Boulder Dam or Hoover Dam? Its the same dam thing.

Does it make a difference if you buy the NetApp version of the FAS270 filer or the IBM 3700 version? Same box, same software, same service and support. The only difference is who gets compensated and who gives you the best deal. It pays to call around for your new NAS hardware. However, will NetApp or IBM provide you continuing service and support three years from now, or will they try to force you to upgrade your storage infrastructure?

If you are looking at your storage solution simply to build a dam to control you growth of storage today, the strategic consequences of your future operational costs for service and support will be of limited importance. However, if you are looking at your storage as a pool to provide storage for your customers long term needs, perhaps you may to want to thing strategically.

At what point does a leading company in the storage business decide that remarketing is a more profitable long term business then providing innovative customer driven solutions? At what point does a leading disruptive technology provider in the NAS niche decide that it is better to manage relationships then to provide its own innovative solution to its customers? Are these vendors thinking tactically about their own current market share, or strategically about their customers long term needs?

What is your storage vendors long term strategy? Zerowait’s is easy, we will provide affordable service and support for NetApp filers.

Zerowait mentioned in article in Processor