Eight top IT vendors came together this week to prove that storing and recovering block-level data between data centers on the East and West coasts is possible using IP and off-the-shelf devices.
The Promontory Project, as it's being called, was hailed as the industry's first gigabit-speed transcontinental IP storage-area network using SCSI and Fibre Channel commands.
Adaptec Inc., Dell Computer Corp., Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, Intel Corp., Nishan Systems, QLogic Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. set up various storage and switching equipment and used a 10G bit/sec. fiber-optic backbone in order to transfer block-level data such as database information at speeds of 2.5G bit/sec.
"IP storage is here today," Randy Fardall, a spokesman for San Jose-based Nishan Systems.
Based on emerging data-transport standards known as iSCSI, FCIP and iFCP, the switched network transmitted data at about 1TB per hour from Sunnyvale, Calif., to Newark, N.J., and back again.
Steve Duplessie, an analyst at Enterprise Storage Group in Milford, Mass., hailed the unique collaboration among rival market players.
"Even though we're not technically at standards now, the stuff works. Interoperability is predicated upon other standards," he said. "It's not just that iSCSI standards aren't there yet. Ethernet and TCP/IP are there."
With Fibre Channel, data packets break down quickly, meaning that transmission distances are limited to about 100 kilometers. Because of that, IT managers have been unable to back up servers to data centers much farther away than the city next door or, in the case of Wall Street, across the Hudson River to New Jersey.
"For the first time, you can now put your backup center far enough away that it won't get hit by the same hurricane you do," said Fardall.
Nishan provided the switches; IBM, Hitachi and Dell provided the RAID storage devices; and Cisco Systems Inc. provided routers.
"Not only does this allow you to use standard facilities based on Nortel or Cisco routers, but it allows you to go faster and further than ever before," Fardall said.
Dell is expected to announce Monday that it will begin reselling Nishan's switches.