iSCSI and its world domination strategy

Anybody in IT storage business should know that iSCSI has become a standard since 2003. There were lots and lots of discussion back then to make this protocol a universal connection.

I've had my own share of iSCSI during the past year and a half as a distributor of Intransa. Now i'm currently looking to see some other vendors on what their competitive advantages are. This is mostly due to the fact that iSCSI is moving quickly and newer vendors are coming up with even better prices than ever. People like Huawei-3COM are expecting to launch their own iSCSI storage offerings in 2006.

Let's look at the competitive advantage of iSCSI over Fiber-Channel (FC-AL) for a bit. Since many people know the results of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and IP (Internet Protocol) war that IP won 3-0. So this battle is actually about IP vs FC (Fiber Channel) not iSCSI vs FC-AL.

IP is current technology that we use to communicate through the Internet. It's become the standard of global communication such as Voice-over-IP (skype), etc. iSCSI was created on top of IP stack to utilize the good features of IP i.e. block-reordering, trunking (or some say link aggregation), block-retransmission, and more. Also iSCSI has some cool built-in features for both security (authentication via CHAP, encryption by IP SEC) and performance (through the use of jumbo frame or (mtu = 9000)).

The real competitive advantage of iSCSI over FC-AL is the underlying technology. IP has opened doors to every organization on earth. Any small-medium sized offices are already equipped with IP network gears. These network gears can be used to deliver iSCSI traffic the same way they are used to deliver Internet traffic. Basically, adding an iSCSI storage device to your office should be a piece-of-cake problem. Then to strengthen the position of iSCSI, that same iSCSI storage device can be used via IP from anywhere around the globe!

This opens up the opportunity to do a number of things that FC-AL can not provide. (FC-AL requires a point-to-point connection or requires very expensive DWDM equipments [if you know what it is] with a dedicated point-to-point high-speed dark fiber).

So we could have a storage device in the data center in the bay area. One day we decide that we need to send our data off to Timbuktu to reduce our risk. With a iSCSI storage device, you can put another iSCSI storage device in Timbuktu then replicatation can begin as long as there's Internet. FC-AL storage device will require you (the owner) to buy a dedicated high-speed dark fiber link (from the bay area to Timbuktu) along with a pair of expensive DWDM equipments (one in the bay area, one in Timbuktu), additional FC-AL storage in Timbuktu to be able to do the same replication. Of course, you will need to know your required bandwidth but you don't need extra bandwidth and extra DWDM equipments.

And if one day Timbuktu becomes too dangerous, we need to switch to Singapore for its safe and sound environment, iSCSI storage devices needs another iSCSI storage device to be put in Singapore and the replication can begin. While FC-AL storage device will require the same amount or more investment (link, DWDM equipments, installation). While I'm typing this story, i've completed 3 iSCSI replications from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Singapore to Bangkok, and Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur. While my competing FC-AL vendors still try to call network provider for a link quote.... (not to mention the DWDM equipments that they need to buy and ...)

That's off for today. Tomorrow we'll discuss about performance and security of iSCSI. Why it's going to be a very important technology?..