Tony P. writes up his usual IBM spin job about supermarkets and speciality shops invoking the N-series (Rebranded NetApp) as the be all end all of IBM storage.
Well here's the thing in IBM's case the only value add they bring to that Banana is a bruise. IBM's mid-range innovation is in getting a pricing break from Danny W. for buying in bulk.
They might as well be selling toilet roll.
If we're talking about storage supermarkets buying from IBM is a lot like shopping in the former Soviet Union. They make it look like you have a lot of choices but in reality it's just Bread (Rebranded arrays from numerous sources) & Vodka (Tape).
When they claim leadership they're asking you to accept that Bread soaked in Vodka is all you need to get by.
So convinced are they by the Bread and Vodka strategy that they've started giving DS4800s away free with pSeries purchases. I'm not sure if they're running a supermarket or a fast food outlet but the toy which comes free with the AIX kids meal could do with non-disruptive upgrade capability for a start.
As for throttling back on development spending I don't see that. EMC lost more than a Billion bucks in revenue overnight when HP locked the doors on EMC employees and went Hitachi. Having beaten 40 shades of brown out of the printer company EMC has grown it's footprint dramatically and still outspends everyone else in our industry.
All signs point to the DELL/EMC alliance being intact there's but one wonders if this isn't an opportunity to attach EMC software to a growing Dell hardware portfolio?
Which reminds me, in the IBM storage supermarket why not put DMX on the shelves? It's a proven money spinner and I'm sure EMC will gladly throw in an Enterprise roadmap free with every purchase.
God knows you're not doing that with the 80000 series.
