|
"ILM technologies enable organizations to dynamically and seamlessly manage corporate information according to its changing value over time"
Storage Area Networks (SANs) have the ability to save company money, hasten backups and help consolidate the data center.
--- N Ramachandran,
GM- Storage Industry Group,
Mindtree Consulting Pvt Ltd.
|
|
"The next generation technologies and open operator and/or OEM application platforms will allow for the 3G revolution to flourish"
The future for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) firms has seldom looked so bright.
--- Nachiket Urdhwareshe,
CEO,
SoftJin Infotech Private Limited |
|
“One has to accept that the world of work is changing”
The furore over outsourcing has gathered steam over the last couple of months.
--- Mark Hillary,
Technology manager and
Independent outsourcing consultant |
|
“Our technology companies need to focus on marketing”
Networking bridges those distances. Though I entered with no expectation, maybe that is why it has been a pleasant experience.
--- Mahesh Murthy, Entrepreneur
Passionfund |
| |
|
"Internationally, India is going to be dead in the water unless it begins to show innovation"
Indian brains need to be applied to the conception and development of innovative products and services, and quickly.
--- Atul Chitnis, Partner
Exocore Consulting, Bangalore |
| |
|
"Our
intent is to address the security market through whatever it
takes"
The market for security-related hardware,
software, and services is expected to swell to $45 billion in
revenue by 2006, according to IDC..
--- Mr. Rakesh Singh, GM
NetScaler, Asia
Operations |
| |
|
Start-up Watch
"Young
company with a mature mind"
Three years earlier, like-minded industry
veterans from leading technology companies came together to fill gap
found in IT services space, a good blend of consulting capabilities
and process oriented execution under one leadership.
--- Mr. Vinod P. Deshmukh
Sr. Vice President and
CTO, MindTree Consulting |
| |
|
"In
today's market, pure product play is very risky"
Telesoft is a product start-up with a high
passion quotient. In 1998-99 the company built a softswitch which
pipped giants such as Fujitsu, Nortel and NTT DoCoMo in the
marketplace.
--- Mr. Vinod Chandran
Chief Operating Office,
Telesoft |
| |
|
"Few
Indian companies offer total ownership in chip design"
2002 has been the worst ever year for the global
chip sector hammered by the slowdown and lowered IT spends.
Undeterred by the shrunken market and fast-disappearing prospects,
Avedis Microsystem made its debut in May, making it one of the few
hot technology start-ups of this year.
--- Mr. Sunil Kalarickal
CEO Avedis Microsystems
|
| |
|
"There
is a misconception that BPO means easy money"
Indian BPO players are on a high. Recent joint
projections by Nasscom- McKinsey indicate that the IT-Enabled
Services segment will generate Rs. 81,000 crore (US$ 17 billion) in
revenue and employ over 1 million people by 2008.
--- Rajdeep S. Puri
Vice President
Operations
First Ring |
| |
|
"Software
exports will touch Rs. 13,000 crore"
For the IT industry struggling to survive, the
last one year has been irredeemably bleak with growth rates crashing
from quarter to quarter.
--- Mr. B. V. Naidu
Director, STPI |
| |
|
Growth
and Profitability in tough times
In 2000, caught in the worst ever business
crisis, Firestone was forced to recall 6.5 million failure-prone
tires. Later research proved that the Firestone problem was as early
as August 1998 and the company could have prevented the damage had
it known that people were already beginning to talk about its tires
on the Net.
---Dr K. R. V. Subramanian
CEO,
AnswerPal |
| |
|
"Bluetooth
is not a wishful market"
By 2005, analysts such as Vision Gain predict
that all new multimedia mobile devices will be manufactured with
Bluetooth as the standard. A rip-off from science fantasy fiction,
Bluetooth promises communication between a gamuts of devices.
--- Mr. Basker Subramanian,
CTO and founder
Impulsesoft |
| |
|
"Musharraf
is serious about disciplining jehadis"
High -level visits from US and UK to the
sub-continent followed by President Musharraf's promise to
permanently clamp down on terrorists have brought India and Pakistan
back from the brink.
