IBM Sharpens Focus on EMC

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is attacking EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) where it considers the Hopkinton giant most vulnerable: storage virtualization (see IBM Virtualizes EMC).

IBM has upgraded its SAN volume controller (SVC) with support for EMC Clariion midrange systems. Its plan is to get companies with EMC gear to buy Big Blue because SVC now lets them manage all EMC hardware. SVC previously supported EMC high-end Symmetrix systems. It also works with Thunder and Lightning midrange and enterprise systems from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS).

IBM's upgrade is the latest shot fired in the battle among IBM, EMC, and HDS over storage virtualization. And it's aimed squarely at EMC's pet market -- the midrange. EMCs Clariion revenue grew 56 percent year-over-year last quarter, compared to 3 percent Symmetrix growth (see Tucci Touts ILM).

IBM also is reacting to EMC's momentum. According to IDC, EMC grew its overall SAN revenue 23.5 percent in the quarter, compared to 16.4 percent year-over-year growth by IBM.

That's drawn a big fat bullseye on EMC's back. “Our maniacal focus is going after EMC,” says Ron Riffe, IBM’s director of storage software strategy. “We want to break EMC’s proprietary lock on storage. We expect quite an uptick from EMC customers."Timing is part of the strategy. IBM, which has had the SVC virtualization appliance on the market for more than a year, is looking to get its shots in before EMC ships its storage router (see Cisco & IBM Serve Virtual Combo and EMC Takes Storage Router for a Spin). By EMC's estimate, that product is at least six months away from delivery (see EMC on Virtualization: Wait for Us).

SVC is an in-band appliance that runs either on Linux-based appliances or on the MDS 9000 switch from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO).

In contrast, EMC’s storage router runs out-of-band and works in conjunction with intelligent switches from Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Cisco, and McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA). For its part, Hitachi introduced virtualization on the controller of its Tagmastore SAN system, which launched in September (see Hitachi Struts Mr. Universal).

EMC seems unfazed by IBM's volley. Being late to the virtualization game won’t hurt because the market has yet to develop, the vendor maintains. “It’s pretty much an area where tire-kicking is going on, but the market’s not embracing it this year,” says Dennis Hoffman, EMC’s VP of software marketing.

Further, Hoffman insists IBM has missed the market for virtualization. Instead of using virtualization as a tool for pooling midrange storage, he says EMC considers virtualization most valuable as an enterprise feature for non-disruptive data migration -- moving data from one vendor's array to another's without disruption or downtime.— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch