IBM is the first to resell Cisco's MDS 9000 IP Storage Services Module selling to the corporates to build large storage area networks (SAN) to store backup copies of institutional information.

Companies bought about $1.2 billion in SAN gear last year, according to research firm Gartner. It predicts the sale of SAN gear will increase to $4.8 billion by 2006.

Cisco got into the SAN market in August through acquisition of switch maker Andiamo Systems. It has since signed deals with several big-name resellers, including IBM, EMC, Hewlett-Packard and Hitachi, which all have connections with the corporations already buying SAN gear.