--- Dr Sreedhar,
Institute of Defence
Studies |
| |
|
"We
need to take the lid off the entire bureaucracy called
education"
India's garugantan education machinery churns out
scores of graduates every year. Yet apart from a few institutions
such as IITs and IIMs, Central universities and now the III-Ts,
India's educational sector is chronically sick.
--- Prof Sadagopan,
Director III-T, |
| |
|
"HR
is drawn to outsourcing for reasons other than cost
reduction"
Responding to the increasing business imperatives
of the new economy, the traditional HR department has been subject
to a drastic image makeover - from a cost-consuming, administrative
backstage functionary to a strategic business partner contributing
directly and significantly to the company's bottomline.
--- Mr. Leo Fernandez,
India Life Hewitt
|
| |
|
"We
wanted to make sure we did not miss being in Asia's Silicon
Valley"
The latest US company on the block to shift base
to India to leverage its cost effectiveness is New-Jersey-based
content and IP rating billing and settlement solutions provider,
Apogee Networks.
--- Mr. Balaji Pitchaikani
Apogee Networks
|
| |
|
"The
industry's problem is that we are trying to copy the Americans too
much"
Formed in 1986, Sonata Software is India's oldest
medium enterprise. At a corporate level, the SEICMM Level 5
certified company forms a fairly decent story to tell.
--- Mr. Srikar Reddy
Sonata Software |
| |
|
"There
is no such thing as an ethical hacker"
In 2001, computer users faced a seemingly endless
onslaught of viruses. Code Red Nimda and Scrim pinpointed the
vulnerability of networks and our helplessness to tackle them.
--- Mr. Subramanya Rao
Proland Software
|
| |
|
"Even
a slowdown can be advantageous if you want to take advantage of
it"
Challenge is a way of life for Ishoni Networks.
Two-and-a- half-years back, Ishoni's India office decided that it
was not going to be a mere service company and play second fiddle to
its US counterpart.
--- Dr Vivek Mansingh
Ishoni Networks |
| |
|
"HR
cannot afford to get divorced from business realities"
In a span of less than five years, Aztec Software
from being a little known start-up became the darling of the markets
when it went public last year. A fortnight back, rocked by
uncertainties in the market, the company was forced to lay off 35
employees. True to the Aztec work ethic, the company did not mask
the layoffs behind a flurry of excuses as most other Indian
companies have.
--- T. K. Anand
Aztec Software |
| |
|
"Things
are going from bad to worse"
Last year flush with VC funds, internet companies
in a battle for visibility blared out their existence from gigantic
billboards dotting the urban landscape. Recruitment ads shed their
stodgy image and became brand statements in their own right.
--- Mr. Vikram Satyanath
Enterprise Nexus
|
| |
|
"Failure
is not a dirty word in VC lexicon"
Nasdaq's downward spiral has triggered a
bloodbath in the tech sector. As start-up corpses begin to litter
the tech field, VCs are surprisingly stoic.
--- Mr. Vijay Angadi
ICF ventures |
| |
|
"New
paradigm of work"
"I feel every company in the future will have
distributed people. Why have a work force at all," he questions
passionately. No, this is not the stuff dreams are made of or what
we all though we would do when we were 14-year olds before we got
trapped in a cubicled existence."
--- Vinai Kashyap
Kelsar Technologies |
| |
|
"Being
laid-off is akin to standing at the edge of a precipice with nothing
in front of you"
Less than a year ago, HR managers of India
Software Inc. raged reckless battles to lure techies to their fold.
Indian techies never had it better - inflated salaries, stock
options, signing bonuses, paid vacations and relocation expenses
were deemed an integral part of the pay package.
--- Dr. Gideon Arulmani
The Promise Foundation
|
| |
|
Short Take
"HIPAA
is a big opportunity but not for every player in the market"
Healthcare informatics space in the US has been
relatively recession proof and is expected to touch $60 billion by
2004.
--- --- Dr.Saji Salam,
Consulting Manager, HL7
Inc |
| |
|
"Hyderabad
has an international face but reputational build-up will take
time"
In the last five years, Hyderabad has transformed
itself from the once somnolent city of Nawabs to an aggressive
player in the technology industry.
--- --- Colonel M. Vijay Kumar, Director, STPI,
Hyderabad |
| |
|
"The
next 18 months will separate the good from the 'once-upon-a-time'
companies"
Established in 1997, Mistral Software has emerged
as a leading provider of end-to-end services for embedded product
design and development.
