ISCSI Products Rolling Out

But despite such developments, iSCSI, which stands for Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), may have a tough uphill battle to dislodge Fibre Channel from storage-network solution providers. Here's what VARs need to know before they get involved.

A year or so ago, iSCSI was a hot topic. But only a few iSCSI products shipped in 2002, and few buyers took notice. Among those who delivered products were IBM, Armonk, N.Y., with its TotalStorage IP Storage 200i iSCSI disk array; and several iSCSI switch/router folks, including Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif.; Nishan Systems, also in San Jose; Sanrad, Milpitas, Calif.; and StoneFly Networks, San Diego. None of these were widely deployed.

Since then, many of the leading network interface card (NIC) vendors have shipped so-called iSCSI "instigators" with TCP/IP Offload Engines (TOEs). TOEs perform the processor-intensive tasks associated with running the TCP protocol stack, thus relieving the host system's CPU of the job and allowing servers to perform efficiently in an iSCSI environment. In fact, TOEs have become the most competitive iSCSI segment. Those with hats in this ring include Adaptec, Milpitas, Calif.; Alacritech, San Jose, Calif.; Intel; qLogic, Aliso Viejo, Calif.; Silverback Systems, Campbell, Calif.; and Trebia Networks, Acton, Mass. But none have shipped products, mainly due to costs upwards of $700 and lack of distribution with major OEMs. Another problem is the lack of products in the so-called target,or iSCSI-compatible disk or tape array,end of the connection. Adding native iSCSI support to back-end storage systems would allow using standard Ethernet switches to link servers to IP-based SAN storage systems.

Only IBM, with its TotalStorage IP Storage 200i disk array, and start-up Mpak Technologies, San Diego, with its Momentum S(3) network disk appliance, have released iSCSI storage products. IBM doesn't plan to upgrade its entry-level, single-port product, choosing to work with iSCSI switch/router vendors to offer customers an iSCSI migration path, says Paul Mattson, IBM's manager of IP storage.

Analysts predict that many of the major storage vendors, including Dell, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, Network Appliance, Quantum and StorageTek, should ship iSCSI-based products in the second half of 2003. Hewlett-Packard, however, has no plans to deliver an iSCSI disk array this year, says Mark Nagaitis, director of product marketing for HP's infrastructure and NAS division.

Without iSCSI targets, the so-called iSCSI switch/router has found some early success. By translating iSCSI commands into Fibre Channel-compatible information, these boxes connect standard Ethernet or iSCSI-based servers to existing Fibre Channel switches and fabrics (as well as future iSCSI SANs).

This means iSCSI won't take over by storm, and it won't move Fibre Channel out of enterprise data centers overnight, says Randy Kerns, a senior partner with the Evaluator Group, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based storage industry analyst firm. Enterprise data centers "change infrastructure infrequently, on a seven-year cycle, so we probably won't see any [iSCSI] infrastructure for another five years," he says.

Steve Beer, director of volume hardware platforms for Fibre Channel vendor Brocade Communications Systems in San Jose, Calif., has a much stronger opposing view: "iSCSI is a technology looking for a solution," he says. "Its needs are already fulfilled using NAS [network-attached storage], which does everything iSCSI does over local-area networks. If you step back and ask yourself, 'What would it take to displace an incumbent technology?' I think it's fair to say iSCSI is a ways off from deployment."