Intel's "Olympus 2" is a Thunderbolt prototype board

People like me who bought a 2011 MacBook Pro are eager to explore the new Thunderbolt interface. Although no peripherals are available yet, there was much excitement about the interface at the recent NAB Show in Las Vegas, and many pre-production products were on display. It appears that LaCie will be first to market with a Thunderbolt storage device, but Promise will follow a few months later. And there were many intriguing interfaces on display as well, including Fibre Channel and video links, along with rumors about Apple’s plans for the Thunderbolt iMac.

Technology Demos Abound

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the Thunderbolt presence at the NAB Show was the overall level of excitement about the interface. Vendors and consumers alike were thrilled by the possibilities of this new technology, and preproduction Thunderbolt hardware brought a steady stream of visitors to booths as diverse as Adobe, AJA, Blackmagic and Matrox, as well as Promise, LaCie, Sonnet, and G-Technology.

Intel set the stage for a Thunderbolt-filled NAB Show

One high-profile Thunderbolt exhibit was Intel’s own pavilion. Located in a different exhibit hall from the rest of the infrastructure technology, Intel placed Thunderbolt on display alongside their new 10 Gb Ethernet adapters. The Ethernet representative joked with me that the only time anyone wanted to talk to him was while they were waiting for the Thunderbolt station to free up. This was my experience too, as there was a steady stream of visitors every time I stopped by. Intel was demonstrating the Promised Pegasus array with Final Cut and a DisplayPort monitor humming along at 800 MB per second.

Adobe integrated a Promise Pegasus array and a Blackmagic A/V adapter using Thunderbolt

Adobe was another company demonstrating the possibilities of Thunderbolt rather than a specific product. At their stand was a Promise array connected to a Blackmagic Thunderbolt video converter, all tied together with Adobe software and running on a MacBook Pro.

G-Technology: Diving Into Thunderbolt

G-Technology, soon part of Western Digital, showed the possibilities for future Thunderbolt products

They did not have production hardware ready for the show, but G-Technology was pleased to be able to demonstrate their commitment to Thunderbolt using Intel’s reference board and a passive PCI backplane. Although tightlipped, the G-Tech engineer did note that he was impressed with the ease with which they were able to roll out a functioning Thunderbolt prototype. This bodes well for future product development efforts.

This little AV-oriented company recently got a big boost in profile: Having recently been purchased by HGST, they now find themselves owned by Western Digital, the world’s largest hard disk drive manufacturer. It is likely that Western Digital will come out with a variety of RAID devices built on the G-Technology base, including a line of Thunderbolt storage products to compete with LaCie and Promise.

LaCie, Promise, AJA, Blackmagic, and Matrox

I’ve devoted separate articles to the main products on display at NAB Show, so I suggest taking a look at these individually:

• LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Preview
• Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt Preview
• Promise SANLink Thunderbolt Preview

Each Little Big Disk features two Thunderbolt ports, and LaCie demonstrated daisy-chaining four of the devices at NAB

There were two main categories of products on display at the NAB Show: Storage arrays and I/O interfaces. LaCie looks to be the first out of the gate with a Thunderbolt storage array. Their Little Big Disk is even bus powered, and portable enough to be of interest to MacBook Pro owners. It is likely that LaCie will follow on with a solid-state drive (SSD) boasting better performance, and I would bet that a 4- or 5-disk RAID array will follow before the end of the year.

The Promise Pegasus R4 is a desktop RAID system featuring Thunderbolt connectivity

Promise had both a storage array and an I/O adapter on display at the show. The Promise Pegasus is a 4- or 6-drive RAID storage system boasting up to 800 MB per second in ideal conditions. The SANLink, a Fibre Channel interface for Thunderbolt, is a bit puzzling until one considers its desktop use cases. The Pegasus shows what a desktop Thunderbolt peripheral looks like, and together with the SANLink presage Apple releasing Thunderbolt-equipped desktop computers like the forthcoming iMac.