--- Anees Ahmed
President, Mistral
Software |
| |
|
Company Watch
"Gunning
for 50 per cent growth"
Founded in 1997 CoreObjects is a product
development engine for robust, scalable software. The mid-sized
company has carefully crafted a differentiated strategy from its
contemporaries as a product-centric rather than a project-centric
company.
--- Sanjay Bhaduri
President
CoreObjects |
| |
|
"The
overwhelming evidence is in favour of good HR practices in
IT"
Since Nasdaq first hit the skids last April and
fortunes of IT companies, riding on the dotcom boom, nosedived, the
IT industry that had earlier waged wars too woo and retain talent
responded by slashing salaries, issuing pink slips, withdrawing
offers to freshers and freezing recruitment.
--- Prof. J. Phillip
Director XIME |
| |
|
Company Watch
"We
are optimistic about the next three quarters"
LG Soft India (LGSI) is a part of the US $80
billion LG Group. Despite the LG brand name, the company has had a
chequered history, first hit by the Korean crisis then by the US
downturn.
--- Mr. Shubho Kundu
General Manager
LG Soft
India |
| |
|
Invest Kerala
Hip,
Hep & Happening Kerala
The latest State to jump on the Indian IT
badwagon is Kerala, God's own country. Shrugging its somnolent
backwater, non-happening imageand armed with a brand new IT policy
and a more than supportive government, the State is pulling all
plugs to attract IT investments in the State.
--- Mr. Rajiv Vasudevan
CEO,
Technopark |
| |
|
"Future
of animation in India is brilliant"
"Kinetic Art is the first new category of art
since prehistory. It took until this century to discover the art
that moves. Had we taken the aesthetic qualities of sound as much
for granted as we have taken those of motion, we would not now have
music.
--- Bill Dennis
CEO, Toonz Animation
India |
| |
|
Start-up Track
"Organisations
need to understand what is happening tomorrow"
In an intensely competitive globalised economy,
strategy-generation and accurate decision- making have become
increasingly complex and an imperative for businesses to
succeed.
--- Subhash Gupta
Founder and Chief
Scientist
Zelante Solutions |
| |
|
"It's
a good time for VCs to invest, as no one else is"
VCs may still be hurting from their matri-money
with upstarts in the 'got an idea get a million era' but are not
calling it quits.
--- Sumir Chadha
Founder IVCA |
| |
|
Company
Watch
"Domestic markets hold poor lure for VCs"
In a country where PC penetration is as low as
five per 1,000 people, Inabling Technologies stormed the domestic
technology market in August 2001 with its indigenously produced
revolutionary e-mail device for the rural market, the I-station.
--- Mr. Narsimha Prabhu
Chief Technology
Officer
Inabling Technologies |
| |
|
"If
Hyderabad has 10 jobs, Bangalore has close to 100"
In the late Nineties, a 400-year old city closely
identified with its laid-back Nawabi culture discovered the power of
Silicon and made a pitch to transform itself from Hyderabad to
Cyberabad.
--- Mr A. K. Menon
CEO Options |
| |
|
"There
is nothing demeaning about working in a call centre"
The IT-enabled services opportunity in India is
expected to cross $20 billion by 2008, according to a recent Nasscom
report. The sunrise sector with a humongous potential to offer
employment to collegiates has also become the victim of many
misconceptions.
--- Mr. G. V. Giridhar
General Manager -
HR
ITES |
| |
|
"India
is not merely a low cost production centre"
Realising India's immense potential in IT and BT,
UK is trying hard to lure Indian investors by pitching itself as an
attractive and preferred hi-tech investment gateway to Europe.
--- Mr. Stephen Metti
Head of India and
Australia
Team of Invest UK. |
| |
|
HR
Focus
"It's the little things that make a vital
difference at Subex"
In February 2002, Subex Systems bagged the award
for Organisation with Innovative HR practices at the All India HRD
Congress.
--- Mr J. M. Prasad,
Subex Systems, |
| |
|
"Our intent is to address the security market through whatever it takes"
The market for security-related hardware, software, and services is expected to swell to $45 billion in revenue by 2006, according to IDC..
