In a freewheeling interview with Techieindex , he is sharing his vision on the growth of Storage Area Networking and the future ahead. He explains in simple terms what is SAN, how it can be beneficial to enterprises and so on:

On Resistance on paradigm shift from server-based data storage to SAN: 
Whenever an industry goes for a paradigm shift, it is hard to get acceptance. This has happened in the case of storage industry too. Storage has been directly attached to the server for long and people have been used to it. When we came out with this new way of distributing the data, still moving data at a very high speed and performance, initially people had trouble getting used to it. There was resistance, until we showed them with the prototype that they don't have to worry and it's for their benefit. When they realized that they could really reduce the cost of doing business, increase the performance, increase the distance and increase the number of people using the system, they gradually began to agree.

On the size of SAN market by 2005 and the share of Brocade: 
As per the IDC report, the SAN market will be to the size of $25-$30 billion by 2005, with a good chunk of it coming from infrastructure. It is hard to tell how much share Brocade will have in it, but the switching and other infrastructure market where brocade is directly involved will be $10 billion by 2005. 

On affordability of SAN: 
Everybody wants SAN features like disaster recovery and remote back up, but a lot of people could not afford it. We will bring down the cost by increasing the volume and by being innovative and by distributing that.

Evolution of Standard for SAN
When we started our activities in T-11 committee to formulate standards for SAN, we had the initial requirement. We learnt that and developed the protocol and the standard to what it is today. It was a gradual evolution. To develop the standard, we started with the basic interface between two storage devices. Then came the question of how to manage it. Not just moving the data, but how to discover it, how to put security in it. So, the standard, the way it started in 1990, was just the basic interface standard. And then we added on to it. It is still evolving and T-11 is still working. Mind you, the evolution took place based on the change in the requirement.


Reasons for evolving the SAN standard
We wanted to come out with one standard which cater to all the protocol and at the same time provides performance oriented data transfer. Earlier, a lot of data transfer was done by software, despite the fact the when software is put on the data path, there was a slowing down. We put the hardware to move the data so that one can back up lot of data in much shorter time. As the number of users increases and the size of data being used by the users increases, it becomes longer and longer to backup. So we reduced the backup window so that when we back up the information, we get the latest data. For example, if the back up process takes a long time, there is a possibility that the data might have become obsolete by the time it is finished. It has to be done fast so that it can reduce the backup window and do it robustly so that there is no data drop. For example, when an image of a patient is being sent, if a bit or byte is dropped, the doctor won't get the correct information. So it is not only important to move the data fast, but it has to be moved in a robust and reliable fashion. 

On the implications of 9/11 in the Data Storage Market
When 9/11 happened, it was irreparable loss to human lives and of course a huge financial loss. What was surprising was that the data was not lost. The data was recovered. The disaster recovery function that was put in came handy and most of the companies in the WTC, changed their address and continued with their business. Remote backup and disaster recovery functions were only affordable by big companies till some time back, but now even the small and mid sized companies want to have that feature since they don't want to lose precious data. And what we are trying to do in the industry with Brocade leading the effort is to provide that features like disaster recovery and remote back up at an affordable cost

On development of SAN products
When we created the standard, we realized that it wouldn't do any good unless some one built the product. We just needed to come out with a solution based on the standard. We knew that there was going to be a need for such a thing, not only the standard but also a product based on the standard.

On the rapid growth of SAN and increase in demand for SAN products
This rate of growth was not expected at the beginning. What was expected was recognition in the circumstances where the usage of data was increasing day by day. But when we started the company, we knew that it is going to be successful but we didn't expect such a rapid growth. Even though we did not expect such a rapid growth, the growth that's taking place in this sphere tells me that we are just scratching the surface.

On the formation of Brocade
Ed Frymoyer, an industry analyst in the Bay Area arranged a meeting for me with Seth Neiman of Cross point Ventures. Given by Ed, Seth Neiman had a little bit of background about the technology standard. During the dinner, when I explained to him, how we had done and how we can develop the product and what it means and what the protocol does and what are the benefits, he readily got convinced. Half an hour into the conversation, he said, let's start the company and I will give you the money. We didn't even have the business plan. It was a very unorthodox way of starting a company.

On the reasons for success of Brocade
Earlier on there was no single standard to carry different kind of protocol. The industry wanted to transfer data from one point to another regardless of the protocol used and this was not a healthy functioning. That is the reason we developed the standard. It is the usage of data and backing of the data became increasingly important beyond our expectations. 

On the evolution of SAN Ecosystem
Even our life and the entire earth are based on the ecosystem concept, where different entities co-exist. Lot of animals have to exist with others including human beings. Similarly, if you look at the SAN ecosystem, keeping Brocade at the core, there is an ecosystem. But there are still some holes. It's an evolution. It's not been perfected. If some group of people or some individual come up with a solution to fill those holes, I see it as an opportunity to invest and mentor. By mentoring and investing in those companies, we are not only creating wealth for those companies, but are also increasing the value for Brocade since they compliment to Brocade architecture. Further, It gives me a chance to take a holistic view of the entire SAN ecosystem. There are 13-14 companies that are involved in the SAN ecosystem and I need a lot of time to take care of them.