EMC blurs Nas/San divide

EMC has claimed that its new Celerra network-attached storage (Nas) gateways give resellers the opportunity to ride the wave towards networked storage.

The NS600G and NS600GS gateways allow its Nas products, including the new entry-level Celerra NS600S and NetWin 200 and low-cost ATA disk drive support, to be managed through Sans.

EMC Nas partner manager Kevin Orgill told vnunet.com: "Analysts picture a tremendous move to networked storage [from direct-attached]. Resellers can show users they are not constrained by one purchase."

Customers often need both Sans and Nas. Sans are expected to take 70-80 per cent of the future market with Nas, often needed for a distributed environment, the rest.

"Sans take a load off the server and Nas can take advantage of this," said Orgill.

The Celerra gateways integrate its Nas products with its Clariion CX600 and CX400 San systems.

Last year EMC added a Nas head (connection) to its Clariion Sans. The NS600GS has a single head while the NS600G is dual-headed with one head optionally used for failover.

"Companies want the benefits of Sans but don't want to pay for it," Tony Ruane, sales and marketing director at EMC reseller RedStor, told vnunet.com.

"With Nas heads and advanced serial ATA disks providing terabytes of data at low cost, it's the natural next way for Sans to go."

The NS600S has a single data-mover connection that can be upgraded to the more standard dual-data mover.

The NetWin 200 runs Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 and links to Clariion CX200 networked storage.

Orgill said there was now an increasingly close relationship between EMC and Microsoft, and that this release would provide resellers with sales opportunities among Windows-focused customers.

But Ruane saw the low-end Windows market as very crowded, making it doubtful whether resellers could make good margins.