--- Mr. Rakesh Singh, GM
NetScaler, Asia Operations |
| |
|
Start-up Watch
"Young company with a mature mind"
Three years earlier, like-minded industry veterans from leading technology companies came together to fill gap found in IT services space, a good blend of consulting capabilities and process oriented execution under one leadership.
--- Mr. Vinod P. Deshmukh
Sr. Vice President and CTO, MindTree Consulting |
| |
|
"In today's market, pure product play is very risky"
Telesoft is a product start-up with a high passion quotient. In 1998-99 the company built a softswitch which pipped giants such as Fujitsu, Nortel and NTT DoCoMo in the marketplace.
--- Mr. Vinod Chandran
Chief Operating Office, Telesoft |
| |
|
"Few Indian companies offer total ownership in chip design"
2002 has been the worst ever year for the global chip sector hammered by the slowdown and lowered IT spends. Undeterred by the shrunken market and fast-disappearing prospects, Avedis Microsystem made its debut in May, making it one of the few hot technology start-ups of this year.
--- Mr. Sunil Kalarickal
CEO Avedis Microsystems
|
| |
|
"There is a misconception that BPO means easy money"
Indian BPO players are on a high. Recent joint projections by Nasscom- McKinsey indicate that the IT-Enabled Services segment will generate Rs. 81,000 crore (US$ 17 billion) in revenue and employ over 1 million people by 2008.
--- Rajdeep S. Puri
Vice President
Operations First Ring
|
| |
|
"Software exports will touch Rs. 13,000 crore"
For the IT industry struggling to survive, the last one year has been irredeemably bleak with growth rates crashing from quarter to quarter.
--- Mr. B. V. Naidu
Director, STPI |
| |
|
Growth and Profitability in tough times
In 2000, caught in the worst ever business crisis, Firestone was forced to recall 6.5 million failure-prone tires. Later research proved that the Firestone problem was as early as August 1998 and the company could have prevented the damage had it known that people were already beginning to talk about its tires on the Net.
---Dr K. R. V. Subramanian
CEO, AnswerPal |
| |
|
"Bluetooth is not a wishful market"
By 2005, analysts such as Vision Gain predict that all new multimedia mobile devices will be manufactured with Bluetooth as the standard. A rip-off from science fantasy fiction, Bluetooth promises communication between a gamuts of devices.
--- Mr. Basker Subramanian,
CTO and founder Impulsesoft |
| |
|
"Musharraf is serious about disciplining jehadis"
High -level visits from US and UK to the sub-continent followed by President Musharraf's promise to permanently clamp down on terrorists have brought India and Pakistan back from the brink.
--- Dr Sreedhar,
Institute of Defence Studies |
| |
|
"We need to take the lid off the entire bureaucracy called education"
India's garugantan education machinery churns out scores of graduates every year. Yet apart from a few institutions such as IITs and IIMs, Central universities and now the III-Ts, India's educational sector is chronically sick.
--- Prof Sadagopan,
Director III-T,
|
| |
|
"HR is drawn to outsourcing for reasons other than cost reduction"
Responding to the increasing business imperatives of the new economy, the traditional HR department has been subject to a drastic image makeover - from a cost-consuming, administrative backstage functionary to a strategic business partner contributing directly and significantly to the company's bottomline.
--- Mr. Leo Fernandez,
India Life Hewitt
|
| |
|
"We wanted to make sure we did not miss being in Asia's Silicon Valley"
The latest US company on the block to shift base to India to leverage its cost effectiveness is New-Jersey-based content and IP rating billing and settlement solutions provider, Apogee Networks.
--- Mr. Balaji Pitchaikani
Apogee Networks
|
| |
|
"The industry's problem is that we are trying to copy the Americans too much"
Formed in 1986, Sonata Software is India's oldest medium enterprise. At a corporate level, the SEICMM Level 5 certified company forms a fairly decent story to tell.
--- Mr. Srikar Reddy
Sonata Software
|
| |
|
"There is no such thing as an ethical hacker"
In 2001, computer users faced a seemingly endless onslaught of viruses. Code Red Nimda and Scrim pinpointed the vulnerability of networks and our helplessness to tackle them.
