A strategic agreement between IBM and Compaq to interoperate their storage lines will result in over $1 billion investment in open storage architectures. The deal, announced today, is expected to accelerate customer acceptance of open storage solutions. Each company has also committed to selling significant product from the other`s storage line.
Under terms of the deal, Compaq will augment its portfolio with IBM`s "Shark" Enterprise Storage Servers and select Tivoli systems management software. IBM will augment its portfolio with Compaq StorageWorks Modular Array storage systems and software, which will include IBM 10 000 RPM hard disk drives. IBM will support Compaq`s VersaStor technology for storage SAN-wide virtualisation.
Nick Allen, VP storage research for GartnerGroup, comments that Compaq will gain "a proven, highest-end storage box and a VersaStor endorsement," while IBM "gets a boost into SAN technologies, midrange storage boxes and a strong partner."
"This agreement assures both companies` customers of a complete portfolio of critical storage technologies that will work seamlessly with future Compaq and IBM products," says Howard Elias, vice president and general manager of Compaq`s Storage Global Business Unit.
The companies also plan to help the industry create standards for open storage networking solutions such as Storage Area Networks (SANs).
"Today`s announcements are a game-changing play," said Linda Sanford, general manager, IBM Storage Subsystems Division. "Delivering true interoperability across our storage products -- and open standards for the storage industry -- will benefit all customers through greater choice and flexibility, ease of use, and increased speed to deployment. Vendors who continue to promote proprietary systems and standards will find themselves increasingly isolated."
Each company plans to provide equipment, software and staffing to support each other`s open storage networking/SAN customer centers. At these centers, customers can see for themselves the interoperability of both companies` technologies and products where real world testing demonstrates the value of open storage networking solutions.
IDC Consulting projects that worldwide revenue for disk storage systems and storage management software will total $53 billion by 2003.
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