Storage Technology Corp is shifting further away from its traditional IBM Corp mainframe storage interests and has identified Windows NT as central to its future strategy. Louisville, California-based StorageTek says it should be able to double its revenues in the not too distant future by addressing the storage requirements for NT and Unix systems. By 2000, StorageTek anticipates that its open systems interests will account for 50% of its revenues and wants to see a 20% growth rate within the next couple of years. The company recently reported first quarter revenues of $438.6m (CI No 3,148), the majority being generated from its mainframe storage business. Emphasis will now be placed on producing smaller products, but Storagetek says its existing mainframe business will still form an important part of its operations. StorageTek’s shift towards NT and Unix isn’t entirely uncharted territory: its TimberWolf tape libraries for Unix and NT have already proved a success. It plans to open a competency center in Brussels, and another in Chicago, to look into the furthering of fiber channel technologies, which StorageTek sees as an up and coming, and very viable technology. The first fiber channel capabilities should appear in the fourth quarter in the shape of an OpenStorage Disk, designed to attach to Windows NT servers. Company spokesperson David Reid said StorageTek is approaching its new market from the enterprise standpoint and sees competition coming from IBM and EMC Corp. The products won’t just address one end of the market, but will be developed across the board. A great deal of the technology applied to StorageTek’s future products will come from Data General Corp’s Clariion RAID storage business. Reid says Clariion has become an important part of its business and says StorageTek will be looking to form partnerships with other companies in the future.
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