Here we go again ... Dell after Compellent

After its failed bid of 3PAR, Dell has once again courting further wrath with EMC by going after Compellent. And Compellent has been shining like a "BUY ME" beacon in the storage sea for a while. So the pursuit by Dell would be obvious.

There aren't much differences between 3PAR and Compellent. I had the opportunity to get a technical lesson from both local partners of respective storage technology. I used to mention these 2 companies are the pace makers of the storage industry, with more advanced features that were not present with the big boys like EMC and IBM. Of course, the main selling point of these 2 companies is its sub-LUN automated tiering, which they have been selling for years before the big boys caught up.

Today, we are seeing further consolidation in the storage industry. With Isilon going to EMC in recent weeks and 3PAR to HP several months ago, Compellent could be out of the storage industry's radar in the weeks to come. Now Dell, HP and EMC are full in their bellies. IBM would be the next hungry cow looking for a storage acquisition.

So who's next? The pacemakers out there include NetApp, Data Direct Networks, Pillar Data (although this one technically belongs to Oracle's boss Larry Ellison), and perhaps a few others that has been around for 5 years or more.

NetApp seems to be the perennial rumour but not many has the deep, deep pockets to swallow NetApp. With its market cap of almost USD20 billion and stock price in the mid-50s, NetApp is a whopper burger in the radar. And I believe IBM is the only one with the kind of funds to do just that, if they want to.

My parting words, "Adios, Compellent ... it's been great knowing you."