Can NetApp and Kazeon Verify their claims?
Perhaps Patrick Rogers and Michael Marchi can provide the analysts and user community with a way to test these claims? I understand that Jon Toigo’s test lab can do comprehensive performance and validation tests. What are the measurable benefits, and how does their new solution reduce complexity?
More Bad Press for NetApp
Many customers come to Zerowait for affordable service and support for their unsupported NetApp Filers . We are supporting more and more filers every week. Give us a call if you love your NetApp Filer but are a little dismayed by their service & support pricing.
Thanks to you our Business continues to grow.
We moved into our building on Haines Street in Newark, DE 8 years ago and it looks like we are outgrowing the building now. As we need more office space and warehouse space. We have been looking around town for another building recently, but finding a building that has the combination of power requirements, connectivity, loading docks and convenience to the downtown area is proving difficult. As Newark is a University town there is the added problem that there is always a shortage of office space and parking.
The upside of being in Newark is that it is a vibrant place with lots of places for food and a beer. And of course being from the area, we know a lot of folks in town. And that is nice.
Over the weekend we had to work some overtime to meet the shipping requirements of one of the midwestern states IT departments. They required a F840 and some storage shelves for a major storage upgrade. We will be shipping the equipment out today. Many state agencies have figured out that purchasing transferable licensed NetApp equipment is a great way to get high performance while saving the taxpayer’s money.
Currently, Zerowait has F840, FAS940, F880 and many other transferable licensed filers in stock and ready to be configured for your requirements.
Our Backups are Failing – Shoot the Messenger
– hardware and software vendor response – CYA
On Thursday afternoon I received an email requesting my presence on a conference call from a company with a back up issue. I had not heard of the company before, and I went to our engineering folks and asked if they had spoken to them. They were in the dark as much as I was. At 6:00 PM I called into the conference call and announced who I was and then just started listening. After a few minutes an engineer started reviewing his back up problem. He apologized for his accent and he outlined his infrastructure which includes a Brocade switch, NetApp R200, Veritas back up and some Linux boxes. After a few minutes the NetApp SE called in and introduced himself. And the engineer asked him some questions. It seems that Symantec and NetApp will not provide a clear certain answer as to whether his solution will work. The NetApp Engineer kept asking for the case number and the ticket number, but would make no promises as to whether he could solve their problem. His suggestion was that the customer purchase snapdrive to simplify their SAN – because no one understands SANS. The Symantec guy said that he did not have the authority to certify the solution and the engineer was saying that after 8 months he still did not have a working backup solution and their deadline was two weeks away. They wanted an engineer from NetApp on site next week to solve their problems.
The Symantec guy and the NetApp guy went quiet. So I figured it was my turn to speak. I mentioned that there was a lot of corporate CYA going on in this conference call and the issue had to be among the switch packet size, R200 drive incompatibilities, or firmware problems with their backup software. The NetApp SE wanted to know who I was. So I told them I was with Zerowait – the largest independent third party NetApp support organization. A lot of folks started asking questions and wanted to know how I got invited to the conference call so I told them which attendee I got the email from.
Boy things got interesting then, they very impolitely told me to get off their conference call. I guess Shoot the messenger was their solution. It is a pity too. I am pretty certain we could solve their problem. It sounded like a problem we ran into which was eerily similar recently, and buying more NetApp software is not going to solve the problem.
Recently, I was visiting a NetApp customer with over 50 F760’s which they would like us to support. As NetApp cancels their support options for their customers with the F760 model of equipment we are expanding our service and support programs for these customers. The F760 is probably the most reliable equipment that NetApp ever made. And with proper maintenance it will last for many years more.
Please keep Zerowait in mind if you are looking for affordable service and supprot for your NetApp 700 seriesa and 800 series filers.
NetApp finally Publishes Verifiable results!
Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with anything technical or related to their Filers
Of course their test data is still held hostage and unverifiable.
My trip to Dallas
During my trip to Dallas I visited with a few customers and business associates. Ken Barth at Tek Tools suggested that I take my customers to dinner at Del Friscos for dinner, Wow! The food was fantastic, and the conversation lasted about three hours about data back ups, Zerowait service and support, parents, children, and Sarbanes Oxley – including the political comedy of our elected officials in Washington DC.
Tuesday morning Ken Barth took me to Breakfast at the Mecca on Harry Hines. We chatted for about an hour about our companies and our growth strategies. Ken is one of the smartest guys I know, and we have many common customers.
My meetings went very well in Dallas and it looks like we will be picking up quite a number of NetApp 700 series filers for our affordable hardware support services.
Controversy, crap and confusion – Alan Simpson
I was listening to an interview with Alan Simpson this weekend , and this was his quote about the Washington scene. What struck me is how similar it is to the bunk that we hear on a regular basis in the storage industry. The storage press for the most part, just rehashes corporate press releases, and this causes nothing but distrust within the end user base. Jon Toigo, seems to much or the trade press as a controversial guy, but he is the only member of the industry press that I know who actually seems to dig down and check out what the corporate spin marketers say.
I have to go to Dallas this week to talk to a client that has dug down, and read some of Jon’s articles on the lack of verifiable performance figures within the industry. The client asked me to visit their offices and put on an executive presentation for them to about our legacy service and support services, and in particular to compare the performance of the NetApp F700 series and the NetApp F800 series filers. This client has FAS3000 series filers and legacy filers and has seen that our whitepaper correlates with their findings. Jon Toigo has been waiting for about 6 months for NetApp to provide him the basis for their performance figures, and many customers are watching this story, and noticing that NetApp is not forthcoming with their performance figures.
During the snow storm I had to use my 1948 Willy’s to go down my driveway. My Willy’s worked perfectly and it reminded me that appropriate technology never goes out of style. The same is true for your legacy NetApp filers. NetApp and Willy’s don’t make replacement parts for their older models, but replacement parts are available from specialty vendors. Zerowait specializes in providing parts, service and support for NetApp’s legacy filers. If you are satisfied with your older equipment and it satisfies your needs, why upgrade?
