I haven't seen the storage blogosphere this atwitter since Dan Warmenhoven's testy exchange with some analysts or EMC blindsided the industry with its support for solid-state drives. But Atrato and Xiotech have generated real buzz this week over something potentially game changing for storage.

Two bloggers I read and respect a lot have helped lead the charge on this. That "radical" Jon Toigo has been drooling all week over Xiotech's Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) and got an extensive advance look. Toigo's hardly a pushover, and between the continuous service that ISE clocks over 15 months, coupled with innovative use of the DIF write standard, and I/O benchmarks, the sources of his optimism becomes a little more clear.

In parallel, Mojo Man Robin Harris has been posting the pixels on the Atrato front.

Lots of folks, these guys included, have pointed out all the similarities between the two technologies. It's encouraging to see smart people genuinely excited about something.

A little over a week ago, I was wondering if the storage industry was ready for some new technology to replace the disk drive. OK, Atrato and Xiotech aren't the second coming, or even the third. But even in this recession-pocked landscape, it looks they might have a chance to impact the status quo. We should all know the answer to that by the end of the year.