Sun Microsystems
Open Storage "good enough"?
My colleague asked me to attend a roundtable conference in Hong Sun Microsystems Kong office on 3 December. Having worked in a storage vendor myself years ago in a marketing role at least, I learned in the ways of money stories to the point where they feel between science fiction and magic. And the identification of what is just as difficult.
Sun's open storage strategy promises to significantly drive the cost of the current generation of proprietary storage solutions from vendors such as HP, IBM, EMC, Fujitsu, Dell, HDS, and the sun (Yes, Sun has also offertory) by (1) the use of commodity components whenever possible, and (2) give much of the basic software is the intelligence behind expensive storage systems and non-proprietary, Sun expects companies to consider the potential benefits associated lower cost of ownership open source storage.
Storage back to basics
Most businesses and mid-market systems use proprietary storage software – embedded in the hardware and complementary software to adhere to a particular service level. While certain hardware components are more or less the same – hard drives, fans, frame or frame – the software is what gives each storage system their unique personalities. It is this "personality" which gives the five 9s or automatic failover or the ability to call home when the device thinks it is called features disease and other fantasy.
Open Storage strategy promises and warnings
Open Storage strategy, says no need to purchase expensive components. You can buy commodity components and build a storage system with Open Solaris (in the case of the Sun) as intelligence central to provide many of the features found in proprietary solutions?
The warning? From a technology perspective, performance may be somewhat compromised. This is why Sun's storage marketing is having difficulty finding appropriate reports third reference their claims to better performance. They may be able to claim a better price, but performance is another matter.
Are you saying you can build Sun its own storage hardware and slap the Sun OpenSolaris OS on it (which includes many of the features of storage management) and you have intelligent storage system in your hands? I posed this hypothetical scenario with the kind of marketing Sun during the press conference?
It is assumed that bought the basic storage offering Open Sun – 7110 – but instead of buying all the units of Sun, I chose to buy Sun only two of the 14 units that come with the box. Then go to the local computer mall and the purchase of 12 comparable units – specifications identical to those that came with the box. What about the Sun assurance in the solution? Most sellers do not allow you to buy parts for their storage systems from the canal property without authorization. Doing so automatically voids the warranty.
On a side note, way back before launching its new EMC DMX family of storage systems throughout the period HDS when they launched their new storage systems using switching architecture, EMC changed tactics best performance to "good enough". In a way Sun will have to rely on the same campaign strategy. Not all businesses need five 9s. Not everyone will have super fast, super technologies vanguard. A lot of companies can live with "good enough". And certainly from that perspective, Sun may be able to win some customers over to their camp – Those who are adventurous and have no competition regulators or breathing down their throats.
* Just a casual observation. Marketers love to use code names for new projects. Most of the time not the code names come to the limelight and are replaced by names of suitable products. Recently, however, some vendors have begun to publicize the code names for their new product offerings. I was told that Hiwashi, Fugu and Toro types of fish now part of Japanese culture sushi.
About the Author
Current I am the content director and web strategist for Questex Asia Ltd. I also have 6 years of Marketing and Communications experience with Hitachi Data Systems in Asia. Other prior stints include senior industry analyst for Dataquest (a Gartner Group brand) and account director at Euan Barty Associates – a PR firm in Hong Kong.
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