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Storage Makers Create 'Bluefin' Software Standard
 05/21/2002 NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than a dozen technology companies have created a standard for data storage software called "bluefin" that will make it easier to manage their different storage products, according to a source familiar with the technology. Bluefin is supposed to enable customers to better manage storage servers, tape drives and switches by establishing a common interface for identifying and controlling storage area networks. Data storage makers, including International Business Machines Corp. , EMC Corp. , Hitachi Ltd. , Hewlett-Packard Co. , are backing the technology. The companies are expected to unveil the new standard as a group on Wednesday. Some of the companies involved said they would defer comment until the public announcement on Wednesday. Software and storage networking companies Veritas Software Corp. , Brocade Communications Systems Inc. and BMC Software Inc. are also involved. During the past year, the data-storage industry has been clobbered by a downturn in information technology spending and a price war among EMC, IBM and Hitachi. These firms have turned to developing software products to boost their margins. Industry leader EMC, for example, needs common standards for software interfaces because it sells very little software to customers that do not use EMC hardware. George Gilbert, an analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston, said that hardware vendors are focused on interoperability right now as they try to tap into the profitable software part of the business. "Everyone who is selling hardware has to have that hardware be managed. My guess is that's what this is about - making it easy to manage multiple vendors' hardware," Gilbert said. "That will only accelerate the time when the software layer, or managing level, takes off, and that has been a little bit stunted," he said. EMC announced such plans for such software last year while IBM says it expects to have a product ready in 2003. The data storage market has become intensely competitive over the past year, with IBM and Hitachi having taken some market share from EMC and hardware prices having dropped. At the same time, hardware companies are collaborating more and more. Dell Computer Corp. resells EMC storage products and is considering taking on production of some itself. IBM and Hitachi signed an agreement in April to collaborate on storage. The companies will present the bluefin technology to the Storage Networking Industry Association, a not-for-profit organization made up of over 300 companies and organizations. One name absent from the list of companies is software giant Microsoft Corp. . Gilbert said the company isn't a big storage software player, but noted Microsoft hasn't made its plans for the sector clear. News Archive | |
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