SNW Day 1

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After a nightmarish trip from points north, it's almost a relief to be here at yet another theme resort in the Orlando landfill -- even though skies are gray and rainy.

At least the weather won't distract folk from the business of scoping out the latest in storage products and services. We've done a bit of preshow gumshoeing to give you a headstart on some of the news slated for this week's confab.

So far, it looks like a pretty tame show. But there may be some surprises. On the shuttle from the airport last night, for instance, a storage reseller regaled two bleary-eyed end users with tales of a newfangled storage system, originally designed by Seagate Technology Inc. (NYSE: STX) but since sold off to another firm, that's set for unveiling here this week. Apparently, it involves drive housings that can eliminate maintenance on disk drives dramatically. No names were given, because the salesman was "under NDA." Stay tuned.

Elsewhere, we're hearing rumors of more de-duplication alliances between startups and big-name storage system suppliers, and rumblings about FCoE, among other things. At the very least, it should prove to be an interesting time to poke the embers of recent announcements and see what's likely to take fire later on.

More later.