With 3Com Corp announcing new adapter, hub and switch products for the emerging Fibre Channel market, the storage area network (SAN) bandwagon gathers its first major supporter from the networking community. It won’t be the last as SANs represent the coming together of the network and storage markets. LAN and WAN leader 3Com says it has already tested a first raft of Fibre Channel StorageConnect hardware and software for use with Legato Systems Inc management software, MTI tape library and Data General Clariion Fibre array products. They include adapters, switches and hubs. Late next year or in 2000 3Com will integrate the SAN products with its TranscendWare network management software. Thereafter 3Com will connect SAN products to its LAN and WAN technologies and extend its policy-based security, traffic and fault management software to SANs. The market for SANs, which are ultimately supposed to enable users to attach any storage device to any server via a shared ‘fabric’ or storage- based network infrastructure, is expected to be worth around $1.5bn by 2002, 3Com estimates. Most of the mainstream hardware vendors have already put in place strategies to address the nascent SAN market. Compaq Computer Corp yesterday said it was beta testing a Fibre Channel technologies for use with its StorageWorks products.
