Microsoft's grand vision for storage business
Microsoft's grand vision for storage business
Microsoft is making a number of moves in the storage market, as it looks to dramatically increase its presence in the sector.
The company has been busy tying up OEM partners for its new Windows Storage Server 2003 product, with 35 vendors, including EMC, HP and Dell, already on the roster. Additionally, it is looking to recruit storage integrators as part of a major storage channel building strategy.
"We've always been something of a fringe player in the storage world," said Michael Leworthy, Microsoft's Windows Storage Server Business Manager. "We've always had storage technology within our Windows products and we have had some NAS offerings, but it is only in the last 18 months that we have had a storage group that is totally focused on storage solutions."
The recent release of the Windows Storage Server 2003 is the culmination of the work that has gone on within that dedicated unit in the last year and a half.
"It charges us with the ability to go out and talk to our storage partners and make our hardware and software alliances much tighter. It also provides our customers with an economic way of utilising storage in their environment."
Leworthy said the main driver behind the company's big push in the storage market came in response to customers' requests for help with file server consolidation, as well as regulatory compliance around storage.
"We now have the ability with faster bandwidth access to help organisations consolidate their file servers down to a centralised environment and provide management around that.
"We are also trying to ensure that we adhere to all the standards out there and that our storage partners get the technology they require from our operating system to make their hardware better."
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