第四代存储：彻底变革中的行业

Fourth-GenerationStorageAnIndustryintheMIDSTofReinventionIntroductionThedatastorageindustryisinthemidstofamassivereinvention.Powerisshiftinginthemarket-place,creatingnewopportunitiesforinnovativeprovidersofstorageproductsandsolutions.Forold-linecompetitors,thedominantmarketpositionisnolongerthesecureplaceitoncewas.Throughouttheindustry,whichincludesprovidersofdatastoragehardware,software,solutionsandservices,executivesmustaskthemselveshowtotakeadvantageofthedisruptivetechnologyadvancementsandshifttheirfocustothenewcompetitivedynamics.Theforcebehindthestorageindustry’slatestevolutioncanbedescribedinoneword:customers.Overthepastfewyearsthecomplexityofdatamanagementhascreatedanumberofsignificantissuesforstorageusers:•Excessivecoststoprocureandmanagestoragesolutions•Limitedchoicesandflexibilitycausedbyalackofinteroperabilitybetweenproprietarystandards•Shortageofskilledpeoplecapableofmanagingthediversetechnologyinherentintoday’smarketGiventhiscomplexity,datasecuritycanbeachallenge.ConsidertwoquestionsonmostCIOs’minds:•Whathappensifupto50,000PCsarelostinamatterofhours?BeforeSeptember11,thiswouldhavebeenahypotheticalquestion.Now,businesseshaveaheightenedawarenessofthecriticalneedforreliablestorage,protectionandrecoveryofdata.•CanthemediancostofstorageataGlobal2,000companyexceedUS$300million?Atcurrentgrowthrates,itcan.Accordingtoonestudy,somecustomersarestillpayingupto30centsamegabyteforstorage.1Giventhegrowthratesanddemandforecastsforstorage,analystsexpectthemedianstoragecapacityofaGlobal2,000companytobe1,024terabytesofdataintheyear2003.Todevelopaperspectiveontheplayers,issuesanddirectionofthismarket,A.T.Kearneyrecentlyconductedastudythatincludedinterviewswithmorethan50storageindustryleaders.Thesurveyrevealsthatusersofstoragesolutionsaredemandinglowercost,interoperable,andeasiertomanagestoragesolutions.Fortunately,thetimingfortheindustry’sreinventionisperfect;changesintechnologyareproducinganewparadigmthatinnovativecompaniesarestartingtousetobettermeetcustomers’needs.1Devaney,TimandScottTylerShafer,“WiththeDumbDot-ComMoneyGone,theSpaceRaceBeginsinEarnest,”RedHerring,September15,2001...Fourth-GenerationStorageStoragehasevolvedfromanaccessorytoacentralelementofenterpriseITinfrastructure(seesidebar:GainingGround).Ironically,itscon-figurationhascomefullcircle:fromcentralizedstorageduringtheeraofmainframes;todistrib-utedstorageduringtheeraofminicomputers,workstationsandpersonalcomputers;andbackagaintocentralizedstorage(seefigure1).The“glasshouse”storagegenerationTheheydayofmainframecomputinglastedthreedecades,endingin1980.Formuchofthattime,storagewasviewedsimplyasacentralizedcomputingresourcethateveryoneintheenter-priseshared.Datawasheldina“glasshouse,”whichreferstotheprotectiveglasswallstypicallybuiltaroundmainframecomputingequipment.IBMdominatedthismarket,althoughavarietyofotherplayersalsoenteredandcapturedsmallpercentagesofmarketshare.ThedistributedstoragegenerationDistributedcomputingbeganintheearly1970s,whencompaniessuchasDEC,IBM,DataGeneralandTandemstartednetworkingminicomputerspredominantlyforengineeringandspecializedapplications.Asbusinessappli-cationsfoundtheirwayontotheseboxes,net-worksandshareddatabasesbecamenecessary.Inthelate1980s,PCsenteredthepictureaslinkedbusinesstoolsthathadbecomepowerfulenoughtobeusedasthefrontendtotheseminicomputersinaclient-serverconfiguration.Duringthisera,individualbusinessdivisionsordepartmentsbeganpurchasingandmanagingtheirowncomputingresourcesratherthanrely-ingsolelyoncentralizedcomputingservices.Evenwiththismajorparadigmshift,storagewasconsideredanecessary,butrelativelyminorperipheralthataccompaniedinstallationofanever-growingnumberofminicomputers,PCsandworkstationsthroughoutthecorporateworld.Sun,SGI,HPandIBMdominatedtheworkstationmarket,andCompaq,Dell,IBM,Gateway,AppleandanumberofothervendorsruledthePCfront.TheindependentstoragegenerationThe1990sfinallysawthedecouplingofstoragefromtheprocessingaspectsofcomputing.EMCdramaticallyheraldedthisgenerationbyintro-ducinganindependentlineofmainframestorageproductsthatcouldbeusedwithIBMequip-ment.Previously,theonlystorageproductsavail-ableforIBMmainframescamefromIBMitself.EMC’sgambleofgoinghead-to-headagainst“BigBlue”paidoff.Withinafewshortyears,EMCbecamethedominantvendorinthestor-ageindustry.Althoughthedecouplingofstoragestartedinthemainframearena,ithassincespreadtoothercomputingenvironmentssuchasUNIX-basedcomputingsystemsand,toalesserextent,toWindows-basedcomputingsystems.Thecentralizedstoragegeneration“Wesee‘disruptivetechnologies’onthehorizonthatwillaffecteveryaspectofthestorageindus-try—storagesubsystems,storagenetworkinganddatamanagement,”saysShaileshNaik,generalmanagerofstorage,attelecommuni-cationsfirmQwest.Naikisreferringtothedawningofthefourthgeneration(4G).Intoday’smarket,establishedplayers,newentrantsandnon-traditionalcompetitorsallplayimpor-tantrolesinthepresentandfuturestateoftheindustry(seesidebar:The15MostInfluentialStorageCompanies).Fourth-GenerationStorageAlthough4Gisstillinitsinfancy