--- Mr. Subramanya Rao
Proland Software
|
| |
|
"Even a slowdown can be advantageous if you want to take advantage of it"
Challenge is a way of life for Ishoni Networks. Two-and-a- half-years back, Ishoni's India office decided that it was not going to be a mere service company and play second fiddle to its US counterpart.
--- Dr Vivek Mansingh
Ishoni Networks
|
| |
|
"HR cannot afford to get divorced from business realities"
In a span of less than five years, Aztec Software from being a little known start-up became the darling of the markets when it went public last year. A fortnight back, rocked by uncertainties in the market, the company was forced to lay off 35 employees. True to the Aztec work ethic, the company did not mask the layoffs behind a flurry of excuses as most other Indian companies have.
--- T. K. Anand
Aztec Software
|
| |
|
"Things are going from bad to worse"
Last year flush with VC funds, internet companies in a battle for visibility blared out their existence from gigantic billboards dotting the urban landscape. Recruitment ads shed their stodgy image and became brand statements in their own right.
--- Mr. Vikram Satyanath
Enterprise Nexus
|
| |
|
"Failure is not a dirty word in VC lexicon"
Nasdaq's downward spiral has triggered a bloodbath in the tech sector. As start-up corpses begin to litter the tech field, VCs are surprisingly stoic.
--- Mr. Vijay Angadi
ICF ventures
|
| |
|
"New paradigm of work"
"I feel every company in the future will have distributed people. Why have a work force at all," he questions passionately. No, this is not the stuff dreams are made of or what we all though we would do when we were 14-year olds before we got trapped in a cubicled existence."
--- Vinai Kashyap
Kelsar Technologies
|
| |
|
"Being laid-off is akin to standing at the edge of a precipice with nothing in front of you"
Less than a year ago, HR managers of India Software Inc. raged reckless battles to lure techies to their fold. Indian techies never had it better - inflated salaries, stock options, signing bonuses, paid vacations and relocation expenses were deemed an integral part of the pay package.
--- Dr. Gideon Arulmani
The Promise Foundation
|
| |
|
Short Take
"HIPAA is a big opportunity but not for every player in the market"
Healthcare informatics space in the US has been relatively recession proof and is expected to touch $60 billion by 2004.
--- --- Dr.Saji Salam,
Consulting Manager, HL7 Inc |
| |
|
"Hyderabad has an international face but reputational build-up will take time"
In the last five years, Hyderabad has transformed itself from the once somnolent city of Nawabs to an aggressive player in the technology industry.
--- --- Colonel M. Vijay Kumar, Director, STPI, Hyderabad |
| |
|
"The next 18 months will separate the good from the 'once-upon-a-time' companies"
Established in 1997, Mistral Software has emerged as a leading provider of end-to-end services for embedded product design and development.
--- Anees Ahmed
President, Mistral Software |
| |
|
Company Watch
"Gunning for 50 per cent growth"
Founded in 1997 CoreObjects is a product development engine for robust, scalable software. The mid-sized company has carefully crafted a differentiated strategy from its contemporaries as a product-centric rather than a project-centric company.
--- Sanjay Bhaduri
President CoreObjects |
| |
|
"The overwhelming evidence is in favour of good HR practices in IT"
Since Nasdaq first hit the skids last April and fortunes of IT companies, riding on the dotcom boom, nosedived, the IT industry that had earlier waged wars too woo and retain talent responded by slashing salaries, issuing pink slips, withdrawing offers to freshers and freezing recruitment.
--- Prof. J. Phillip
Director XIME |
| |
|
Company Watch
"We are optimistic about the next three quarters"
LG Soft India (LGSI) is a part of the US $80 billion LG Group. Despite the LG brand name, the company has had a chequered history, first hit by the Korean crisis then by the US downturn.
--- Mr. Shubho Kundu
General Manager
LG Soft India |
| |
|
Invest Kerala
Hip, Hep & Happening Kerala
The latest State to jump on the Indian IT badwagon is Kerala, God's own country. Shrugging its somnolent backwater, non-happening imageand armed with a brand new IT policy and a more than supportive government, the State is pulling all plugs to attract IT investments in the State.
