Chuck's Blog

Storage virtualization redux

Two apologies before we get started here. 

First, I'm sorry if this post comes across a bit nerdy and focused -- but I think it's illustrative of some powerful forces that are playing out in the IT infrastructure business, so it's a good case study.

Second, I will beg forgiveness if I fall into a bad case of the "I told you so's".  My purpose is not to brag about guessing right, but to paint a picture that when things don't add up, there's a reason why.

Today's post is an update on the latest continuing chapter in storage virtualization.  For those of you who may be casual visitors to the incredibly arcane World of Storage, this has been a hot topic for at least five years. 

Two apologies before we get started here. 

First, I'm sorry if this post comes across a bit nerdy and focused -- but I think it's illustrative of some powerful forces that are playing out in the IT infrastructure business, so it's a good case study.

Second, I will beg forgiveness if I fall into a bad case of the "I told you so's".  My purpose is not to brag about guessing right, but to paint a picture that when things don't add up, there's a reason why.

Today's post is an update on the latest continuing chapter in storage virtualization.  For those of you who may be casual visitors to the incredibly arcane World of Storage, this has been a hot topic for at least five years. 

Don't fear the stack

As consumers, we all benefit from choice.  We can buy what we want, when we want and where we want.  In general, more choices are good thing. 

OK, maybe it's a bit outrageous when you go to the supermarket and there's an entire aisle with nothing but hundreds of different choices for bottled drinking water -- but you get the idea: choice is a good thing.

So I think that explains a concern I'm hearing more and more from customers -- are EMC's acquisitions limiting my choices? 

As consumers, we all benefit from choice.  We can buy what we want, when we want and where we want.  In general, more choices are good thing. 

OK, maybe it's a bit outrageous when you go to the supermarket and there's an entire aisle with nothing but hundreds of different choices for bottled drinking water -- but you get the idea: choice is a good thing.

So I think that explains a concern I'm hearing more and more from customers -- are EMC's acquisitions limiting my choices? 

What makes a good technology alliance?

My wife seems to like all of that celebrity tabloid stuff -- who's dating who, what it means, etc.  I think I frustrate her when I ask "who's that?" when she mentions some celebrity I should know about.  I'll be honest with you, I don't get the fascination.

We here in the tech biz have our own version of celebrity tabloids -- the latest breathless press release of who's working with who, what it means, who wins, who loses, and so on. 

My wife seems to like all of that celebrity tabloid stuff -- who's dating who, what it means, etc.  I think I frustrate her when I ask "who's that?" when she mentions some celebrity I should know about.  I'll be honest with you, I don't get the fascination.

We here in the tech biz have our own version of celebrity tabloids -- the latest breathless press release of who's working with who, what it means, who wins, who loses, and so on. 

Too much power is a bad thing

Not surprisingly, during the recent run-up in energy costs, power and cooling efficiency concerns once again became a hot topic with many of the customers I've been talking to.  And -- hats off to the server vendors who've realized that power efficiency matters.

Not surprisingly, during the recent run-up in energy costs, power and cooling efficiency concerns once again became a hot topic with many of the customers I've been talking to.  And -- hats off to the server vendors who've realized that power efficiency matters.

Virtualization: Real Benefits?

The best part of my job is when I get to meet with customers and partners.  I always learn something interesting, some of which I get to pass on here.

Virtualization (server, files, storage) has been a hot topic with IT vendors and customers alike for a few years now.  And I've begun to notice that the real payoff wasn't what people initially thought.

The best part of my job is when I get to meet with customers and partners.  I always learn something interesting, some of which I get to pass on here.

Virtualization (server, files, storage) has been a hot topic with IT vendors and customers alike for a few years now.  And I've begun to notice that the real payoff wasn't what people initially thought.

It's not what you know that can hurt you, it's what you don't know.

I'm sure you've been following the convoluted tale of Rep. Foley.  And now, it's spilled over into the wider arena of power politics, who knew what when, and so on.  Maybe certain people knew, maybe they didn't -- but there was a clear, digital trail of the behavior for quite a while before the pot boiled over.

Without commenting on specifics, there's a lesson here for others -- more often, it's what you DON'T know that can really get you in trouble. 

I'm sure you've been following the convoluted tale of Rep. Foley.  And now, it's spilled over into the wider arena of power politics, who knew what when, and so on.  Maybe certain people knew, maybe they didn't -- but there was a clear, digital trail of the behavior for quite a while before the pot boiled over.

Without commenting on specifics, there's a lesson here for others -- more often, it's what you DON'T know that can really get you in trouble. 

ILM Bashing As Sport ...

There's a saying in IT that no good deed goes unpunished. 

I guess that applies to IT vendors as well.  As I cruise various industry sites, there seems to be an occasional theme of negativism around the whole idea of ILM -- information lifecycle management. 

Ouch!! That hurt!!

At the end of August, Brad scored a direct hit close to the bone. 

He  made the case that EMC hadn’t done the best job in the world in communicating what our overall strategy and direction, especially in light of all of the acquisitions.

Ouch!  That hurt, because sitting inside EMC, it all seems perfectly obvious and sensible.  And it made a lot of us think, yep he’s right, we probably have fallen a bit short in this regard.

We're #1! And so are we! And so ...

I love this industry.  Every quarter, IDC publishes their scorecard of vendor market share rankings in the storage hardware and storage software biz.

Introducing myself ...

Hi.

Yes, it’s another corporate blog.  I hate being labeled as part of a trend, but there’s a reason I want to do this.

Many of you have been in IT for most of your working life.  And, if you’re like me, you’re sensing that the industry is cranking up multiple big transitions.  I think that, in a few years, IT will look very different indeed.

I’d like to think that if you’re lucky enough to have a seat somewhat close to the action that you have a certain responsibility to share your perspectives, and bounce them off others that you respect.  That’s what I want to do.

A little bit about myself.  I’ve worked for IT vendors my whole life.  I’ve worked for a great company – EMC – for the last twelve years.  I’ve been lucky enough to do lots of different things here: products, marketing, customers, strategy, etc.  And I’ve enjoyed watching the company, our customers and the industry evolve over the last decade or so.  It’s been a wonderful experience.

At the beginning of this year, I started to run EMC’s technology alliance function.  EMC had become a different company, so we needed a different approach to how we worked with all the significant players: Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, SAP and so on.  It’s a great opportunity.

So what am I going to talk about?  Some of it’s going to be in-band around alliances: my views and thoughts about how IT companies should be working together to create new value for customers.  I think it’s a rich area of discussion.

But I’ve always had a problem coloring outside the lines – and, as you’ll see – I have some pretty strong points of view on the industry, specific technologies, IT vendors, customers and the whole crazy world we all work in.

I should also share with you a few biases. 

Bias #1: I think EMC is a great company, and does a lot of great things for customers.  I think I’m a lucky guy to work here.  But, like all companies, EMC doesn’t do everything, and isn’t perfect in several regards.  No surprise: I’ll be talking a lot about what EMC is doing, but I’ll try to position it as an example of a thought, and try to stay away from the usual breathless hype.  I also have a healthy respect for many of EMC’s competitors.

Bias #2: I also notice that many of my compatriots in the blogosphere spend a fair amount of bandwidth complaining about the state of affairs.  I don’t think we need more complainers, so I tend to bias towards root cause and potential solutions.  Maybe I’m an optimist.

So, here’s looking forward to future posts on a variety of topics.  Thanks for reading!