Panel Endorses SRM Separatism

CHICAGO -- When it comes to storage resource management (SRM) software, storage administrators don't want applications that tie them to their hardware vendors.

That was the gist of a panel discussion of SRM software at the Storage Decisions conference this week -- and it was good news for some smaller companies looking to cash in on the rapidly growing market (see IDC: SRM, EMC Software Grows and SRM, Disk Backup Heat Up).

The panelists agreed they prefer software to be independent from their storage systems' vendor, mainly because they want to be able to maintain heterogenous networks or change hardware without having to switch SRM as well.

Mark Dixon, director of technical services for the Chicago Board of Trade, said his SAN is based on EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) storage -- and he didn't want an SRM package integrated with one or the other.

"We picked Veritas as much as for what they could do today as for what they'll be able to do tomorrow," Dixon said. "I didn't want to be tied to an EMC or Hitachi solution."Dixon said he considered 12 functional criteria when evaluating around a dozen SRM vendors earlier this year. The criteria included look and feel, central view, auto discovery, and provisioning. But he also considered an important non-technical issue: "What type of relationship do we have that the vendor? Can we influence them about future products?"

Graeme Hay, who handles the Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) account for consultant firm Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) (NYSE: CSC), also wanted to avoid hardware vendor tie-in when evaluating SRM for Motorola.

"Keeping a heterogenous environment was important," he said. "We have storage from EMC, Hitachi, and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), and we didn't want [those] vendors' products."

Hay said he looked at SRM products from AppIQ Inc., CreekPath Systems Inc., Softek Storage Solutions Inc., and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) before picking CreekPath. Hay said he likes CreekPath's discovery, reporting, provisioning, and optimization tools.

That's no surprise -- CSC endorses CreekPath through a sales alliance between the two (see CreekPath Partners With CSC).Lars Linden, principal of State Street Global Advisors, said he uses EMC ControlCenter for some functions but uses AppIQ for most SRM along with Onaro Inc. for change management (see EMC Upgrades ControlCenter, Tele Columbus Rated B+, and Onaro Ships Change Manager). "ControlCenter has limited use across a heterogeneous environment," he said. "EMC's good on their own environment, and only parts of their own environment."

Linden also stressed the importance of a relationship with his software vendor. He said he's working with AppIQ to add features that would help his storage network. But he's not looking for AppIQ for change management. "We use Onaro to manage and understand change," he said. "We need to make changes and manage change I don't want the same product for both. It's like the executive branch and the judicial branch."

Jerome Wendt, senior storage administrator at First Data, a credit-card processing firm, said his choice came down to price -- and the ability to centrally manage various operating systems. After evaluating EMC ControlCenter, Softek, and Storability Inc., he chose Softek's Storage Manager.

"Softek's interface was much more intuitive and centrally managed than the others," Wendt said. "We have hundreds of servers on the Windows and Unix side."

Still, he said Softek wasn't that far ahead of the others until he factored in total cost of ownership over three years. "That really separated the men from the boys," Wendt said.— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch