Wasabi Systems: A Snake Waiting to Bite Someone

Have you ever been out hiking, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you see something moving in your peripheral vision? Because you're not sure what you saw you stand real still so whatever it was doesn't bite you. Well, that was my first impression after I finished listening to a briefing about Wasabi Systems' VMX 2000 Series Storage Appliance given by Frank G. Logan, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wasabi Systems, Inc.

Currently I work for a well-known R1 research institution on the east coast and manage over 150 terabytes of pure iSCSI storage. That's right, no fibre channel storage. I am also heavily involved in the End-User Council in the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and this year will serve as the theme lead for the IP Storage hands-on-lab after serving as the technical lead for the same lab in previous years,

Up this point I had heard of Wasabi before but that was basically it. I had never met anyone who was using their hardware or software but after talking to Logan for a few minutes it was clear that companies need to start paying attention to what Wasabi is building and has planned, in the very near future, for its VMX 2000 Series product line.

This product supports just about every RAID level you can think of (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60). It can support up to 16 TB of raw disk space using either SATA or SAS drives that run at different speeds, within the same chassis. If that isn't enough space for you, then you can attach up to 4 more chassis via a SAS interface and you can have up to 64TB of additional space to utilize. The VMX 2000sx model also sports a quad port 1Gb Ethernet network interface card (NIC) and can sustain 500MB/sec throughput.

Its platform is based on an enhanced BSD-family operating system and the Open-iSCSI.org open source initiator. This is significant because BSD has been proven time and time again to be quite stable and secure, while the initiator has undergone several years of development that has resulted in a high performance iSCSI stack. Wasabi also makes sure to contribute back to the community. While this is not necessary, it is notable because it allows others to reap the benefits of Wasabi's hard work.

It is what Wasabi has planned in the very near future that specifically raised my interest. While Wasabi is following suit by adding 10 Gb Ethernet, thin provisioning and Microsoft VSS support to its product line, its plans to introduce Open Source Development (OSD) are what will set it apart from the iSCSI crowd. OSD results in a software development model that rivals, or even surpasses, the ability of traditional software companies to develop software and provide bug fixes in a timely manner. This is also what allows Wasabi to compete on a level playing field with larger iSCSI vendors.

I had previously perceived Wasabi Systems as a mom and pop iSCSI SAN vendor since I had never directly focused on it. But now, after taking the time to clearly understand its value proposition, Wasabi is a company that is going to sneak up and catch some people off-guards in the iSCSI market. Short term, if you are in the market for an iSCSI SAN but don't have a lot of money to spend, the Wasabi Systems VMX2000sx merits consideration though its current lack of support for thin provisioning and VSS will be of concern to some clients. However where Wasabi is going and what it intends to roll into its VMX platform could make it a viable iSCSI alternative sooner rather than later and one that users, and other vendors, should be on the lookout for.