--- Mr. Rajiv Vasudevan
CEO, Technopark |
| |
|
"Future of animation in India is brilliant"
"Kinetic Art is the first new category of art since prehistory. It took until this century to discover the art that moves. Had we taken the aesthetic qualities of sound as much for granted as we have taken those of motion, we would not now have music.
--- Bill Dennis
CEO, Toonz Animation India |
| |
|
Start-up Track
"Organisations need to understand what is happening tomorrow"
In an intensely competitive globalised economy, strategy-generation and accurate decision- making have become increasingly complex and an imperative for businesses to succeed.
--- Subhash Gupta
Founder and Chief Scientist
Zelante Solutions
|
| |
|
"It's a good time for VCs to invest, as no one else is"
VCs may still be hurting from their matri-money with upstarts in the 'got an idea get a million era' but are not calling it quits.
--- Sumir Chadha
Founder IVCA
|
| |
|
Company Watch
"Domestic markets hold poor lure for VCs"
In a country where PC penetration is as low as five per 1,000 people, Inabling Technologies stormed the domestic technology market in August 2001 with its indigenously produced revolutionary e-mail device for the rural market, the I-station.
--- Mr. Narsimha Prabhu
Chief Technology Officer
Inabling Technologies
|
| |
|
"If Hyderabad has 10 jobs, Bangalore has close to 100"
In the late Nineties, a 400-year old city closely identified with its laid-back Nawabi culture discovered the power of Silicon and made a pitch to transform itself from Hyderabad to Cyberabad.
--- Mr A. K. Menon
CEO Options |
| |
|
"There is nothing demeaning about working in a call centre"
The IT-enabled services opportunity in India is expected to cross $20 billion by 2008, according to a recent Nasscom report. The sunrise sector with a humongous potential to offer employment to collegiates has also become the victim of many misconceptions.
--- Mr. G. V. Giridhar
General Manager - HR
ITES
|
| |
|
"India is not merely a low cost production centre"
Realising India's immense potential in IT and BT, UK is trying hard to lure Indian investors by pitching itself as an attractive and preferred hi-tech investment gateway to Europe.
--- Mr. Stephen Metti
Head of India and Australia
Team of Invest UK.
|
| |
|
HR Focus
"It's the little things that make a vital difference at Subex"
In February 2002, Subex Systems bagged the award for Organisation with Innovative HR practices at the All India HRD Congress.
--- Mr J. M. Prasad,
Subex Systems,
|
| |
|
"ILM technologies enable organizations to dynamically and seamlessly manage corporate information according to its changing value over time"
 |
N Ramachandran,
GM - Storage Industry Group,
Mindtree Consulting Pvt Ltd. |
Storage Area Networks (SANs) have the ability to save company money, hasten backups and help consolidate the data center. But, a SAN is not to be left alone. It's a complex growing, breathing entity that constantly needs to be tweaked and upgraded.
In this month's interview, GM- Storage Industry Group of Mindtree Consulting Pvt Ltd., N Ramachandran, shares his insights in the Storage Solutions.
 What is storage? Isn't it only hard disks, floppy disks, tapes and CD ROMS?
Well, those are really what I call the end devices. These are the devices where data gets physically stored - the disk drives, tapes, floppy disks, etc. There are quite a few other "components" of storage. There are the sub-systems (for example RAID systems, tape libraries, etc) that are built on top of the storage devices which provide key features like fault tolerance, fault resilience, mirroring and striping and other capabilities. This ensures that data that is being stored are stored reliably, faster and cheaper.
On top of the subsystems are the "networking" components like SAN. These provide network capability to the storage systems - the key driving technologies being Fiber Channel (FC), iSCSI, FICON, etc. These technologies provide ability for a single storage sub-system to be accessibile to multiple hosts - thus multiplying the utility of the systems. And more importantly, there are data management applications which provide a crucial user perspective to storage. These applications take the raw data beneath and provide a view and access to this data in the way a user would want.
Key technologies here are backup-recovery, disaster recovery, volume management, data security, etc. The key thing is that there are different technologies driving each one of the components. For eg, the disk market's key concern is storing more MB/sq. inch, reducing the cost of storing MB, etc, the subsystem market's key drivers are how to attach more drives to the controllers, the speed of the controllers, how to build more "applications" faster on the controllers, etc.
What are the key trends driving storage solutions?
