Absolutely right about standards and the amount of time it takes for them to really take hold - the problem and the point I was trying to make is that when big companies get their sales and marketing engines involved they look to how to build their profits. They become self-serving with their standards efforts - and furthermore, if they are not all on the same page the standard can get very diluted.

I will go with you on the SMI-S efforts though. If left to the technical brain-share of the storage industry, we would most certainly have a shot at some consistent and usable standard for the masses - not just the select few that can afford it. I’m worried about the recent announcements on other management initiatives that are to leverage SMI-S however.

If you look at the many articles on the new Aperi initiative being pushed by IBM the general view is that it’s just another way to dilute the total standardization effort. Check out this article at ComputerWorld for another perspective on Aperi.

I’m optimistic that this initiative will have some success, but I am jaded by the ulterior motives of the big vendors throwing their weight around.

When the standard is actually ported to real storage management products, that don’t cost more than the storage hardware itself, then maybe there will be an honest-to-goodness chance for a standard that ALL customers can benefit from. Having a storage management budget that eclipses the storage hardware budget won’t do it though - which is, again, why having the big vendors team up to “enhance” the already in motion SMI-S standard seems counter-productive.

Great debate! Time will tell! I guess we’ll see in 5-7 years.

Joe

Yes the big guys are involved because their customers (Fortune 500) are telling them that they want a standards based implementation of storage management to address the cost issue.

Most of the little guys don’t do storage management - at least that is what I find. I think Microsoft is trying to address this market - but it will take a couple of years.

The majority of companies simply ingnore their storage until something doesn’t work. It is a lot like the way they treat automobiles. Storage management will go the same route - a little flashy light will tell you when it is time to replace a failed part. Achieving this state of storage will take time and lots of virtualization. So if you look at where the hot hot hot activity is in storage management it is in figuring out how to manage virtualization. Rememeber that old byline - Everything fails - Got Managment.
Larry