Windows Soaks Up Storage

As Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) launched its Windows Server 2003 in San Francisco today, storage vendors were virtually tripping over each other to voice their support of the new platform (see Microsoft Ships Windows Server 2003, Vendors Back Windows 2003, Veritas Down With Win 2003, and CommVault Supports Windows 2003).

Most of the buzz around the new Windows platform has had to do with added security features, but Microsoft has added a number of new storage features to it as well. The key storage features in Windows Server 2003 are:

While more traditional storage software vendors were busy emphasizing how well their products support the new platform today, some industry observers say they must be quietly trembling at how close the Microsoft monster is getting to their turf.

"If I was in their shoes, I would definitely keep an eye on it," says Ron Lovell, an analyst with Greenwich Technology Partners. "The greatest threat is to folks that do file system management and volume management, like Veritas Software Corp."

While Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group Inc., agrees that Microsoft’s emphasis on storage management could indicate that it is contemplating products that would compete with the likes of Veritas down the road, he says that for the time being, the storage giant has little to fear. “This is just an OS,” he says.Veritas, for its part, insists that today’s Microsoft launch is purely beneficial. "Nothing they’re doing is stepping on our toes,” insists Mike Ivanov, a director of product management at Veritas. "They’re just providing the plumbing that we end up using... They’re enabling their software partners to do more with less."

He points out that as Microsoft pushes into the data center, it is helping provide business opportunities for the likes of Veritas, since any operating system in a data center needs to be hardened. “That’s what we bring,” he says.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) also says that the Windows Server 2003 launch is good news. “We see this as a very good thing,” says VP of platform marketing Chuck Hollis, pointing out that up until now there was no standard way to access snap functionality. “They’re creating very clear and unambiguous APIs on their operating system.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft itself is careful to emphasize the importance of its storage partners for its new platform. “We are not competing,” insists Adam. “We are just enhancing value for our customers… Our partners can develop products on top of our platform.” He admits, however, that “as with any large company, there are parts where we compete and parts where we partner.”

While industry observers may disagree on what impact Microsoft may have on storage management, they all seem to agree that the company’s foray into supporting iSCSI is significant. “This is opening up the iSCSI market to potentially inflict some damage on Fibre Channel [vendors],” Duplessie says.— Eugénie Larson, Reporter, Byte and Switch