Data General backs SAN for the future

Data General's (DG) Clariion storage division has this week bet on becoming one of the main providers of Storage Area Networks (SANs), gambling against huge losses if it fails.

DG CEO, Ron Skates, announced Clariion's move towards the independent supplier market - which is four times bigger than the unit's traditional OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) hunting ground. The change in strategy will depend on Clariion hiring at least another 450 staff, to create "one of the largest sales forces selling storage in the world".

David McLeman, DG general manager, UK and Ireland, confirmed the hiring process is well under way in Europe.

However, Skates admitted the investment will adversely affect the company's bottom line over the next few fiscal quarters. "We'll take a hit, but in the medium and long term it'll be worth it," he promised.

As part of Clariion's efforts to be a major SAN player, the company will also embrace ecommerce to deal with customers who would usually receive its products indirectly through OEMs such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, ICL and Sequent.

SANs provide high-speed access to distributed storage via Fibre Channel (FC) technology. Although there are still relatively few companies wholly committing to them, Clariion hopes users will be attracted by the need for back up in large-scale NT environments. Other SAN benefits include flexibility and easing strain on corporate LANs (Local Area Networks).

Research company, Gartner Group, has forecast that by 2002 an almost total enterprise shift to FC-based storage solutions will have taken place.

However, critics have said Clariion's inability to go after the mainframe market but concentrate on mainly NT, will hand companies like EMC, Hitachi and IBM an advantage.