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Category: Data Center Management

NetApp Mum on Data Domain; CEO’s History of Integrity Lends Credence to “Not for Sale” Comments; 2009 NetApp Analyst Days Recap

June 18, 2009

In the face of its public tussle with EMC over Data Domain, NetApp forged ahead with its annual Analyst Days at its Sunnyvale, CA, headquarters. Well attended by many NetApp executives and 80+ analysts from the US and around the world, it was both informative and well run. However it was the kickoff keynote by NetApp’s CEO Dave Warmenhoven that I first wanted to summarize and comment on as he did a pretty good job of encapsulating the major themes of the presentations and one-on-one meetings that were to follow.

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SNW Reflections: Recommendations for Weathering the Forecasted Economic Downturn; “Loyalty Goes out the Window”

October 15, 2008

I just got back to Omaha after spending the last three days at Storage Networking World (SNW) and used the time on my flight home to reflect upon some of the conversations I had during my time there. While I still plan to do more blog entries in the coming days around the technologies that I reviewed at SNW, I first wanted to share some of the thoughts and feelings of those in attendance about how they think the economic crisis will affect tech in general and how companies should prepare to act in 2009. In particular, I wanted to share the thoughts of those who have weathered economic downturns in the past and how users have responded to them.

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SNW Vendors Promise Agile, Capacity Optimized, Extensible Storage Solutions. Confused? Don’t Be. They are De-complexified, Guaranteed and Well-Received

October 14, 2008

This year’s fall Storage Networking World in Dallas, TX, kicked off with no shortage of promises from vendors that their technologies were guaranteed to deliver high ROIs, fast installs and problem free administration that are always “well-received” by every user that listens to their presentation. And for those users who have what they perceive as unsolveable problems in their storage environments? No worries. Dell’s new storage solutions are so simple that they can de-complexify them.

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The Third Generation BlueArc Titan Puts Oomph in Networked File Systems; Is There an “Oops” in its Support?

October 2, 2008

It isn’t enough for a vendor to make claims about their storage system; they should have to prove it. In a recent briefing with BlueArc it was quite clear that it was ready to back up its claims which really shouldn’t have surprised us since BlueArc has taken control of its destiny from the beginning. A quick look at various U.S. Patents shows BlueArc’s ingenuity, direction, and leadership.

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Gartner Analyst Sees VMware Security as Immature; Wachovia Decouples Processing and I/O; Flashbacks to the Fall IBTA

September 25, 2008

As I write this blog entry, I am currently on a flight to New York City to attend the last day of the fall 2008 Storage Decisions conference. While I intend to post a blog entry about my experiences at SD this Friday, the flight is giving me some time to go back to last week and share some additional thoughts and insights I gained while attending the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Tech Forum in Las Vegas on Monday, Sept 15. While infiniband was obviously covered as part of this forum, it was done so in the larger context of what virtualizing the corporate infrastructure means and how that will contribute to how companies construct and manage their data centers in the future.

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User Rips VMware VirtualCenter as not Enterprise Ready; “The Tactical Implementation of Virtualization is Failing”; VMworld Wrap-up

September 18, 2008

My time at VMworld came to an end yesterday morning and while I only had one meeting (a roundtable discussion with F5 executives, end-users, analysts and F5 product and marketing managers) prior to my departure, the roundtable was a great capstone to my stay at VMworld. More than anything else, it encapsulated the user infatuation with VMware that is blinding them to some of the major problems that early adopters of server virtualization are encountering. The main thoughts that I took away from this roundtable as well as from VMworld in general included:

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Day 1 at VMworld Begins with a Look at the Future Pain of Server Virtualization: Attending the IBTA Tech Forum

September 16, 2008

It’s day one at VMworld in Las Vegas and while the day for me began in Omaha NE at 4:30 am CST before landing in Las Vegas around 7:30 am PST, I did not join the throngs basking in the VMworld love fest. Instead I spent the day educating myself more about the topic of Infiniband by attending the InfiniBand Trade Association’s (IBTA) annual tech forum that was held at Harrahs (Harrahs is adjacent to The Venetian where VMworld is being held). The reason that I elected to first attend the IBTA Tech Forum and not VMworld is simple. Everyone already knows that server virtualization is the BIG thing. What everyone doesn’t know or understand is why Infiniband is making a case to become the next big thing in another form of virtualization: Virtualizating server I/O.

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Dell Looks to Capitalize on Storage Industry’s Gaffes in the Channel

August 21, 2008

20 years ago Michael Dell envisioned a future where businesses no longer just bought servers and storage from resellers but instead bought these products over the Internet. Fast forward to today. Michael Dell envisions a new type of future as Dell puts in place a channel program with equal ambitions of selling equal amounts of gear through the channel and pulling in billions of dollar from it. The question is, “Did Dell so succeed in going direct that, in the process, it forever alienated the very resellers that it now needs to partner with in order to succeed in the channel?”

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Dell and the Channel – Commitment or Dalliance?

July 9, 2008

Ever since Dell acquired EqualLogic, the entire reseller community has openly and secretly expressed their reservations about this acquisition. Too many have been burned by Dell in the past and are now hesitant to fully believe that Dell is as committed to the channel as it proclaims. So when I read this press release that Richard Shea had joined LHN, it brought all of those concerns to the forefront of my mind so I asked Richard if would join me on the phone for a few minutes to discuss his rationale for joining LHN.

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Change Management: Data Center Management 101 Part V

June 16, 2008

Proper change management is not just a process, procedure, or committee but a commitment to excellence in your IT landscape. Those of you who already have some form of change management deployed inside your organization, my applause. Those who do not, I believe you will find this blog extremely useful in helping you understand more about the needs for robust change management in your environment.

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