Hot Technologies For 2005 On The Front Line

Whether it's blade servers, virtualized storage arrays or security software, VARBusiness' just-completed State of Technology survey highlights the reality that resellers must continue to push the envelope in systems, networking and software if they want to distinguish themselves from direct sellers. In this year's survey (detailed results will appear in VARBusiness' Jan. 10, 2005, issue and online at www.varbusiness.com), VARs also named Voice over IP, 64-bit processors and radio-frequency identification (RFID) as areas they consider likely to constitute breakthrough technologies for their businesses in 2005. In this article, we're putting some perspective behind those projections, with technology-based snapshots of these hot segments.

Blade Servers Bust Out
Spurred by the advent of new 64-bit microprocessor technologies and the enthusiastic uptake of Linux, VARs don't find many areas where they move more units than in blade servers. The market is growing at a torrid pace -- blade revenues for this year's second quarter total $233 million, according to IDC, for an annual run-rate of nearly $1 billion. So it's not unexpected that Tier 1 vendors IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems are stoking their respective channels with hot products aplenty as they fight a pitched battle for the blade high ground.

With its BladeCenter lineup, IBM is successfully working a dual-processor strategy. Some of the models, like the JS20, sport IBM's homegrown Power architecture. Other models use Intel's x86-compatible Xeon server processor applied in one- to four-way configurations. In a savvy bid to build mindshare for BladeCenter, IBM has opened up its design specification to encourage third-party vendors to develop networking switches and adapter cards that fit into BladeCenter systems. Opening the spec also should spur the creation of function-specific, network-edge appliances, such as hardware firewalls, intrusion-detection devices and XML accelerators.

For its part, HP is thinking beyond the server box when it comes to its BladeSystem family, pitching it as a total "infrastructure" solution that uses tools such as HP's Systems Insight Manager software to create a virtualized network. Resellers would do well to study HP's tack, since marketing mere blades doesn't seem nearly as savvy as selling full-fledged utility computing solutions. And though it is a ways back from IBM and HP, Sun, nevertheless, is going full-speed ahead in blades. Its Sun Fire B100x and B1660 blade platforms give VARs the flexibility of offering customers a mix-and-match assortment of Sparc and x86 processing power, and Solaris and Linux operating systems control.

There's Something About 64 Bits
What's bigger than a desktop PC but not quite as hefty as those expensive RISC-processor-based boxes that are replacing yesteryear's mainframes? If your answer is a commodity server, you're definitely a reseller with a clue. Consider this: Unit sales of commodity servers based on AMD's high-flying Opteron processors soared 81 percent in the second quarter of 2004, IDC says. Why do customers care about Opteron? Mostly because it's 64-bit. Actually, it's a hybrid 32-/64-bit CPU, which can run both 32- and 64-bit software via a set of 64-bit instruction-set extensions. AMD kicked off the category in 2003 with its AMD64 architecture and companion 64-bit instruction-set extensions. These are implemented in AMD's Opteron server (and companion Athlon 64-bit desktop) processors. IBM, HP and Sun have all rolled out Opteron servers, as have numerous white-box builders.Seething on the sidelines as AMD's technology was rapidly adopted by the market, Intel fired back this summer with its own extensions, called EM64T, and a 64-bit version (formerly code-named Nocona) of its tried-and-true Xeon server CPU. The 64-bit Xeon should stoke additional volume deployments of commodity servers in 2005, IDC says. Looking ahead, next year will see products push ahead in the form of multicore processors from both Intel and AMD.

Above commodity platforms, at the high end of the market, IBM and Sun are both fielding 64-bit processors. The Power 5, which was publicly unveiled in March, is IBM's latest iteration of its RISC microprocessor architecture. The 64-bit device has a top clock speed of 1.9 GHz and beats Intel to the punch as a dual-core part. As for Sun, it's producing a dual-core UltraSparc IV chip, while it paves a path to the 2006 launch of its groundbreaking eight-core Niagara processor. That chip could change the game entirely with its focus on "throughput computing," which supports highly multithreaded execution and delivers ample power to handle network-intensive tasks. As for Intel's high-end play, the Itanium 2, the company has already demonstrated the next-generation version of that processor. Code-named Montecito, it has a multicore design and more than 1.7 billion transistors.

Linux Becomes Likeable
No longer the little OS that could, Linux is making a big play to take its place in the center of the enterprise. Although Microsoft has thrust its Windows Server offering into that same space -- and is spending $1.7 billion annually in support of its channel partners to make sure it maintains its leadership position -- Linux in the enterprise is still moving forward, slowly but surely. Both Red Hat and Novell's SuSE operation have rolled out enterprise-class versions of their Linux distributions. Sales of Red Hat Enterprise Linux have reached 144,000 units, including 115,000 subscriptions to enterprise IT servers. Meanwhile, sales of subscriptions to SuSE Linux Enterprise Server reached 19,000 units in Novell's recently completed third fiscal quarter.

To help spur deployment, the two vendors are also pursuing reseller programs, albeit with different flavors. Red Hat, which has rubbed some VARs the wrong way with the perception that it's out to write as much business for itself as it can, has a list of partners for its Enterprise Linux family, though they skew toward larger OEMs and ISVs, such as BEA, HP, IBM and Veritas. SuSE had a fairly small partner program when it was acquired by Novell in late 2003. Novell has spent the past year working to fold SuSE into its much larger channel operation. Boding well for both companies is the fact that vendors such as HP, IBM and Oracle tend to remain Linux-agnostic and support both Red Hat and SuSE according to their customers' wishes. Moving ahead on the technology front, watch for Linux to get ever more capable, given the recent addition of support for scalable, high-end servers made possible by the new 2.6 kernel. Security also will command increased attention, as the kernel enables Linux purveyors to make their distributions compliant with the emerging EAL 4 international standard.

VoIP Gets the Call...
...as a technology whose time has come. Indeed, with a raft of new products and services coming down the pike, VoIP has moved to a new level of reliability that relegates to the past nasty dropouts and other glitches surrounding the digital data packets used to carry voice traffic over the Internet. And, as a $2 billion annual business, it's finally becoming a field with profit potential. Cisco has been working that angle for its partners since the beginning. It shipped its first IP phone in May 2000 and since then has sold 3.5 million units. The company's latest offerings enable resellers to offer their customers VoIP phones that not only replace, but outshine, traditional handsets. For example, the Cisco IP Phone 7970G (and the Wireless IP Phone 7920) family is a line of $500, full-featured VoIP phones with backlit, high-resolution, touch-screen color screens and ample computing power. (Beyond handsets, Cisco offers complete back-office VoIP switches to support full-blown enterprise installations.)Avaya, Cisco's powerhouse competitor, is also in the mix. It's aiming to support enterprisewide VoIP deployments via a gaggle of media servers and gateways, messaging software and IP handsets. But being on the VoIP cutting edge means more than simply slinging Internet-enabled phone hardware. Services matter, too. In that regard, longtime Taiwanese motherboard specialist Soyo is offering via the channel VoIP phones bundled with a 3-cents-a-minute, pay-as-you-call service, which dangles the attractive carrot of residual income for VARs.

Moving forward, now that VoIP standards are falling in place, there should continue to be a rush to market by the likes of D-Link, Texas Instruments and 3Com and other networking players too numerous to mention. On the carrier side of the equation, IP providers like AT&T, 8x8, Level 3, SBC and Skype will vie with the Ciscos and Avayas of the market.

Protect the Network
That's the imperative of security software. Sure, antivirus software continues to advance, as vendors such as McAfee, SonicWall and Symantec update their products to handle the migration of threats from file-based to network-based viruses. At the same time, security software is expanding to protect against identity theft and proactively assess and stop hacker attacks before they breach the network edge. Computer Associates, for one, has extended its eTrust Security Management software line to encompass such solutions. Taking a page from an episode of television's CSI drama, CA has even rolled a new Network Forensics package into its eTrust family. The software is billed as a threat-management solution that captures raw network data and uses advanced analysis to uncover anomalous traffic and investigate security breaches.