The I/O interface boards at NAB were skewed toward multimedia, as was the show itself. Blackmagic, AJA, and Matrox all had digital video interfaces for Thunderbolt on display, but it is difficult for an infrastructure guy like me to adequately judge the merits of these products. One thing is certain: AV pros are excited to get their hands on these devices!

Stephen’s Stance

That NAB Show is a hotspot of Thunderbolt interest should come as no surprise: The broadcast and media professionals present represent a nexus of Apple customers and storage power users. Because they have been dragging their feet on eSATA and USB 3, Apple ran the risk of alienating this core customer group. But Thunderbolt promises to deliver a new level of performance and a whole world of peripherals. The excitement was palpable!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | The First Thunderbolt Peripherals On Display At NAB Show
This post was categorized as Apple, Everything, Features, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

"So it is down to you, and it is down to me."

Seagate and Western Digital appear to have locked up the majority of the hard disk drive (HDD) market with their respective acquisitions of Samsung and Hitachi’s business. Leaving Toshiba with just a sliver, the American companies will soon become giants, each with more than 40% of the total HDD share and a full line of products. Despite the noise made by solid-state disk (SSD) lovers, the HDD market is likely to continue to rake in profits for decades, and these two giants will battle it out for the foreseeable future.

Western Digital Looks To The Enterprise

Originally maker of integrated circuit chips, Western Digital entered the storage market in the early 1980s, producing hard disk drive controllers. It wasn’t until 1988 that Western Digital produced its first hard disk drive, after acquiring Tandon. These were decidedly low-end products, competing in the desktop PC business with the likes of Quantum and Maxtor, two companies that would later merge and sell to arch-rival Seagate.

Western Digital moved steadily upmarket after the year 2000, expanding buffer cache and platter speeds. This culminated in the Raptor line, the first 10,000 rpm serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive, and Western Digital is still known as a purveyor of high-performance desktop hard disk drives today. The VelociRaptor, for example, is popular among gamers for its small low-latency platters and high spindle speed.

Although Western Digital sells a wide variety of hard disk drives, they’re not a familiar face in the enterprise storage market. They’ve produced a number of raid storage devices but have never been able to break in the high-end, and have similarly been left out of many OEM contracts.

All this will change shortly, as Western Digital will soon acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST). Formed as a merger of the hard disk drive businesses of IBM and Hitachi, HGST is a formidable competitor in many OEM areas, including enterprise storage. The combined company will control nearly half the storage market, offering products in every niche.

Toshiba looks mighty tiny next to Seagate/Samsung and Western Digital/HGST!

Seagate Expands In Asia

In contrast to Western Digital, Seagate is a familiar name in much of the storage market. Founded by a group of industry legends, including Al Shugart and Finis Conner, Seagate move rapidly from the personal computer space into the enterprise. By the late 1990s, Seagate was prime supplier for enterprise storage companies, competing with IBM and Hitachi.

Although formerly dominant, Seagate was surpassed in market share by Western Digital even before they acquired HGST. The new Western Digital would have dwarfed Seagate, whose 30% market share left them in a distant second place. It is perhaps easier to understand Western Digital’s moves that Seagate’s, but there is much logic in acquiring the hard disk drive assets of Samsung.

First, the transaction, worth 1 1/3 billion dollars, bring Seagate back within spitting distance of the new Western Digital. It also opens up the vast Asian OEM market, where Samsung has had much success, and guarantees a market for Seagate hard disk drives in Samsung products. But the relationship between these two companies goes much further: Samsung and Seagate are now related companies, just as Hitachi and Western Digital will be once the acquisition is complete. In both cases, the new companies will have a strong East-West alliance.

The NAND Angle

Although much of the attention in both transactions has revolved around a hard disk drive business, one should not overlook the solid-state implications. Samsung is the world’s largest supplier of NAND flash memory, and Seagate will gain an important relationship with the company. This may be the furthest reaching aspect of the transaction, since Seagate will be able to leverage this relationship as high-performance storage transitions to flash memory.

