Heavy-hitting storage and network infrastructure players are sparring over four proposals for transporting storage data across IP networks. Observers say the battle will probably end in a standoff between three: the draft for SCSI over TCP (iSCSI) submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force; the Fibre Channel over IP draft submitted to the IETF and ANSI; and the Fibre Channel Backbone proposal before ANSI. A storage network start-up’s proposal, yet to be submitted in full to a standards body, doesn’t have a chance, they say.

Amid the storage-over-IP standards wrangling, vendors that have partnered to deliver end-to-end storage solutions often find themselves at odds. Some are ready to adopt iSCSI, others favor Fibre Channel over IP and some, such as Dell Computer, have thrown their money into upstart camps or haven’t committed at all. Users are left sorting through the confusion.

The iSCSI camp

Backers of the iSCSI proposal include its originators Adaptec, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Quantum and SANgate. iSCSI specifies a way to transport data residing on SCSI devices natively over TCP. Until the arrival of Gigabit Ethernet, LAN speeds have been woefully inadequate for transporting this type of block data. Now that 10 Gigabit Ethernet looms on the horizon, the idea of moving block data over IP is even more attractive.

ISCSI makes no changes to standard communications or network infrastructure gear, but does require the addition of a Fibre Channel-to-Gigabit Ethernet router and intricate router software to take SCSI data from the storage device and transport it as IP data across the network.

The IETF is expected to adopt the iSCSI draft by the end of next year. Adaptec and Cisco are planning to ship iSCSI-based products by the end of this year.

But Adaptec and a few other companies say iSCSI needs more. They’ve extended the specification with SNMP management information bases, IP Security or an ATM transport protocol called the SCSI Encapsulation Protocol (SEP). For example, Adaptec plans to support the SEP-enhanced iSCSI specification. It and other companies undertaking similar developments are confident the products will work with iSCSI when it becomes a standard.

Down the Fibre Channel

The opposing specification, Fibre Channel over IP, comes from Brocade Communications Systems, Gadzoox Networks, Lucent Technologies, McData and QLogic. In this scheme, Fibre Channel frames are encapsulated in IP frames for movement over a Gigabit Ethernet, SONET or ATM LAN, WAN or metropolitan-area network (MAN).

Some vendors are selling prestandard Fibre Channel-over-IP products for joining geographically disconnected storage-area networks (SAN), and are claiming that the equipment will be software-upgradable to the standard when it appears in mid-2001.

Brocade and Gadzoox also are among a group of vendors that has submitted the Fibre Channel Backbone proposal to ANSI. Fibre Channel Backbone allows greater distance and higher performance than Fibre Channel over IP.

Each of these three proposals complements the others. For instance, a user might use Fibre Channel over IP to connect SANs located in the New York boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn; Fibre Channel Backbone to extend the distance to Rochester, N.Y.; and iSCSi to transport storage data within a small office in New Jersey. However, only Entrada Networks has announced a switch that will incorporate all three specifications.

Odd spec out

The fourth proposal flies in the face of the rest. The proposal, called storage over IP, is a superset of iSCSI and Fiber Channel over IP. It comes from Nishan Systems, a start-up funded by Dell Computer, Quantum, Siemens and Sun. Nishan says it will win the standards game, claiming that giants such as Cisco, IBM and Lucent just don’t realize it yet.

Most competitive vendors won’t comment publicly on Nishan’s proposal, but say the company has alienated itself with its bluster.

Steve Duplessie, founder of storage analysis firm Enterprise Storage Group, is not so shy. "There’s a large degree of wishful thinking on [Nishan’s] part," he says. "It’s not realistic to assume that any of the standards bodies are looking to create a single, unified standard for three effectively disparate topics. It is completely unrealistic to assume that one relative neophyte is going to change the way those bodies operate."

He has little doubt that iSCSI will ultimately win the storage battle. "But it’s not a battle over what is best. It’s about what vendor has the market swing to make it happen. Right now, that’s Cisco," he says.

To Duplessie, standardizing Fibre Channel over IP would be superfluous. "There are point solutions to solve specific problems that don’t need a standards verification. CNT [a Minneapolis storage infrastructure company] sells Fibre Channel over IP and ATM," he says.

At least one user agrees. EchoStar, a broadband satellite TV company in Denver, shuttles storage data across an IP MAN using CNT technology every day.

"Our storage needs are growing at 400% to 500% [per year]," says Rick Nelson, senior IT architect for the company. "We started designing our SAN two years ago. If we didn’t have the capability then [because standards were holding us up], we could have easily lost half our customer base."