On 3Com's Storage Trail

Several years after its former CEO helped start Intransa, enterprise switch and router vendor 3Com may be taking its own stab at the enterprise storage market. And it's heading straight for enterprise iSCSI.

But don't expect to see 3Com's storage stateside anytime soon.

Let's take it from the top. Since late November, 3Com's been waiting for final approval by the People's Republic of China for its planned buyout of 49 percent of H3C, a joint venture launched in 2003 by 3Com and China's Huawei.

3Com, which owns 51 percent of H3C, already relies on it for much of its revenue. For the three months ended December 1, 2006, 3Com reported that 48 percent of its $333 million in sales came from China. In comparison, 21 percent came from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; 17 percent from North America; 8 percent from the Pacific Rim; and 6 percent from Latin America and South America.

3Com's revenues come primarily from the sale of networking and security products, along with voice gear and services. But H3C has been selling its Neocean IX series of iSCSI SANs in China based on technology from FalconStor, Intransa, iVivity, and Xyratex. (See FalconStor Focuses on China.)H3C's smaller IX1000 iSCSI SAN is based on technology from FalconStor, while its larger one, the IX5000, includes gear OEM'd mainly from Intransa. FalconStor CEO ReiJane says both could become available later this year in the West. (See FalconStor Focuses on China and FalconStor Teams With Huawei-3Com.)

Huai also says the Neocean line will be expanded. "You should expect the [Neocean] product line to expand vertically with more features and horizontally with more products," he told Byte and Switch, without getting specific.

It's clear that 3Com has no intention of throwing out anything being sold by H3C. "Once we own 100% of H3C, we'll own the entire H3C organization. That will strengthen our link to H3C and all of its products," states 3Com spokesman John Vincenzo in an email. He declined to respond to the question of whether this includes storage and signals 3Com's entry into the worldwide enterprise storage market.

Still, even if 3Com decides to ship its iSCSI SANs selectively in Europe or other areas outside China, it doesn't follow that 3Com, whose ex-CEO Eric Benhamou helped launch Intransa, will reverse its years-old resistance to the U.S. storage market. (See 3Com's Enterprise Challenge.)

"[3Com has] strategically managed to avoid the storage market," says analyst Zeus Kerravala of the Yankee Group. "The storage incumbents are too strong. I don't think [3Com's] ready."If 3Com does go ahead with storage gear, one reseller is likely to know first. General Datacom (GDC), which was unveiled early in February as H3C's only Advanced Certified Partner in the U.S., has plans to offer H3C's enterprise routers and Ethernet switches anywhere in North America, starting now. But a GDC spokesman doesn't mention storage, though he says GDC will be adding to the portfolio as the H3C relationship evolves.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, and James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch