Imagine running the latest version of EMC's Enterprise Control Center Open Edition to migrate data from a midrange HP StorageWorks array to an IBM Shark. Or being able to set up replication from a Web browser between a Hitachi  Lighting and an EMC Symmetrix. Sounds far-fetched and years away from reality. But the first open storage management standard that will make this possible - at least in theory - is just around the corner.

Version 1.0 of a common standard for managing storage-area networks (SAN), often called Bluefin but known officially as the Storage Management Interface Specification (SMIS), is due out by mid-June, the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) says. More than 200 storage vendors, including major players such as EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM and Sun  are working on such standards under the SNIA's aegis. A host of storage users from around the country also participate in the SNIA.

SMIS embodies the Distributed Management Task Force's Web-Based Enterprise Management architecture, which provides the foundation for offering services over the Web, and draws from the Common Information Model, a schema that lets management software interoperate. In general, SMIS will provide a common management interface for all SAN components, including disk arrays, switches, host adapters and servers.

SMIS 1.0 will include must-have features, the SNIA says. These include common interoperable and extensible management transport; automated discovery, which means when SMIS 1.0-compliant products are plugged into a SAN they will automatically announce their presence and capabilities to network constituents; and resource locking, which will allow resource sharing among SMIS 1.0-compliant wares from multiple vendors.

Here today, but deployed tomorrow

Storage vendors such as EMC have promised to ship SMIS 1.0-compliant products by mid-year, and the SNIA reports that early demonstrations and testing are verifying compliance and interoperability. Still, many industry watchers express skepticism about how quickly open standards will manifest themselves in enterprise storage networks.

"Even though many of the major storage vendors will push [SMIS 1.0]-compliant products out by the end of this year, in actuality we won't see tangible user results until two or three years down the road," says Anders Logren, a senior analyst with Giga Information Group.

Many users, while acknowledging standards are needed, are uncertain about how realistic open storage management is for the near term. Concerns they voice relate to how SMIS 1.0-compliant products would work in their existing infrastructures, whether these products make others obsolete and the cost to implement open management standards.