HGST had already been working with Intel to develop high-performance flash-based storage, and their combination with Western Digital will continue and expand this relationship. Intel, partnered with Micron as IMFT, is another leading supplier of flash memory chips, and the collaboration with HGST looked promising in the enterprise space. Therefore, both companies gain access to key flash memory technology thanks to these transactions.

Stephen’s Stance

Both Seagate and Western Digital have much to gain from these transactions. Western Digital becomes a full line giant of the industry, a credible competitor, and a successful supplier to OEMs. Seagate also retains its credibility in the market, but also gains access to Samsung, one of the strongest electronics companies in the world. Time will tell which of these companies got the better deal.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Seagate Versus Western Digital: The Hard Disk Drive Battle Lines Are Drawn
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Everything. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Thoughts on Hitachi Data Systems, their products and market

I’ve been following the progress of Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) for well over a decade. When I participated in high-end enterprise storage system shootouts as an end-user, HDS routinely placed second against EMC, HP and NetApp in the, and the decision was always a close one. But the storage market has changed, with nimble startups innovating around established competitors and industry giants flexing their marketing muscles.

Where Does HDS Fit?

Concerned with the question of where HDS fits in this new market, I was pleased to be invited to join the company at their Sefton Park, UK briefing center to get some answers. After two days of intense briefing and discussion, I remain unsure of HDS’ future: The company impressed me as always with their technology, but it takes more than a few good people and products to compete effectively.

I always respected HDS and its products, but they remain stubbornly fixated on the high end of the market. The HDS USP/VSP may be the only really credible competitor to the EMC Symmetrix in the stratosphere of enterprise storage, but these products are analogous to the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747. No one expects them to go away any time soon, and they represent a nexus of innovation and profitability, but the market as a whole has moved on.

Ask an application developer about the infrastructure of their dreams and they’ll start talking scale-out platforms that sound awfully cloudy. The Symmetrix and USP/VSP are the mainframes of storage, and will be desired and required for certain use cases for decades to come. But CIOs are much more interested in the next wave of applications that their businesses will grow on in the future, and these applications need something totally different: A storage platform.

HCP: Positioned for the Next Generation

The best move HDS ever made was acquiring Archivas, developer of what is now known as the Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). A crossover between content-addressable storage (CAS) and the new generation of cloud storage systems, HCP is an excellent product for next-generation enterprise applications, with an HTTP/REST interface, object-level metadata-driven storage, and solid credentials for reliability.

The more I learn about HCP, the more I feel that EMC made a mistake by developing an entirely-new cloud storage platform (Atmos) rather than further developing their CAS system (Centera). HDS remained committed to HCP, and the result better matches the needs of enterprise applications than either of EMC’s products. I remain skeptical of HCP as a public cloud platform, but would not hesitate to recommend it for internal use cases.

HDS’ Data Ingestor (HDI) shows how the HCP platform can benefit an enterprise environment. As a NAS gateway, HDI pulls data from “the edge” (remote offices, file servers, and other applications) and stores it in a core HCP repository. This allows enterprise data to be better managed, protected, and manipulated than traditional distributed storage solutions. HDS is pitching HDI as an alternative for remote office backup, but it is really an example of the next-generation storage platforms enterprise CIOs wish they had today.

The Hitachi Clinical Repository vividly demonstrates what this future storage platform looks like. HDS surrounded the HCP with integration points for electronic health records applications and systems, allowing hospitals and other healthcare organizations to handle this rapidly-expanding data set. Departments as diverse as payroll and radiology can share the same platform, tracking and organizing data across applications and locations. The Clinical Repository at once demonstrates the strength of the HCP technology, the strategic value of integrated storage platforms, and the fact that HDS will not be left behind in this new world. Bravo!

Serious Challenges for HDS

But HDS’ future is not a slam dunk. The company faces serious obstacles in all directions, and it is not clear that they are ready to overcome them.

Let’s start with baggage. HDS is the exact opposite of a startup. This is an industry stalwart with a history of technology stronger than its sales execution; a private organization that must open up and change course without sinking; a company at once supported by and saddled with its link to “the mothership”, Hitachi Limited; and a group of talented people whose pride does not always serve their objectives.

