iSCSI Inches Toward Ratification

The IP Storage Forum, a subgroup of SNIA, announced Wednesday that the iSCSI protocol has cleared its last technical hurdle. The group is working on the final version of the standard specification and it has been sent to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) so it can assign a "Request for Comments" number--which is the final step before ratification. This RFC step is a final call for comments.

But SNIA officials say that, at this point, the standard is technically complete with only minor editorial comments left. SNIA IP Forum says it expects members to start delivering products that support the new standard by late fall 2002 or early 2003. Product demonstrations are expected to be part of the upcoming Storage Networking World conference in Orlando from Oct. 27 to 30.

The concept of IP Storage made its debut more than two years ago. And since then, many companies had come forth with products that had IP Storage capability--even though the iSCSI industry standard was making its way through the ratification process. Some products, such as the switches developed by Nishan Systems, have come through with customer deployments. Other products have come and gone from the market.

Those include IBM's TotalStorage IP Storage 200i subsystem, which was quietly pulled from the market last June. In addition, 3Ware discontinued its PalaceAid SCSI subsystem because it required a lot of handholding and had performance issues.

SNIA officials anticipate that the iSCSI ratification will push forward more products that comply with the standards and, consequently, more customer deployments.