Sun pushing open source storage

It is still early days for open source in storage infrastructure outside the Web 2.0 crowd, Graham Lovell, Sun's director of storage servers and appliances, told eChannelLine.

"We are signaling a major shift in the way that storage systems will be made available," Lovell said.

"Customers want to engage in discussions about reducing the cost of storage, and they are moving away from highly proprietary, high cost, storage systems for something that is more affordable."

All a customer will need is a server, a JBOD (dumb storage) and cable, Lovell continued.

"Bear in mind that most storage hardware today that runs software, they are really servers under cover."

For Heidi Biggar, an analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, this is all positive news for the customers. "Given the economic climate, [corporate] IT is looking for ways to be more efficient."

Some IT shops have access to resources to leverage existing storage technology, but others don't have this luxury," she explained.

"Sun is making it easy for its customer to develop and create their own storage environment. Sun has always been focused on being 'open' and this announcement is another proof point. It's a good thing for Sun -- it should help drive associated business for them -- and it's a good thing for its customers."

But her colleague Mark Peters, another analyst at ESG, is a bit more skeptical. "It is theoretically possible in some places. Ultimately, it all depends whether a customer wants to go that route. You still have to buy hardware from somewhere."

Even under the Sun scenario end users will still need back end storage and something to manage the storage and communicate with the server and applications, argued Peters. Sun is banking on a host of users looking for the flexibility and customization possible under open source to build the storage system themselves, he continued.

"It is not just about the simplicity; it is also about the degree of comfort that any particular user has with doing it themselves."

Peter stated he wonders if a big company wants to invest in a whole of department of employees writing code for an Open Solaris storage system.

"[Sun] makes money on the professional services and they make money on the back end hardware because whether it is a JBOD or a Raid system, you still got to have storage space."

Meanwhile, John Webster, a senior analyst at Illuminata, suggested that OpenSolaris is less being aimed at current Sun customers and more at new end users, particularly at the ones Sun acquired with StorageTek.

"STK brought in a large [number] of corporate storage users into the Sun fold. These kinds of products Sun would dearly love to sell them to that that group of people."

Even though Sun is building a developer community for Open Solaris, Webster has detected a lot of interest in its open source storage solution in the market.

"I think it will get immediate sales; there is no question about that. They are actually selling quite well."

Sun is challenging the business model of the major storage vendors which rely on the sales of their software to generate revenue, added Webster.

"It is not only interesting, it could be highly disruptive."