When doing a customer implementation, EMC usually requires that customers complete a number of extensive questionnaires and spreadsheets about their environment. They request this information so that they can check everything against their compatibility matrix and certify the environment. What happens if EMC can't get this information? Nothing. I told EMC that they weren't going to get the information they requested. They said no problem and they would work with what they have. This is potentially good and bad for us and them. Iâm not quite sure what to make of it.

posted: 9:32:48 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

No, I'm not talking about golf. I would be interested in anyone's reaction or experiences with 3PARdata. I did an evaluation of their product last year, but it wasn't what we were looking for on that particular project. I loved their architecture, but the software had not quite caught up with the hardware. How do things sit today?

posted: 11:03:19 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

I have a situation on my hands that is a significant deviation from EMC's standard processes. I am going to pop on them tomorrow and see how they react. Everything that I am about to ask them to do is technically possible, but not within their normal operating parameters. This could make or break the project. It should be interesting.

posted: 10:59:49 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

I finally figured out what the premium is that you pay for purchasing EMC products today after almost an entire day of meetings with our implementation team -- their internal processes. You arenât paying for the product or not the excellent software engineering (it any exists there), or the name brand. No matter how large or small your purchase is or how complex the installation might be, the internal processes that project managers, solutions architects, and customer engineers have to go through to get anything certified is the same. It doesn't matter if it is a simple disk upgrade or an implementation of SRDF across the country. This is huge overhead and a significant impediment to customer satisfaction. They can reorganize their personnel all they want, but until they rationalize their processes customer satisfaction will remain in the dumper and no efficiencies will be generated.

posted: 10:57:44 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Garth Kidd dropped by last Friday and said, "I'd blog on storage, but I don't think my employer (a vendor) would much appreciate it." Why not? I am sure that Garth has a ton of customer experiences he could share, good and bad. What is important are the details of what makes a customer experience good or bad. What did a customer do that made their experience better than another's? What was the solution to a particular bad situation? This is the type of information the storage "community" needs. Garth, please blog, please.

posted: 5:23:08 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()