Storage Wars

Is storage the last IT hardware competitive battle-field?

Is it the place where vendors can actually really differentiate between products?

If you look at the server market, pretty much everything comes in flavour of Intel (or AMD) but there's not much between any of them. It's not the hugest hassle to swap an HP environment out for an IBM environment (although listening to some people, you would think the world would come to the end if you were to switch server vendor) and with a hypervisor in the mix; life becomes even easier. When was the last time a start-up became a major player in the server world?

But with storage, there is still everything to play for; start-ups can still get a toe-hold and can still innovate.  The established vendors can knock chunks out of each other without damaging their own product line and I wonder if this is why we see some really quite combative blogging between the vendors. And recently I've noticed the trash-talk stepping up a notch.

Hey, this isn't a plea for everyone to get along but more a plea for more reasoned blogging. Less name-calling and more this is our product and this what it can do for you. More of the 'it works like this' and less of 'company X is rubbish'.

And oh yes; it's great to say what a marvellous place your company is to work but it probably won't make me:

1. Buy your product!

2. Buy your stock!

3. Sell you my stock!

Comments

[Superstar]

Once again, you hit the nail on the head. EMC and Netapp are looking like Bloodhounds on the loose.

[Alex McDonald]

Storage is about software variety, not hardware monoculture. That's why it's such a hard fought battle. It's indicative of a vibrant market, with lots to offer in terms of choice.

Blogs on (for instance) servers are, frankly, a yawn. No market choice, just brand as a differentiator. My server and your server are pretty much of a muchness, same stuff in a pretty bezel.

With no competiton there's no information beyond spec sheet gymnastics.

So I think stroage blogging is a pretty healthy indicator. It certainly acts as a counterpoint to the anodyne marketing drone that dominates most of the blogosphere. And it's fun!