2009: The Year Of Convergence For The Storage Industry
Convergence, consolidation and no-holds-barred competition characterized the storage industry and storage channel in 2009.
Hewlett-Packard and Cisco were the biggest newsmakers in the storage industry as they clashed over the future of the data center.
Cisco fired the first shots with the introduction of its Unified Computing System (UCS), which aims to converge storage, server and networking technology into one platform and compete directly with former server partners HP and IBM.
HP fired back with its own convergence strategy, which included the pending acquisition of rival 3Com and the poaching of one of the most senior employees of EMC, a key Cisco rival. That employee, Dave Donatelli, will handle strategy for all of HP's storage, server and networking technology, once his non-compete agreement with EMC expires.
These are only a few of the top 10 stories that made 2009 one of the most interesting years ever for the storage industry.
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