No component is more crucial to network protection than firewall software. There, VARs have their choice of products that continue to push the envelope from Check Point, NetScreen, SonicWall and Watchguard, among others. But, moving forward, customers are expected to start adopting overall security solutions, rather than the finger-in-the-dyke approach of installing multiple software packages. Enter network-edge appliances. Two examples: Symantec is forging a path with its Network Security 7100 series, which analyzes protocol traffic in and out of the enterprise and applies a variety of heavy-duty statistical techniques to identify attacks and protect the network. Check Point also offers a gateway appliance, Interspect, which protects against worms and automatically segments a network into security zones to minimize unauthorized attacks.

New Spins On Storage
Don't call them storage networks anymore. The most capable of today's storage systems deliver cutting-edge virtualization capabilities to create separate pools of storage for different application profiles. Such setups automatically cast about and examine both internally and externally connected storage to access resources across the network. Logical partitioning and simplified replication features deliver streamlined storage management and optimized application performance. That's the idea behind Sun's StorEdge 9990, which is the recently released extension to the company's 9000 family. It's also key to HP's new StorageWorksXP 12000. At the core of both systems is Hitachi Data Systems' new TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform. The successor to its high-end Lightning platform, and also the basis of HP's and Sun's large-scale enterprise storage platforms, TagmaStore is a highly scalable storage controller that can pool up to 32 petabytes of external storage systems.HP also has hitched its wagon to Storage Grid, its broad, technological vision for how it will provide a seamless, virtualized repository. The architecture is built from what HP calls "smart cells," which comprise an infrastructure that's modular, intelligent and searchable in real-time. And powerhouse EMC has its fingers in many storage pies, building on its strategy for providing information life-cycle management (ILM). The company recently rolled out its extender lines, which add application-aware policies to systems such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, Oracle, PeopleSoft and Sybase systems. Its high-end Symmetrix DMX series of networked storage systems apply EMC's Direct Matrix Architecture to support scalability and top-flight performance. The Centera line is billed as a content-addressed storage solution that's angled at quick retrieval of vast archives of e-mail and electronic documents.

As for IBM, it has revamped its FAStT product line into the TotalStorage product family to field a full range of offerings from the low end to the enterprise. The lineup addresses the replication needs of large enterprises as well as the reliability required for demanding applications in compute-intensive installations. Meanwhile, disk has become a viable alternative to tape for secondary backup of nontransaction-oriented systems. With the higher capacity, throughputs and price points of ATA and Serial ATA disk drives from the likes of Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital, VARs are seeing new opportunities to offer customers disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and restore solutions that were not long ago prohibitive to all but the largest of enterprises.

RFID Signals Its Arrival
Still viewed in some circles as a next-generation technology, RFID is already seeing heavy real-world deployment by enterprise users in the know. Helped by IBM Global Services, Wal-Mart is using RFID tags and readers to help manage its warehouse inventories. Gillette and Procter & Gamble also have put RFID through its paces in pilot programs. Perhaps that's why ScanSource, a distributor that has long been focused on the point-of-sales market, is so high on the technology.

On the vendor side, Symbol Technologies, best known for its bar-code scanners, has embraced RFID and is looking to spur enterprisewide deployments. It recently acquired Matrics and is rolling that company's end-to-end RFID system into Symbol's enterprise-mobility architecture as a way to move RFID from a point-product item to a full-blown networked solution. Another leader is Sun, which released its Java Enterprise System RFID software package and opened the RFID Test Center in Dallas to help propel the technology forward. As a systems house, Sun's thinking is that RFID solutions won't work without lots of supporting infrastructure in the form of servers and networks.