Sun & StorageTek - Reclaiming ILM

June 1st, 2006: Sun's acquisition of StorageTek provides an aggressive end-to-end approach to the storage market in the region. ILM remains the focus and StorageTek remains a brand.

Sun Microsystems has renamed its Data Management Group to the more direct Storage Group having successfully integrated all but on of the StorageTek offices in the region.

Fronting journalists yesterday to roll-out its new strategies of end-to-end Information Lifecycle Management (ILM). Head of the new group, Anthony Clarke - with nine years at StorageTek - stated that, "We have no gaps in our product set, and we are now participating in conversations (with clients) from the creation of data. We are the only storage company - aside from IBM - to be able to offer a full end-to-end solution."

Sun MD, Jim Hassell, also presented an aggressive stance stating that it had the number four regional storage vendor, Dell, firmly in its sights.

ILM remained high on the agenda at yesterday's briefing, with both Clarke and Hassell constantly reinforcing the integration of identity management as a key 'new' area of the process. With device and data encryption leading the challenges. Hassell lead into this with the top-line statement that we are all now living in the 'Participation Age'.

This new age is focused on the Internet as a two-way medium in which content is no longer simply pushed to consumers. Sun's figures show that growth in storage to accommodate the masses of digital data now required by end-users is 50-60% per year. With only 15% of existing data being deleted, the requirement both for greater (and savvier) utilisation of existing space and new storage is not likely to slow. According to Clarke, in fact, the storage business in the region actually grew 16% for the new partnership.

With increased utilisation comes and increased focus on virtualisation of both the server and of storage, with Hassell declaring that, "Customers can't afford to replace legacy systems." This would appear to make last year's decision to offer Solaris 10 - with its native OS virtualisation - for free a successfully competitive one. Clarke actually pointed up the fact that StorageTek sees itself as 'a leader in virtualisation' with its V2X (virtual disk) and VSM (Virtual Storage Management) products.

So, with a relaunch of its partner storage program, a revived concentration on ILM, and a direct targeting of Dell, Sun's US$4.1-billion purchase of StorageTek reads, so far at least, like a good deal.

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