Siemens Computer Systems, the computer arm of the German electronics conglomerate, has become a member of the Fibre Alliance, a group founded in February by storage systems vendor EMC Corp.
The Alliance was created as a result of EMC’s frustration at the lack of progress on standards for Fibre Channel within the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA). EMC formed the breakaway organization with ten other companies to drive the process faster.
To avoid clashes with the ongoing work of the SNIA, however, it vowed to submit all its standards proposals to an overseeing body, namely the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which is also reviewing all the SNIA work.
That Siemens is joining is no great surprise, given the server manufacturer’s existing relationship with EMC. An executive at another storage vendor noted, however, that there are no direct competitors to EMC in the association, suspecting that, while it will submit to the IETF’s arbitration, the dominant player in online storage will at least be seeking to nudge standards in the direction of its technology.
