Asked about EMC’s VFCache product during NetApp’s earnings call Wednesday, Georgens said server-side flash is “a sure thing,” but NetApp will focus on data management software that works with PCIe cards instead of selling the cards. He doesn’t rule out selling cards either, though.

“I don’t think the opportunity is simply selling cards into the host, although we may do that,” he said. “But our real goal is we’re going to bring the data that’s stored in flash on the host into our data management methodology for backup, replication, deduplication and all of those things. It isn’t as simple as we’re going to make a PCI flash card. Our focus this year is the software component and bringing that into our broader data management capability.”

With VFCache, EMC sells PCIe cards from Micron or LSI with the storage vendor’s management software. NetApp appears intent on selling software that will work with any PCIe cards – or at least the most popular cards. The question is whether it can develop software that is integrated as tightly with many cards instead of focusing on one or two.

Georgens said NetApp was correct all along with its contention that using flash as cache is more effective than replacing hard drives in an array with solid-state drives (SSDs). NetApp’s Fast Cache card goes into the array to accelerate performance. It is included on all FAS6000 systems and as an option on NetApp’s other FAS systems. NetApp does offer SSDs in the array, but recommends flash as cache.

“Flash is going to be pervasive,” Georgens said. “I think you’re going to see it everywhere in the infrastructure. Our position all along has been that flash as a cache is where it has the most impact. And I would say that we actually see probably more pervasive deployment of flash in our systems than anybody else in the industry.”

On the hard drive front, Georgens said the impact from shortages caused by floods in Thailand weren’t as bad as anticipated last quarter although it will take another six to nine months before the “uncertainty” lifts.

“While drive vendors had little forward delivery visibility, most of the disk drives shipped in excess of initial estimates,” Georgens said. “However, not all drive types were universally available and some spot shortages impacted revenue and will likely do so in the upcoming quarter as well. … We expect the drive situation to continue to inject uncertainty into the revenue for the next nine months as availability, cost and pricing settle out in the market.”

During Monday’s VFCache launch, EMC president of information infrastructure products Pat Gelsinger said EMC’s move into server-side flash does not mean it has designs on becoming a server company. It only wants to sell the flash that goes into servers.

“From our side, this is truly cooperation [with server vendors],” Gelsinger said. “We’re not competing with them. There is no coopetition. This is just another card that goes into the server. We’re not in the server business. We’re extending the storage array on the server side and bringing the I/O stack into the server. We’re not going into the server.”

Gelsinger said the VFCache PCIe card is certified to run on servers from Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. There are no reseller or OEM deals with the server vendors for VFCache, although Gelsinger said there may be in the future.

Except for EMC’s close ally Cisco, the other three server vendors also sell storage. It will be interesting to see how they react to VFCache. But this isn’t the first time EMC has extended its technology into the server without actually selling servers. As the parent company of VMware, EMC is already a major player in server technology.

So even if EMC doesn’t want to sell servers, it wants a front-row seat to view the server world from.
“The biggest vulnerability EMC has in competing with the IBMs, HPs and Dells of the world is those other guys have access to the entire stack because they sell the servers and everything in between,” said Arun Taneja, founder of the Taneja Group analyst firm. “VMware gave EMC leverage to the server side and put the rest of the industry on notice – if you want to compete you have to buy stuff from EMC.”

David Flynn, CEO of EMC’s largest server-side flash competitor Fusion-io, maintains that EMC is trying to extend its vendor lock in with VFCache. He wonders why EMC doesn’t only sell its management software and let customers pick their own PCIe cards to place in the server.

While it plays nice with all the top server vendors with VFCache, EMC has made it clear that Micron is its favorite PCIe flash partner. Gelsinger – who asked for a moment of silence Monday for Micron CEO Steve Appleton, who was killed in a plane crash last week – emphasized that Micron is EMC’s preferred partner for VFCache although he acknowledged LSI is also a partner in a multi-vendor arrangement.

“Micron has extraordinary I/O performance,” Gelsinger said. “This is the best technology in the industry for PCIe flash.”