McData targets storage management

Move follows switch vendor's acquisition of SANavigator

Fibre Channel switch vendor McData has named storage software management as its next target market, following the completion of its acquisition of Western Digital's SANavigator subsidiary.

McData agreed to pay Western Digital $29.8m for the storage management software products and technology from its SANavigator subsidiary.

Nigel St George, country manager UK and Nordic at McData, claimed that storage software management is the next big thing. "Companies are not prepared to pay the manpower costs," he said. "With good, mature [storage management] tools, these people costs can be avoided."

St George added that the company has original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationships with IBM, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), EMC and Hewlett Packard for its own EFC Manager storage management software. However, it is hoping to "expand and open up interfaces to control more devices" with SANavigator.

The company is about to release SANavigator 2.5 to its OEM, distributor and reseller channels, and both IBM and HDS have expressed an interest. St George said that, due to the acquisition, the firm may look for more specialist software channels.

Zarah Damji, senior research analyst at IDC, said she believed storage software will become an integral part of the overall market. "Software will be the most important part when it comes to the management of data," she said.