FCIA Takes Up SAN Interoperability Challenge - Industry Trend or Event

ENT, Oct 11, 2000 by Ted Williams

Interoperability in terms of SANs is considered something of a crapshoot. Getting product A to consistently match up with system B can be an adventure. With SANs considered by most industry experts as the future of data storage, systems managers can't afford to experience this adventure much longer.

The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA, www.fibrechannel.org) is addressing the problem, at least in that realm of connectivity. Last month the FCIA announced its SANmark Qualification and Trademark Licensing Program, which is designed to help Fibre Channel manufacturers or independent laboratories verify product compliance among vendors. Certified vendors will be officially "SANmarked," which will be a signal to end users that product A will work with Fibre Channel-operated system B.

The challenge, as with all certification programs, is getting the industry players to join in.

"The fact that yet another consortium or group is attempting to establish industry standards for storage is not news," says Steve Duplessie, an analyst with the Enterprise Storage Group (www.enterprisestoragegroup.com). "These standards were necessary two-and-a-half years ago. Certainly the FCIA has clout in the field, but it all comes down to getting the vendors to play nice."

The FCIA is giving association members six weeks to look at any SAN issues they may have and provide input before it issues formal guidelines. But the process will be ongoing. David Deming, president of FCIA, says the guidelines that will initially be issued could change dramatically within six months.

"This program has been about two years in development," Deming says. "It's been a challenge. Like with any qualification program, the final 5 percent of those involved are the hardest ones to win over. We continue to listen to all concerns and elevate them to the proper channels. We're confident the program will be accepted."

Deming believes the perception that interoperability is a problem with SANs is inaccurate in terms of Fibre Channel products. He said Fibre Channel standards have been around for more than a decade. The problem has been getting all parties to follow them.

"If you really examine the vast majority of interoperability problems, you'll find that it's usually not interoperability at all," Deming says. "It's usually that someone hasn't followed the rules [when creating a product]. Somebody has ignored a standard and a problem has arisen. Interoperability really hasn't been an issue with people who know what they're doing. We'd really like people to understand that what we're talking about is not really the issue of interoperability, but some bad products out on the market that need to be fixed."

Duplessie says the need for these standards in certification form has been voiced loud and clear from the storage community. Perhaps its taken something like the announcement of an inter-switch routing protocol at the Fibre Channel Standards Work Group meeting in June to get the ball rolling. The reason such an announcement might make a difference is because major players like Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (www.brocade.com) played a key role in developing the protocol.

"We're finally in a situation where it's in the best interest of a stated king like Brocade for something like this to come to pass," Duplessie says. "If the individual vendors start to feel that kind of heat, they'll feel the need to work together. If a program like this has nothing behind it, it ends up being just another press release. But certainly interoperability helps everyone."

As far as the entire storage community, there is still a substantial portion married to Ethernet. It has not been determined whether Fibre Channel or Ethernet with Internet Protocol will be the future of enabling network storage. Throw in the continued strength of the Network Attached Storage (NAS) market, which has some people wondering if SANs are a sure thing after all.

"Anything that comes out as far as Ethernet goes will be newly developed, while Fibre Channel has been an industry standard for 12 years," Deming says. "Yes, the NAS market has grown, but nothing like the growth of Fibre Channel and SANs. And Fibre Channel already has entered into gigabit technology. I'd say any competing technology has to go where Fibre Channel has already been."