InformationWeek

Compaq will offer IBM's high-end Enterprise Storage System (also known as Shark) to customers who need to support Unix, Windows NT, and mainframe data on storage networks. Meanwhile, IBM will offer Compaq's StorageWorks modular array systems and software for midsize businesses. Each company will sell the other's products under its own label and make its storage-management software cross-compatible. "What we're announcing will change the storage industry," Compaq president and CEO Michael Capellas said during a press conference last week.

Users are a little more cautious. "If this leads to better services, it's worth looking at," says Sung Choi, director of IS at online arbitrator Cybersettle Inc. "Storage is more than just hardware."

Issues beyond a joint commitment to standards and interoperability played a part in bringing the two fiercely competitive vendors to the table. Compaq and IBM significantly trail EMC Corp. in the storage market, which International Data Corp. says will grow to $53 billion by 2003. By teaming up, the two vendors can gain ground. "The whole is now greater than the sum [of its parts]," says Linda Sanford, general manager of IBM's storage subsystems division. "This puts pressure on competition that's promoting more proprietary ways of doing storage networking."