20 Years of Storage - Editorial

Computer Technology Review, Oct, 1999 by George McNamara

When I first approached Michael Peterson in early 1995 to discuss the editorial mission of a new publication dedicated to managing storage in the enterprise, he sketched it out quite graphically - get storage on the same line as networking, systems and communications in the enterprise. Until now storage has been considered a subset, an asset all access when needed, something inert and unexciting. What has to be done is to raise storage to full equality with the others. This will happen when the expense of storage--equipment and downtime--as well as the bottlenecks caused by the current topology force the IT community to act in its own self-interest. Act they have, with initiatives like FCIA and now SNIA.

But getting storage the respect it deserves has not been a walk in the park. The pedestrian nomenclature is at the bottom of it. The word "storage" carries neither style nor substance, let alone sizzle. It suggests rather your closet or attic or one of the Public Storage monstrosities springing up everywhere. The problem is that it was named after the container, not the contents... which is data. What we are really talking about is the accessibility to and the availability of information... something dynamic and vital, not stodgy and passive.

"Storage" also lends its ambiguity to Storage Area Networks. It's clear what "local area" means, and "wide area", too. But what does "storage area" mean? Does it signify an area on the network where you dump storage? I think it means we're stuck with it.

IDEAL

Homogeneity and its polarity--heterogeneity--scuffle throughout the lifecycle of any technology. Homogeneity always loses in the end. The market sees to that. We are seeing the struggle now in SANs between those who have been leaders and want to be recompensed for what they went through, and those who follow who just want to exploit cost-effectively, with no memory.

MINDSET

Something's got to give in the mindset contest between the people who think network, as in Gigabit Ethernet, and the people who think storage, as in Fibre Channel. The network people have to win, one way or another; it's their stadium.