IBM pushes midrange array

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By Lucas Mearian

(IDG) -- IBM last week released a midrange disk array targeted at EMC's Clariion product line and said it will stop reselling a similar device made by Compaq.

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IBM's new FastT700 storage server provides 2G bit/sec. Fibre Channel connectivity and can handle up to 16TB of data. Anne MacFarland, an analyst at The Clipper Group Inc. in Wellesley, Mass., said the FastT700 has a slightly lower starting price than the Clariion 4700 and supports advanced storage functions such as remote data copying.

IBM has been reselling Compaq's MA8000 array under an agreement that was signed last year that also allows Compaq to market IBM's high-end Shark devices. But now that IBM has fleshed out its own midrange products, it no longer needs to offer the Compaq box, said Bob Samson, worldwide vice president of sales and operations for IBM's storage systems group.

Samson also said some users had been playing the two companies against each other on pricing because they were selling the same product.