Upgrade, Or Make Do

The spring trade shows loom, and futurizing is at an all-time high. Vendors everywhere are readying a fresh crop of hype to spade out in San Diego or Las Vegas. Chances are, at least a few suppliers have "reached out" to discuss their upcoming products and services with you before the shows, or to invite you to a private audience once you're there.

If so, you'll recognize a few of this year's pet topics: 10-Gbit/s Ethernet (plain, over copper, as a service, in SANs, etc.); tiered storage (with SAS, with SAS and SATA II, with Fibre Channel, with all of the foregoing); virtualization; autonomic data center management; energy efficiency; and managed services to name just a few.

The wheels are grinding. Members of the Ethernet Alliance consortium, for instance, have let slip that member companies plan a 10GBase-T plugfest at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab in April, followed by demos at the Interop show in May. (See 10GBase-T Compliance in Doubt.) The point will be to show the world the advent of cheaper, faster data center connectivity based on standard copper-driven Ethernet.

At the same time, serial-attached SCSI components are popping up everywhere, heralding an alternative to Fibre Channel in tiered storage. (See SAS Wave Breaks Big.)

And let's not forget virtualization, where startups and existing companies vie for faster, more efficient ways to capitalize on underlying hardware. (See Seanodes Sets Sail and Insider Eyes Virtual Desktops.)With so much input, it's tough to tell actual trends from manufactured ones. But doing so is crucial to setting a sensible IT strategy. After all, that's what advanced technology groups are for, isn't it?

Sure, but even sophisticated committees in big firms are challenged to separate the wheat from the chaff in a time when there's never been more to choose from, and when marketing groups holler continually that the train's leaving the station – you'd best get on board.

Under scrutiny, many so-called trends are really trial balloons – or just hot-air balloons. Most new technology rarely pans out economically until it's been through several iterations. In the meantime, suppliers will do all they can to shape the market to fit their products – or not. We all know the vendors who'll dig in and try to resist changes that could help customers, albeit while putting certain cash cows out to pasture. Case in point: EMC's and NetApp's position on SAS. (See Predictably Prim.)

In his latest column on Byte and Switch, Greg Schulz of the StorageIO Group thinks some of the most influential technologies are those that are well beyond initial fanfare. (See Zombies on the Move.) RAID, for instance, is a given in storage systems these days, even though at one time it was as newfangled as virtualization is today.

Perhaps one has to look beyond the trends. Excitement over virtualization and SAS, for instance, indicates that the evolutionary paths for storage hardware and software are more distinct than ever. It might be best to avoid too much dependency on a vendor that demands lock-in on either end.Likewise, what does the emphasis on 10-Gbit/s Ethernet tell us? That IP is moving on, that it continues to hold sway in most data centers and isn't likely to give way to other technologies anytime soon?

Another word for trend is fashion. And as in fashion, the spring shows bring in old things made new and new ones old. The point is to find something that fits well, wears well, and won't break the budget. See you at the shows!

— Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch