Never a dull moment …
EMC just announced our offer for Data Domain. You can read the full press release here.
I’m sure – like any other acquisition move – there will be a healthy amount of speculation around the motives.
While it’s always fun to read what different people think, I thought I’d offer up my personal perspective as to the rationale for this move.
And it might not be what you think.
Continue reading "EMC Makes Surprise Play for Data Domain" »
Sometimes you see things in this industry that make you shake your head and wonder.
Such is the situation with Oracle's recent acquisition of Virtual Iron.
Put in the context of other recent activities, the picture is crystal clear: it appears that Oracle intends to use their market power with databases to force customers to consider their soon-to-be-announced virtualization stack.
And, from a customer perspective, this will not be a good thing.
Continue reading "Oracle Wins Virtual Iron, Customers Lose" »
Well, it's been a while since we announced the new Symmetrix V-Max.
Industry watchers realized that there was a new way of thinking about enterprise storage: delivered by EMC. Customers and prospects have been deluging our web sites and sales organizations wanting to know more.
And competitors? My impression is that they're figuring out what to do next.
One common theme I've noticed in the competitive response was the usual unproven, risky, etc. It's a predictable competitor response.
I knew better. I felt it unjustified. As a result, I did a bit of digging around to see just how much work went into building and testing the Symmetrix V-Max before we shipped the first one.
And I think you'd be interested in the stats ...
Continue reading "Symmetrix V-Max: What It Takes To Deliver A New Architecture" »
In my travels and customer discussions, this particular topic is coming up more and more frequently.
Now that EMC and VMware and other vendors are encouraging customers to seriously consider virtualizing their more critical applications, it's going to become a increasingly hot topic.
As a matter of fact, I'm now quite ready when I hear the familiar "well, Oracle doesn't support VMware".
Getting to the truth of why this actually might be has proven a bit difficult. It's not something the Oracle people really want to talk about.
In the meantime, I've put together a list of possible reasons why this could be, and offered a bit of commentary as to the thinking behind it.
So let's go take a look at what could possibly be behind this rather unproductive stance towards customers.
We all enjoy it when vendors face off on key technologies -- like next-generation server architectures.
Not only is it fun to watch, but intense competitive pressures are good for customers and good for the industry. And we've only seen the first few salvos in what should prove to be a sustained battle for data center supremacy
Now, my biases should be clear (rooting for Cisco!) -- but, with the latest round of HP announcements, you can begin to see some very distinct differences in architectural thinking between the two companies.
Like everyone else, I was caught just a little bit off-guard with the announcement this morning. But now I've had a few hours to consider different aspects of the deal, and it's an interesting mixed bag.
I'm sure we'll hear lots of commentary (and spin!) regarding this combination in the next few weeks and months.
So let the games begin!
Well, it’s the day after the big announcement. Plenty more to discuss on technologies, architectures, pros and cons, impacts, etc. -- and that will inevitably happen over the next few weeks and months.
But when you announce something this big, it’s always interesting to see how different audiences react.
And, yes, I do have some gentle suggestions for some of EMC’s competitors in this regard.
My, it's been a busy week in our industry, hasn't it?
Cisco UCS on Monday, IBM interested in acquiring Sun on Wednesday.
I wonder what Friday will bring?
Much will be written about this -- as usual, I found Chris Mellor's take very insightful -- but I thought I'd offer up a bit of quick personal commentary.
Today, Cisco announced their long-rumored entry into the heart of the data center market: the UCS, or unified computing system.
Do not make the mistake of dismissing this as "just another x64 blade server".
Regardless of what you may think about the product, the technology or the strategy, there is no denying that UCS represents serious new thinking and innovation in our industry.
And things won't likely be the same around here anymore ...
Four times a year, IDC releases their market share analysis for the storage market.
Even though most vendors don't talk much about it, just about every vendor subscribes to their service. Much time is spent in conference rooms debating and discussing the numbers and their implications: by segment, by protocol, by geography, etc. etc.
I usually try to find a bit of time to reflect on a few trends that others might find interesting, but that's no substitute.
And there were definitely a few thought nuggets with this round of analysis.
Recent Comments