Crossroads Systems' ServerAttach SAN: A Hidden Gem?

Crossroads Systems is one of those little-known companies that doesn't get the kind of press that IBM or EMC generates. But the Austin, Texas-based IT organization has developed a server-attached appliance that one reseller has labeled as one of the most underused products in the storage IT sector.

Announced last year, the Crossroads ServerAttach SA40 and ServerAttach SA20 are designed to connect midrange SCSI servers to Fibre Channel storage architectures. Why is that important? Well, according to Mark Denslow, vice president of The Pinnacle Group, there are plenty of IT shops--especially midrange IT shops--that are still using servers that transport data via the old FAST SCSI and WIDE SCSI protocols, as well as all the other SCSI variations. These machines, however, do not have the ability to connect into a modern storage environment, especially one with a Fibre Channel network.

As a VAR, Denslow has sold the Crossroads products. What he found was "a lot of people had not heard of it." That's not a surprise to Robert M. Griswold Jr., vice president and chief technologist at Crossroads. Griswold says Crossroads, which generates roughly 80 percent of its sales through OEM agreements, did not have the channel success it had expected with the appliance.

But that does not mean there isn't a market for the SA20 and SA40. There are thousands of midrange, vertical-market IT shops still using these 5- to 10- to 12-year-old servers, many of which run critical applications such as ERP or sales-based reservation programs but don't have the ability to connect into a Fibre Channel-based environment.

In many cases, these customers can't afford to migrate their data onto newer servers that are more likely to include slots for Fibre Channel-based host-bus adapters (HBAs). Many of the old servers either have no Fibre Channel option, or they require costly upgrades to the operating system. So the SA20 and SA40 offer a low-cost solution to this problem, essentially providing an alternative to costly upgrades. No HBA hardware, driver software or kernel modifications are required in most installations.

Both the ServerAttach SA20 and SA40 are designed to connect midrange SCSI servers to Fibre Channel storage architectures, such as storage area networks, with minimal downtime. The ServerAttach products are available through selected distribution and VAR partners in North America and Europe.

Part of the reason the SA20 and SA40 may be so underrated is because they are products that require some legwork before a sale is made. And the VAR needs to do some hand-holding with the customer in order to pull off a successful sale.

"You have to make sure the customer gets to a comfort level before you integrate it," Denslow says. "You have to show a value proposition and do some homework to show a financial return. Once you have that done, it's a no-brainer."