Storage wars

Storage vendors are unleashing the dogs of war, using new technology, partnerships and channel initiatives to cry havoc in an intensifying scrap over domination of the enterprise data centre.

In one latest attack, IBM is using virtualisation as a decoy to recruit more partners to sell its storage solutions into SMBs. This quarter, the company is launching a Seed and Grow program aimed at multiplying SAN Volume Controller sales with an entry-level starter kit that has additional margins for partners.

IBM is turning to the channel for support, creating a US$1.5 million program to recruit some 650 resellers via its distribution partners.

In Australia, IBM is not only on a partner recruiting drive but adding online resources, research, marketing funds, test centre services, certification, training and seminars  to support existing and new partners, according to Francois Vazille, Australia and New Zealand TotalStorage business unit executive at IBM.

In the past three months, IBM has taken on two tier 1 and 10 tier 2 partners and more will be signed, Vazille promises. 'Today, we do about 58 percent of our business with partners. I want to raise that to 65 percent,' he says.

'And we have the biggest portfolio of storage solutions across the board for the smallest customers to the top end.' Partner skills now encompassed SAN and other complex storage offerings, a change that in itself heated the market.

IBM's campaign resembles various usually global initiatives from the likes of EMC, HP, Symantec and Veritas Software, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), Network Appliance (NetApp), StorageTek, Computer Associates (CA) and Sun Microsystems.

But IBM still believes it has the jump on EMC, which Vazille claims does not provide the end-to-end scope IBM offers. 'If you buy EMC, the only thing you can get in their solution is EMC,' he says. 'When a client decides to go with IBM, they can look at other solutions as well. Storage is only a part of the infrastructure.'

The Australian battlefield is looking very similar, according to David Solsky, national manager for data centre solutions at Dimension Data. Storage technology sales are growing strongly, supported by savvy strategy focusing on information life cycle management upskilling, consultancy and services through the channel.

'As vendors move down in the market, they just don't have the headcount or reach to get there directly. They have to partner.' Solsky says the past six months have seen some of the most partner-friendly vendor activity ever. He points out unit shipments are up but prices in the past 24 months have fallen by 50 to 70 percent for a typical mid-range storage setup offering a few Terabytes of data, 8- to 16-port switching and basic software.

'A lot of that has been driven by new entrants like Dell. Companies are competing very aggressively on price in the mid-market. HP has also been very aggressive on price,' Solsky says. 'For many organisations, it has been about maintaining market share.'