Chuck's Blog

Managed Availability Services

I thought I'd take a moment to circle back to an announcement from Dec 20th that EMC made around this topic, because I thought the story-behind-the-story would be interesting.

The press release is innocuous enough (as are most press releases).  Simply put: EMC is offering a complete set of business continuity services: in addition to the usual assessment / design / implementation stuff, we now can help you operationally run your business continuity environment.

So why do I think this is interesting? Like any glacier or volcano, the interesting stuff is underneath ...

The New (VMware) House

To many industry watchers and IT consumers, VMware looks like just another technology to add to the list of operating environments they have to support.  The mindset might be that there are some places where it'll work, some places it might not work so well -- really, it's just part of the landscape.

But the more I talk to some customers, they've changed their perspective.

It's not just part of the landscape, it's THE new landscape.

And it's interesting to watch how people's thinking shifts over time.

EMC Launches AX4

Usually, I don't recap EMC product launches here unless there's an interesting aspect or two that goes beyond the datasheet sort of stuff.  After all, EMC announces new things pretty frequently, and I don't want to be one of those blogs that simply regurgitates press releases.

But I thought this one was interesting in two regards: first, the thinking that went into the product, and -- secondly -- a valiant attempt to correct some misperceptions out there.

OK, it's just another small storage array, how interesting could this be?

It depends ...

The New EMC.COM

Today, we launched an entirely new version of the company's portal, EMC.COM

Now, you might think that not worthy of a blog post.  I mean, how interesting can this be?

Well, it gets a bit more interesting when you consider some of the thinking that went into the new site, because that's a reflection of how EMC is evolving.

After all -- your web page *is* your company these days, isn't it?

NetApp Buys Onaro

When I wrote my bit around "Desperate Times In Storage Land?" I had no idea we'd see so many strategic transactions from storage vendors.

First Dell, then IBM ... and now this!

So, what's up?

The Nicholas Carr Interview

Sometimes I get to do something very cool that's really not part of my job.

A few weeks back, I was asked to interview Nick about his new book (The Big Switch) for an upcoming piece in ON magazine, EMC's publication to customers.  His book hadn't been published yet, so I got sent a preview copy, which I read thoroughly.

I loved the book.  It's now on my right rail.  Or, go see this interview with Wired magazine.

More importantly, I really enjoyed talking with Nick about all manner of things.

IBM Acquires XiV

Thought I'd be able to ease back into the new year slowly, but - no - right off the bat IBM made a bold move that's got everyone talking.

You can see the press releases here and here.  Basically, IBM paid somewhere between $300m and $350m for a storage startup.

I'm sure lots of people will weigh in here, but I'd like to offer a few thoughts on this one.

Looking Ahead: The 2008 Predictions

I had the unprecedented luxury of almost completely shutting down over the holiday season.  OK, I peeked at my CrackBerry a few times, but -- mentally -- it was a total shutdown.  That's a good thing to do every so often, I think.

One of things I did think a lot about was this post -- what's going to happen in 2008?

Hopefully, I can keep my accuracy at something close to last year's levels ...