3ware ends life of Escalade storage line

3ware, an American enterprise storage vendor, has decided to drop its Escalade line of storage switch products and focus solely on its Palinade line.

The move was announced through an official document entitled "End-of-Life Announcement" and states that "3ware has made the strategic decision to focus its business on the Palisade IP storage products."

The decision effectively means the company will move away from its staple diet of IDE/ATA-interfacing products. It hopes to leverage its StorSwitch architecture in its IP-based storage product, the Palisade.

But 3ware's official UK distributor, TMC, seem to be unaware of the decision. The 3ware product manager was unavailable when called yesterday and this morning, but another product manager at the company said yesterday that he had heard nothing about it.

TMC only features the Escalade line on its Web site at present. 3ware's official line to its business partners is this: "As a 3ware Escalade customer, we appreciate your business and apologize if 3ware's corporate strategy has caused disruption to your business. 3ware will continue to provide leading edge - high-performance storage solutions and our hope is that we can continue to enjoy a business relationship together with current Palisade or future products and services delivered by 3ware."

The document states that the 7000 series is “not generally available for sale”, while the 6000 will be available until December 31.

Bizarrely, 3ware's home page still displays an "Announcing Escalade 7000" box, providing a depth of information on the product and its technologies, while making no immediately apparent notification of its decision. ®

Related Links

TMC's 3ware product line
3ware's home page