Rackable Serves iSCSI

Rackable Systems adds IP SANs to its server-dominated product line

December 16, 2004

3 Min Read
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The newest iSCSI storage player has been a server company since 1999.

While EqualLogic Inc., Intransa Inc., LeftHand Networks Inc., Sanrad Inc., and StoneFly Networks Inc. jumped into the nascent market as IP SAN pure plays, Rackable Systems Inc.

just started shipping iSCSI systems this week, though it's over five years old (see Rackable Systems Adds iSCSI ).

Rackable isn't a stranger to storage. The Milpitas, Calif.-based vendor launched a NAS device in October, but its primary focus has been x86/Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) Opteron servers. CEO Tom Barton says the company had a $100 million run rate in 2003, selling mostly to large Web companies such as Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), PayPal, and online gaming sites, as well as high-performance computing customers.

Rackable got into iSCSI after those customers began requesting low-cost storage to free up their Fibre Channel SANs, consolidate direct attached storage, or mirror data from separate data centers for disaster recovery.

We got pulled into storage, quite happily, by some of our Web customers who needed low-cost, high-capacity storage,” Barton says. “Now storage is an explicit part of our strategy instead of an afterthought.”With IDC forecasting IP SANs to grow to a $2.9 billion market in 2008 and Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) CEO Dan Warmenhoven calling that estimate conservative, Barton decided it was a good bet (see NetApp Banks on iSCSI).

Rackable’s iSCSI target appliances include from 1TB to 4TB of SATA disk per appliance and management software acquired through an OEM deal with Wasabi Systems Inc. Prices range from $10,000 to $20,000 per appliance.

Is the world clamoring for an unproven iSCSI vendor? Rackable execs say they'll avoid getting tangled in the growing jungle of IP SAN players by chasing a different market than the startups already in the field. Where the other guys see their systems as low-cost primary storage, Rackable’s iSCSI appliances are aimed at large-scale data center deployments(see IP SANs Are Sizzling).

Rackable is focusing on the right target customer for iSCSI," IDC program manager Brad Nisbet says. "Although many think iSCSI will be integral to SMBs, right now we see it adopted mostly be large organizations."

"Rackable is focusing on the right target customer for iSCSI," IDC program manager Brad Nisbet says. "Although many think iSCSI will be integral to SMBs, right now we see it adopted mostly by large organizations."The bad part about that is, it brings Rackable more into competition with the early iSCSI strategies of EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and NetApp.

That’s OK, Barton says. Rackable has survived competitors such as Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) in the server game. He's confident the company can do the same in storage.

Barton says the company has grown from 23 employees to 115 since it closed a $21 million funding round in December 2002. And he says that’s the last funding it will need.

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch

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