I really have a warm spot in my heart for EMC's Iomega division.
[FTC disclaimer: they recently gave me a cool StorCenter ix2 to "evaluate" and ultimately keep. I was going to write a nice post anyway ...]
Now that they've been part of the family for a while, the real rationale for acquiring Iomega is starting to become clear ... they're disrupting their way into the storage market using a powerful combination of EMC's resources and an entirely different set of business model assumptions.
[FTC disclaimer: they recently gave me a cool StorCenter ix2 to "evaluate" and ultimately keep. I was going to write a nice post anyway ...]
Now that they've been part of the family for a while, the real rationale for acquiring Iomega is starting to become clear ... they're disrupting their way into the storage market using a powerful combination of EMC's resources and an entirely different set of business model assumptions.
And nothing brings this thought into focus like today's announcement of the StorCenter ix12.
The Strategy
If you think about consumer electronics for a moment, they run their businesses very differently than traditional IT vendors.
It's all about massive volume, virtual supply chains, wide distribution and relatively thin margins. Products are bought, not sold. And the principle of "good enough" works here -- no one is willing to pay for an over-engineered product.
One of the more interesting assets EMC brought to Iomega was EMC LifeLine -- an open source-ish storage operating environment targeted for consumers and very small businesses. As a vehicle for getting new features to market quickly -- on a variety of low-end storage platforms -- it's proved to be priceless.
And, with this announcement, Iomega continues to move upwards into more serious IT applications.
I Found A Lot To Like
Simply going through all the features is rather exhaustive -- besides, the product information does a much better job. Here are the basics.
Now, some of you storage types might wonder where the snaps, replication, dedupe, etc. might be. Well, in this particular market segment, server-based functionality seems more than adequate for these functions.
Oh -- by the way -- the LifeLine software kernel is available in open source form, if you *really* want to play :-)
Use Cases?
Now, I know a lot of you are thinking about something like this for your lab, but the opportunity is bigger -- smaller businesses, remote offices, B2D, video storage -- anywhere you'd like to run a bit of modest IT infrastructure and share cost-effective storage.
If you've ever run one of the Iomega shared storage products, they're about as dead simple as can be. Since I'm the official IT manager at home, I appreciate not only the simplicity but the inherent idiot-proofing as well.
They must have had someone like me in mind :-)
What Does All Of This Mean?
Disruption is a popular topic in our industry. Most of the time, it's about technology disruption -- new innovations that change the way we do things.
But if you think about it, business model disruption might be just as important -- if not more so. Business model disruptions tend to change the way we buy and consume things.
I'm coming to think of Iomega as a business model disruptor in the storage space. Sure, you can perhaps find similar technology in the marketplace -- but from a large vendor like EMC, and so easy to buy? I can easily see people picking up a 20 TB array at the office supply store, right next to the wireless router and blank DVD media …
Makes you wonder about the long term prospects for all the other smaller companies who've made a specialty selling modest shared storage devices.
If you think about consumer electronics for a moment, they run their businesses very differently than traditional IT vendors.
It's all about massive volume, virtual supply chains, wide distribution and relatively thin margins. Products are bought, not sold. And the principle of "good enough" works here -- no one is willing to pay for an over-engineered product.
One of the more interesting assets EMC brought to Iomega was EMC LifeLine -- an open source-ish storage operating environment targeted for consumers and very small businesses. As a vehicle for getting new features to market quickly -- on a variety of low-end storage platforms -- it's proved to be priceless.
And, with this announcement, Iomega continues to move upwards into more serious IT applications.
I Found A Lot To Like
Simply going through all the features is rather exhaustive -- besides, the product information does a much better job. Here are the basics.
- NAS, SAN and DAS -- block and/or file -- all major IP protocols.
- All the RAID levels, redundant and hot-swap disks/fans/power, UPS support, etc.
- Decent expandability -- up to 12 x 2 TB drives.
- Quad gigabit ethernet with port bonding, aggregation, VLAN, WebDAV and Windows DFS support.
- Full certification for VMware, Citrix, Windows et. al.
- Optional enhanced service plans for more critical applications.
Now, some of you storage types might wonder where the snaps, replication, dedupe, etc. might be. Well, in this particular market segment, server-based functionality seems more than adequate for these functions.
Oh -- by the way -- the LifeLine software kernel is available in open source form, if you *really* want to play :-)
Use Cases?
Now, I know a lot of you are thinking about something like this for your lab, but the opportunity is bigger -- smaller businesses, remote offices, B2D, video storage -- anywhere you'd like to run a bit of modest IT infrastructure and share cost-effective storage.
If you've ever run one of the Iomega shared storage products, they're about as dead simple as can be. Since I'm the official IT manager at home, I appreciate not only the simplicity but the inherent idiot-proofing as well.
They must have had someone like me in mind :-)
What Does All Of This Mean?
Disruption is a popular topic in our industry. Most of the time, it's about technology disruption -- new innovations that change the way we do things.
But if you think about it, business model disruption might be just as important -- if not more so. Business model disruptions tend to change the way we buy and consume things.
I'm coming to think of Iomega as a business model disruptor in the storage space. Sure, you can perhaps find similar technology in the marketplace -- but from a large vendor like EMC, and so easy to buy? I can easily see people picking up a 20 TB array at the office supply store, right next to the wireless router and blank DVD media …
Makes you wonder about the long term prospects for all the other smaller companies who've made a specialty selling modest shared storage devices.
If you’re interested, I’ve posted the product slides before with more detail …
Chuck,
Great Post.
I have been watching the Iomega/EMC stuff with interest and you have hit the nail on the head. This really does give a cost effective option for companies with small branch offices that need some form of backup, not just for a branch server but also for PC's within the office itself. Although network links dependant something like Avamar could be used to provide a backup solution also. Or maybe it's a cross section of both required depending on the customer.
Dominic
Posted by: Dominic Cody | May 05, 2010 at 08:46 AM
I have to agree with Dominic. This product can indeed provide an efficient solution for small businesses. I haven't stumbled upon anything as competent as this one.
Posted by: computer desks | January 01, 2012 at 08:50 PM