Mirrored Excitement

I haven't seen the storage blogosphere this atwitter since <a href=http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=119347>Dan Warmenhoven's testy exchange</a> with some analysts or EMC blindsided the industry with its <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/01/emc_flash_move.html">support for solid-state drives</a>. But <a href="http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid5_gci1309154,00.html">Atrato and Xiotech</a> have generated real buzz this week ove

Terry Sweeney, Contributing Editor

April 11, 2008

1 Min Read
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I haven't seen the storage blogosphere this atwitter since Dan Warmenhoven's testy exchange with some analysts or EMC blindsided the industry with its support for solid-state drives. But Atrato and Xiotech have generated real buzz this week over something potentially game changing for storage.Two bloggers I read and respect a lot have helped lead the charge on this. That "radical" Jon Toigo has been drooling all week over Xiotech's Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) and got an extensive advance look. Toigo's hardly a pushover, and between the continuous service that ISE clocks over 15 months, coupled with innovative use of the DIF write standard, and I/O benchmarks, the sources of his optimism becomes a little more clear.

In parallel, Mojo Man Robin Harris has been posting the pixels on the Atrato front.

Lots of folks, these guys included, have pointed out all the similarities between the two technologies. It's encouraging to see smart people genuinely excited about something.

A little over a week ago, I was wondering if the storage industry was ready for some new technology to replace the disk drive. OK, Atrato and Xiotech aren't the second coming, or even the third. But even in this recession-pocked landscape, it looks they might have a chance to impact the status quo. We should all know the answer to that by the end of the year.

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About the Author

Terry Sweeney

Contributing Editor

Terry Sweeney is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered technology, networking, and security for more than 20 years. He was part of the team that started Dark Reading and has been a contributor to The Washington Post, Crain's New York Business, Red Herring, Network World, InformationWeek and Mobile Sports Report.

In addition to information security, Sweeney has written extensively about cloud computing, wireless technologies, storage networking, and analytics. After watching successive waves of technological advancement, he still prefers to chronicle the actual application of these breakthroughs by businesses and public sector organizations.


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