Interoperability is a major issue in Fibre Channel based SANs today, but it has improved. Won moving to iSCSI re- introduce many of these same issues all over again?
Well yes, it could. It’s reassuring, however, that collectively the iSCSI vendors have taken a very aggressive and active approach to interoperability. The work of the University of New Hampshire iSCSI Consortium and the SNIA Interoperability venues at SNW and the SNIA Technology Center have helped to resolve interoperability issues in IP storage even as the technology itself is maturing. The lingering interoperability issues that have retarded more widespread adoption of Fibre Channel SANs would never be tolerated in the IP world. Specifically, interoperability problems that are the result of vendor dominance and foot-dragging due to competitive interests are directly opposed to the open systems philosophy that has driven IP and Ethernet. We already have seen, and I think will continue to see, higher standards for interoperability coming from the iSCSI initiative. In addition, the infrastructure that IP storage relies on is already well-established, mature, and interoperable.
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