There are 3 requirements which are driving the development of storage solutions
1. Backup/Disaster recovery requirements - Though 9/11 precipitated this, there has been a cognizance of users to have remote, point-in-time backups without stoppage of user activity. This is not as simple as it sounds when you look at a data center - with a whole suite of mission critical applications running and the volume of data backed up in the order of TB (1 Tera Byte = 1000 GB).
2. Compliance/Regulatory requirements - This has been one of the key drivers for the past few years and the corporate scandals in the US has been a shot in the arm. Now the US regulations stipulate that financial records must be saved for a long time with the ability to prove that it has not been tampered. HIPPA regulations say that medical records must be stored for a long time.
3. Ease of management - The biggest pain point of CIOs today is to store information which has a very quick retrieval time with the lowest cost. Since they are typically counterbalancing forces - a quick retrieval time means highest cost - the ILM paradigm is getting more focus.
What is ILM?
ILM stands for Information Lifecycle Management. ILM technologies enable organizations to dynamically and seamlessly manage corporate information according to its changing value over time. For users, the motivations are economic (i.e., more efficient storage utilization), operational (i.e., automated management of increasingly distributed system resources) and legal (i.e., required by state and federal regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and others). Although arguably vendor-driven and perhaps somewhat 'utopian' in vision, ILM is a becoming a very attractive idea for CIOs and, subsequently, an area of emerging marketplace activity for vendors in the enterprise storage and software arenas.
ILM uses a number of technologies and business methodologies, including the following:
- Assessment
- Socialization
- Classification
- Automation
- Review
What is a SAN? And why is it talked about so much?
Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data.
A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. In this case, the server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data.
Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is utilized for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.
The key technologies that are used are
1. Fiber Channel (FC) is a optical interconnect at varying speeds of 1 Gb/s, 2 Gb/s and the recent 4 Gb/s. FC is optimized for connecting storage devices.
2. iSCSI refers to the SCSI protocol over IP. The transport for this deployment scenario is a Gigabit-Ethernet network. The advantage of this is that the cost of rollout and maintenance is lower than the FC network because of the lower pricing of the GigE components.
3. FICON is the interconnect used in the mainframe arena. Since the big data centers run IBM mainframes (still!), this is one of the transport mechanism that is widely used in the storage world.
Benefits of SAN
What are the key concerns in addressing the market today in deploying a storage solution?
The biggest concern is one of interoperability. The key thing is that there are lot of technological innovations that are being done by niche companies - for example a Veritas comes up with an innovative backup software, but will it work with the latest StorageTek tape library? - which needs to interoperate in the customer environment. This problem is being addressed by Industry organizations like SNIA which run technology and product certification courses.
The second is one of security - there is lot of hypersensitive data in the corporate. How does the storage system ensure that the right data is available to the right persons only?
The third concern is one of management. With such a complex system, the cost of managing a SAN deployment is very high - both in terms of skill and complexity. The software tools that do a good bit of management do come with a huge price tag. The enterprises need to understand this and budget for the maintenance and smooth running of the SAN.
There are lots of announcements mentioning partnerships. What does it mean?
As mentioned above, one of the huge issues is interoperability. There are a plethora of devices (disks, subsystems, network equipment, management software) from many companies. A customer wants to take a complete solution - but is way too spoilt for choices. At the same time, he doesn't know whether the combination that he wants would work together or not. The companies are taking the effort to test their interoperability with each other in the labs and announce partnerships. This gives the customer a confidence that the solution he is looking at would really work.
What are the technological advancements in the storage industry?
There are some key advancements taking place in the storage industry
Devices: Disks are approaching what is called the superparamagnetic limit - which says that you can pack data more dense than what they have. We are starting to see a WORM (Write Only Read Many) tapes which is becoming useful as an archival device.
Network: Key trends include 4 Gb/s Fiber Channel, the 10G Ethernet, TCP Offload, iSCSI offload - the major push being how to transport data faster from the host to the device.
Software: The most innovations are happening in the software - like snapshot/incremental backups, RAID in Software, point-in-time recovery, etc.
The storage industry had been focusing on disks and tapes for too long - and there has been very little innovation outside of this in the last few years. It is going to be a hugely interesting decade with lots of money pouring in providing innovative storage solutions.
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