The recent sale of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), a key hard disk drive manufacturer, to Western Digital set some tongues wagging that HDS would be next. But HDS is nothing like HGST: Hitachi is first and foremost a developer and manufacturer of technological products, from televisions to nuclear reactors, and HDS is an integrator and distributor of their storage products. Hitachi could, in theory, decide to exit the storage space, and this would be the end of HDS. But this is highly unlikely. Hitachi is in the IT space for the long haul, with a slate of products that also includes servers and networking gear, and HDS is key to internationalizing this business.

But Hitachi is also an anchor, restricting the flexibility and creativity of HDS, and the curious case of Hitachi’s blade servers is a case in point. As noted, Hitachi is a major server vendor in Japan, and the company has named HDS the international custodian of these products. But HDS lacks the resources to sell into the highly-competitive server market. HDS has little choice but to put on a brave face and try to use these blade servers for their content platform, NAS, and unified “datacenter block” offerings, but there is no way they would have sought this product if not for Hitachi’s influence.

More pressing, however, is the challenge HDS faces with their sales force. Time and again one hears tales of clueless HDS sales reps pushing the same old SAN products to the same old customers rather than talking about HCP and the value of a strategic storage platform. One fellow event attendee remarked that his rep hadn’t ever mentioned HCP and HDI, even though it would have been a perfect fit for his large multi-national corporation. The rep either didn’t know about it or didn’t want to bother rocking the boat, and both are equally damning for HDS’ future growth.

One also senses a certain frustrated pride from some HDS employees, and this can be off-putting. This event was populated by some of the best and brightest representatives the company has to offer, but some continually resorted to a pointless “been there, done that, invented it” grouchiness. To hear them tell it, Hitachi is the secret force behind just about every enterprise storage innovation of the past two decades and their failure to dominate the market is a cruel injustice. But this is patently false: HDS is an innovator to be sure, but they play in a competitive market of equals. They must take responsibility for their own failings and work harder for success rather than whining about pretenders and upstarts.

Stephen’s Stance

As the baseball season begins, I can’t help but compare HDS to a big-budget team like the Chicago Cubs: They have all the tools and talent they need to succeed, but only time will tell how competitive they can be.
HDS should be commended for acquiring and developing the HCP technology, as well as spotting and fostering great new faces like Michael Heffernan, David Merrill, and Dave Wilson. But HDS must execute.

My prescription is simple but difficult: Lose the hubris and really dive into the battle for hearts and minds. Engage thought leaders and customers alike and show them how you can solve business problems rather than blathering on about unrecognized technical superiority. Educate the sales force and better incentivize them to “go strategic” instead of falling back on “speeds-and-feeds” SAN sales, and cut off anyone who isn’t on board. Let Heff and Wilson run free, find more like them, and bring Merrill into every CIO-level meeting.

HDS has to step up and be the healthy competitor for NetApp and EMC that the enterprise storage industry so desperately needs.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Concerning HDS
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Everything, Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

But the era of the 2 TB enterprise hard disk drive is not quite here yet. It is not clear which Xyratex-made products will support the massive drive since the company is an OEM supplier, but IBM ought to be on the list. Once a vendor announces product, it could take months for these monster arrays to ship.

One issue with these massive drives is RAID protection. These massive drives must be protected with dual-parity RAID-6 or similar. Although drive capacity has been growing, transfer speed has not kept up: A 2 TB drive, running at full speed, would take upwards of 10 hours to rebuild its contents, an unacceptably-long window for a single-parity RAID-5 setup.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | 2 TB Enterprise Drives Are Here?
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Fabrik, maker of SOHO storage devices like this G-Safe, has been acquired by Hitachi GST

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (hereafter referred to as HGST) just bought Fabrik, the company that produces and distributes consumer storage devices as SimpleTech and pro/AV storage using the G-Technology name.

