Microsoft's Enterprise Storage Efforts Begin With Windows.Net

Microsoft

Microsoft will begin its broad foray into the growing market by integrating Volume ShadowCopy Service (VSS) and virtual disk services (VDS) in its forthcoming Windows.Net server.

Beyond Windows.Net, the company also plans to support the Internet storage networking protocols known as iSCSI and will integrate its front-end applications such as the Windows file system and Exchange to work transparently against leading NAS and SAN devices. iSCSI is an emerging Internet protocol for the SAN market, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans.

The software giant plans to detail some of these storage software plans at TechEd 2002 this week in New Orleans and at WinHec 2002 in mid-April in Seattle, sources said.

While the software giant claims it does not intend to put storage partners such as EMC out of business, it must integrate robust storage capabilities in its .Net servers to compete on the corporate enterprise landscape against the likes of IBM, observers have said.

Microsoft is also working to improve the replication services in the server OS to move data more efficiently and also expose future storage layers in Windows to which ISV partners and solution providers can add value.

At a recent storage conference, Bob Muglia, Microsoft senior vice president in charge of the company's newly minted Enterprise Storage Division, said the primary goal is to improve the storage management features in Windows and its applications. For example, the OS will evolve to support the management of multiple storage systems, Muglia said. But he did not try to hide the fact that it will compete with ISV partners in some software areas.

"There are a lot of new facilities in Windows.Net server that are critically important to providing the foundation for applications that will help our customers manage their stored data more efficiently and at lower cost. The OS provides the glue between the storage system and the applications, and that's the key for us," Muglia said, according to a transcript of his conference keynote posted on Microsoft's Web site. "We're also looking at how we can add more value over time. This field is very broad, and as we think about how we can add value, we also see the ways our partners can add value with us."

Initially, the VSS and VDS in Windows.Net server will give applications visibility to the underlying storage systems, Microsoft said. Shadowcopy services, for instance, assist in creating and moving mirrored data during the backup process. This provides a standard way for Windows applications to interact with point-in-time copy. Virtual disk services, another new service in Windows.Net, allow configurations of RAID storage from within the operating system. Finally, the server will include new "time-warping" facilities to let people go back in time to capture data at specific points, Muglia also said in the transcript.

Longer term, Microsoft plans to deliver software that makes it easier for end users to rescue disk-based data they've accidentally deleted or for administrators to recover data volumes that has been lost due to hardware failures. Finally, Microsoft plans to create software that enables the secure transfer and management of data to multisite storage systems.

Microsoft is also reportedly developing a Storage.Net service that can be harnessed by Web services developers and service providers, though Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer indicated in an e-mail to CRN that it has no interest in storing corporate data as a business model.

Solution providers hail Microsoft's efforts as a natural, necessary step to compete with other enterprise software giants such as IBM, which already has a strong storage product line.

"The storage market is moving from proprietary/special-use technology like Fibre Channel to IP-based solutions. As the market moves to these technologies, software becomes more important than hardware," said Rob Hirschfeld, CTO of ProTier, a service provider in New Orleans. "Microsoft is looking at storage as a new software market and that is a smart plan."

According to research firm Gartner Dataquest, worldwide storage services revenue is expected to start to recover this year and grow from $26 billion in 2002 to $41 billion in 2005. While the bulk of current sales are based on hardware sales, storage software will represent a greater portion of IT storage spending in the future, it predicted.

Channel partners see Microsoft's enterprise storage efforts as a major benefit to service provider partners, large systems integrators such as Avanade and solution providers.

"We see .Net services as very interesting building blocks that will greatly increase the value that network-based hosted applications can deliver," said Jason Donahue, president and CEO of Telecomputing, which offers private-label technology to service providers that host applications. "Services that facilitate authentication, security and information storage and access will allow enterprises to greatly extend the scope of information they can leverage across substantially expanded geographic and organizational boundaries."