Chuck's Blog

Private Clouds: Our Story So Far

Ours can be an industry of big ideas. 

Certain ideas can quickly transform the landscape much the way a summer thunderstorm can quickly form and unleash powerful forces around it.

Such appears to be the case with "private clouds".

Starting as an obscure concept introduced at the beginning of this year, it now shows the promise of becoming not only the dominant model for next-gen enterprise IT, but perhaps service providers as well.

While no one in this industry is a definitive authority on anything, I do have the pleasure of being at "ground zero" as this concept was formed and communicated.

And exactly why this concept is becoming so popular is a story in itself.

Data Domain, NetApp And The IT Industry

As I think about this latest acquisition, there are three major themes worth exploring.

The first theme has been covered widely already -- the impact of data deduplication, why it's hot, the value of differing approaches, why it needs to go everywhere in the stack, etc. 

No need to cover that one here.

The second theme is the impact to EMC, Data Domain and our mutual customers. 

I attempted to sketch out how Data Domain's technology and offering could potentially create a surprising amount of scale and synergy when juxtaposed with EMC. 

There were some colorful comments on that one.

The third theme revolves how this acquisition is emblematic of broader themes in the industry, and how a certain class of IT vendors will find themselves with hard choices to make going forward.  Although I'll be using NetApp as an example, the discussion actually covers a fairly broad spectrum of well-known IT players.

And, yes, I'm wearing an asbestos suit ...

Data Domain: The Cone Of Silence Is Lifted

You may or may not know that -- during an acquisition -- we are very limited as to what we can say. 

Rather than run afoul of various mysterious rules and regulations, we all just feel it's better if we clam up until the deal is actually done.

Well, this morning we were informed that -- for all intents and purposes -- we can start talking about the acquisition publicly.

This post covers what it means to EMC, Data Domain and Data Domain's customers. 

I'd like to write a subsequent post at some point with what this means to NetApp -- especially in the broader context of industry consolidation and go-forward strategies.  And it ain't pretty.

So let's dive in, shall we?

A Short Break From Blogging

I just noticed I haven't posted anything since July 1st.  That's unusual.

Well, a week of it was time off.  That was nice. 

But, more importantly, I've been immersed in a few interesting projects that are sucking up just about every waking minute. 

Don't worry, I'll be back -- as soon as the smoke clears!

-- Chuck

Winds Of Change

I really enjoy meeting customers.  However, not every customer interaction is sunshine and lollipops. 

Sometimes, the interactions can be tense at the beginning, but result in an extremely productive discussion.

I had one of those today, and -- as I thought about it -- I realized I'm starting to see this particular situation more often.  It's a harbinger of things to come.