We in the enterprise storage sector are all too familiar with the epic battles between Hitachi Data Systems (let’s call them HDS) and EMC, both providers of storage systems to the enterprise IT market. And last year EMC purchased consumer drive maker Iomega, pushing out some impressive storage systems that combine the best of both companies.

So is Hitachi’s combination with SimpleTech a response or challenge to EMC’s acquisition of Iomega? In a word, no.

First there is the small issue that HGST is an entirely different company from HDS. Both are subsidiaries of the massive Hitachi, Ltd. of Japan, but to conflate them into one company would be a disservice:

• HGST is much more like Seagate Technologies or Western Digital – a maker of hard disk drive mechanisms, the core components of modern data storage devices from the consumer to enterprise space.
• HDS is much more like EMC or NetApp – a maker of storage systems and software aimed at the enterprise IT market.
• Parent company Hitachi, Ltd. makes all sorts of stuff, from appliances to monorails (no kidding!) and so is much like Mitsubishi or Fujitsu.

Where EMC is actively expanding Iomega’s marketing into a supplier of tiny storage systems for entry-level IT and lab use, we shouldn’t expect the same synergistic offerings from HDS and SimpleTech or G-Technology. Instead, we should look at this as a response to Seagate’s purchase of Maxtor and Toshiba’s consolidation with Fujitsu’s disk unit: HGST will have a much better consumer channel for its disk drive mechanisms and will be better able to compete with those companies and Western Digital in places like Staples and Best Buy.

This is not to say that SimpleTech and G-Technology doesn’t compete with Iomega, mind you. In fact, Fabrik’s two brands were head-to-head with EMC’s little sister in just about every corner of their markets, and they make some cool devices for the SOHO market. Check out the [re]drive, G-Drive Mini SSD, and G-Speed XL if you don’t believe me!

Sounds like a win for them, but not a game-changer for enterprise storage.

This article can also be found on Gestalt IT: Does Hitachi+SimpleTech = EMC+Iomega?

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Does Hitachi+SimpleTech = EMC+Iomega?
This post was categorized as Apple, Enterprise storage, Everything, Gestalt IT, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

• First up is Seagate, with their next-generation 3.5″ “7200.12″ drive family. Boasting 500 GB per platter, the drives are initially offered in 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1 TB versions, but we expect a 1.5 TB three-platter and perhaps a 2.0 TB 4-platter version to arrive shortly. Seagate claims a new areal density achievement with 329 Gb per square inch. Rumors are that Seagate is winding down development of 3.5″-platter disk drives, however, in favor of the 2.5″ form factor. 
• Western Digital is also shipping a new two-platter 500 GB Scorpio Blue mobile drive in volume. Unlike competing products from Samsung and Hitachi, WD was able to achieve the 500 GB mark in the WD5000BEVT with only two platters, comfortably fitting into the common 9.5 mm laptop drive cavity.

So why is a 2-platter design important? Simply put, fewer platters equals less power and heat, and more density equals more performance. But there’s more to it than power and heat: As Tom’s Hardware points out, greater platter density moves the sweet spot of the market to a new capacity threshold. Since manufacturers prefer to offer inexpensive single-platter drives in their mainstream products, these products point to a new 250 GB and 500 GB standard for inexpensive laptops and desktops, respectively. Further, expect to see 250 GB portable and 500 GB desktop external drives drop to new rock-bottom prices.

All of the major drive manufacturers are moving forward, of course. Hitachi GST has already announced 375 Gb per inch technology, and Western Digital is expected to launch a 2 TB 3.5″ drive unit soon. The 250 GB/500 GB 2.5″/3.5″ per-platter threshold should last through the year in shipping products, but expect announcements of 320 GB/750 GB or higher through 2009.

Maybe I’ll swap out my MacBook Pro’s 320 GB internal drive for a new 500 GB unit once these hit the stores! And today’s imminent announcement of a 1 TB 2-drive Mac Mini suggests that Apple will be offering 500 GB 2.5″ disk drives in their products starting now.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | I’ll Have Two Platters of Sheer Storage Madness, Please!
This post was categorized as Apple, Enterprise storage, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.