Sun Lays Out Storage Roadmap

Sun is continuing to define storage aspects of its already announced N1 initiative for future data center architectures.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is continuing to define storage aspects of its already announced N1 initiative for future data center architectures. There is no central storage announcement planned; new hardware and software from Sun and partners will debut incrementally beginning later this year, said Rich Napolitano, vice president of data services platforms, in an interview today. The current plans include storage provisioning features from Suns I-Fabric, based on the Nov. 2002 acquisition of Terraspring Inc. Those features will integrate with similar features affecting storage networks directly, offered through Suns Data Services Platform (DSP).
DSP itself is the result of Suns Sept. 2002 acquisition of Pirus Networks Inc., said Napolitano, the former Pirus CEO. It will have minor releases every two months, he said. An announcement regarding third-party support will come in September, he said. Getting the products certified with storage companies such as EMC Corp. is also an ongoing priority, Napolitano said. However, no certification or OEM talks are underway between Sun and SAN switch newcomer Cisco Systems Inc.—Sun will wait to see if Cisco gains market share, he said. Also, the DSP switches will get replication features using iSCSI early next year, he said. Sun also will launch new arrays in its midrange StorEdge 6000 series. A version due in the first half of next year will bundle a DSP switch with the current 6320 model, he said. The existing 6320 bundles have rack-mounted storage and a Sun high-availability Netra server. More versions of the forthcoming 6000-series bundle will be tailored to high-end and low-end users, he said. Regarding future products using IP storage or the new generation of serial advanced technology architecture drives, "We havent figured that out yet. But it will be consistent with our strategy to OEM" from partners such as Dot Hill Systems Corp. and LSI Logic Corp. "Were doing our diligence," he said.