Computer Associates International Inc will follow-up its latest storage management agreement with Hitachi Data Systems Ltd (CI No 3,516) by striking similar arrangements with other storage manufacturers. SVP advanced product strategy Marc Sokol told ComputerWire we shouldn’t be surprised to see CA partner with EMC Corp, Storage Technology Corp. The difference between the backup and restore functions which CA’s Unicenter and ArcServe products already provide, and the additional integration the HDS work will yield for users, is granularity. Sokol said customers will be able to drill down to reach new levels of information about volumes, distribution and other metrics in the same way that CiscoWorks enables users to more extract fine-grain information from routers than they can using generic network management tools. They’ll be able to get inside the drive, he says. Sokol says the new initiative has nothing to do with increased levels of competition in the market now that Veritas Software Corp has staked its intent to become a real player with its acquisition of Seagate’s storage management software arm. Sokol characterizes Veritas as a good fourth place player with some 10% market share. Latest IDC reports give CA between 20% and 40% market share depending on how the numbers are counted. Meantime Sokol says CA will treat the hot new world of IP management as simply another protocol tier to manage like SNA or IPX. It’s new, but it’s not like the world is stood on its end, he says. CA will give customers IP management alongside other protocols. He didn’t say whether CA would buy or build this functionality.
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