couple of short weeks since Dan Warmenhoven acknowledged being "pissed off" with Isilon, thanks to comparisons about clustered NAS allegedly made during Isilon's IPO roadshow. (See NetApp Stokes Competitive Fires.)

And to top it off, the venue for Isilon's announcement was Schlumberger's U.S. technical symposium in Las Vegas, where, presumably, neither Isilon nor NetApp care to look petty or provocative.For the record, NetApp made sure to highlight its demonstrations of Data Ontap GX and case studies on the same day Isilon's news went out.

Asked to elaborate on the Schlumberger deal, Isilon was prim. "We're not disclosing financial terms, but we are OEMing our core enterprise platform to Schlumberger," says Jay Wampold, senior director of marketing at Isilon.

What is Isilon's reaction to hostility from NetApp? "They have validated our leadership by the comments they've made," Wampold says. "We welcome the validation they've given us."

Indeed. NetApp's defensive stance regarding Isilon is attracting attention to the gaps in its own product line. (See HDS Hikes High-End NAS and Isilon's Counting on Clusters.) And while the oil and gas segment isn't as large as financial services, telecom, or entertainment, it's a vertical where clustered NAS plays a vital role. (See Top 10 Storage Markets to Watch and Energy Firms Clamor for Clusters.) Even if Isilon's playing a bit role at Schlumberger, you don't need a million words to get the message.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch