There’s no doubt that 2010 will prove to be another tough year in the storage industry. Customers are looking to continue on cost reduction and austerity programmes, squeezing assets as much as they can. Of all the storage vendors out there, which have got the the right vintage to succeed? Here’s my light-hearted look (in no particular order) at how the vendors compare.
- EMC- No doubt the king of wines, champagne. Sold in numerous brands, some of which are re-assuringly expensive, like V-Max and DMX, but others that suit the lighter pocket and don’t quite come up to the standards of a Grand Marque. Unfortunately there’s been a glut of champagne recently and consequently prices have dropped. As the economy picks up, prices will get back to their high levels again, I’m sure.
- Netapp- English wine. Yes, technically it is a wine, but really, no-one would buy it on that basis. If you are a connoisseur, English wine is something that should be avoided.
- IBM- A tough choice, IBM is a bit of a split personality. On the one hand the DS8000 series is the old stuffy French Bordeaux, with years of pedigree stretching back over time. You can trace the history of other more modern wines from this classic standard but today it looks old and tired. On the other hand, IBM’s latest storage offering (XIV) is a Beaujolais nouveau, barely out of the barrel, fresh and new, but with no history to back it up. Therefore it could be good, but you may be in for disappointment too.
- Compellent – a new age wine from perhaps Chile or New Zealand. You know people who have tried new age wines and you’ve heard good things about them. However you aren’t quite prepared to take that leap of faith yourself and try one out, preferring to stick with the brands you know. New age wines are making in-roads into existing markets. Could they be the future?
- 3Par - a classic California chardonnay. Californian wines seem to have been around for a while, but in reality only have a modern history of a few decades. They were trendy and popular a few years back, being unique and different in the wine marketplace. However, they’re seen now as just another option on the wine cellar shelf, having lost some of that “new kid on the block” appeal.
- Hitachi - a typical supermarket wine. OK, there’s nothing wrong with supermarket wines. The supermarket buyers do a great job of finding reliable wines you could drink every day for a reasonable price. But, they’re not going to set your world on fire and have you raving about them. They just do the job.
- Pillar – rosé wine. You know, that rosé wine looked good in the summer when you were drinking it on holiday. Now you’ve got home and you’re drinking it in the depths of winter, you can’t decide whether it was really a good purchase.
- HP - blended table wine. Some wines just don’t make it on their own, but blend them together and they take on a new life. Each of the component wines had some good features, but not enough of them to stand alone in a tough market place. Bring them together though, blend and rebrand them and you’ve a perfectly acceptable everyday drinking wine for the table.
Remember this is a light-hearted look – don’t take things too seriously! What’s your favourite tipple?
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