Partnering for SAN success

Companies deploying storage-area networks aren't doing so as some kind of storage experiment. Instead, recent research shows most businesses are using SANs to support applications they consider business-critical.

We also see more SANs being rolled out now than there were just six months ago. Many of these SANs are high-capacity networks of a terabyte or more. So finally, after years of hype and questions, companies are deploying SANs in a real way.

That adds up to very good news for savvy storage providers that are either acting as integrators or have healthy partnerships with other vendors that can create and help deploy an integrated SAN solution. That's because customers have indicated that they have a single company providing them with SAN solutions. Ultimately, they want their SAN components, equipment and software to work with the products of other vendors, but they prefer that most of the interoperability issues be invisible to them.

So where does this leave SAN vendors that are simply behind the curve? Most are caught in a frustrating position of trying to figure out how to get their message - and their products - out to enterprises. In a number of recent anecdotal accounts, SAN software suppliers said that despite the attention the technology gets in the press, most mainstream companies are still largely unaware of how SANs can help them manage their information storage more efficiently.

Most vendors know the only way to change that is by communicating to the marketplace. They also need to partner well. No SAN provider can really go it alone at this stage. SAN providers with ambitions to expand their market reach need to find complementary vendors, OEMs and integrators that are able to do more than simply install a product in a large number of enterprises. They need to find partners that understand the value of the solution and are able to communicate that benefit to their customers.

That may sound easy enough, but the difficulty is in identifying the right partners. Many would go first to integrators. However, finding a good integrator in this space can be an extremely challenging task, given the relative youth of SAN implementations. Because of that, there are fewer experienced integrators available than in more mature areas like LANs. In fact, an Enterprise Management Associates survey of 100 storage professionals found that one of the biggest obstacles to a successful SAN deployment is the lack of skilled integrators with expertise in SAN technology.

This means SAN technology vendors may have to do more basic education than they are accustomed to when deploying more mature storage technology. SAN vendors also should seek out integrators with expertise in non-storage-specific application areas that can communicate the benefits of SAN technology to their customers in terms that relate not just to storage, but also to the applications the storage network supports.

Amy Larsen DeCarlo is an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo., a leading analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise management. She focuses on storage management, application management, and security. In her position, she oversees market research and contributes to custom project work in her focal coverage areas. Prior to joining EMA, Amy spent five years covering enterprise management for industry trade magazines, including InformationWeek and Data Communications. She can be reached at decarlo@enterprisemanagement.com.

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