When Open isn't.

I wrote two entries about Sun Open Storage which I nuked as I didn't want it to appear unseemly that I was kicking a competitor when they were down..

(Well, I'm not sure if I could even class Sun as a competitor anymore. Sorry folks but it's true. We see sun sales guys swearing blind that only Sun storage is supported with Sun hardware a couple of times per year and every now and then someone buys a Thumper box and tells me they have to rack on the bottom of the frame for fear it'll topple over and kill someone but that's about it)

..and then Dave Raffo is more savage then both of them combined.

To summarise my thoughts. Open Storage is an admission that Sun can't invest in this business to the same level that their competitors can. It's more about defending Solaris from being eaten alive by Linux and speeding up the company's retreat out of the storage hardware business then it is about "revolutionising" anything.

One now wonders if Symantec are now rethinking their marketing use of the term OpenStorage for their similarly marketing spin job?

With one you have open source but not open development, while the other isn't open in any shape or form at all.

Comments

[tim]

Hi, I work at Symantec.

I was curious what you mean by "... rethinking their marketing use of the term OpenStorage for their similarly marketing spin job?"

I am not concerned about the naming of our program per se, I was wondering if you were trying to say the Symantec program was just a "marketing spin job?"

[Storagezilla]

Hi Tim no the technology isn't a marketing job, though I think you're playing catch up in some key areas (All of which I highlight in competitive situations but don't when I'm dealing with happy NBU users), I just think the naming harkens back to an era when open wasn't.

It's not open, I can't extend it or contribute back into it so calling it that is just trying to jump on FOSS bandwagon.

[Paul Clifford]

When I see the words Sun and storage in the same sentence, I cringe. The top sales people at Sun know the problems, which is why more and more they are bringing in HDS to their clients and prospects. We have been in three significant sales opportunities lately, all included Sun. In each opportunity, Sun presented HDS - interesting. We beat them in two of those, and the third is still pending.

Ask yourself this - if I want HDS storage, why am I buying from Sun?

Sun needs to define itself again. I have always been a huge supporter of Solaris and Sun's place in IT. But times have changed, and Sun needs to be able to deliver a message as to why they should exist. Apple has done that - please Sun, tell us why.

Paul Clifford
Davenport Group
www.davenportgroup.com

[Storagezilla]

Yeah Sun's sales guys know they are in real trouble. Rich Napolitano jumped ship to EMC nearly two years ago and is kicking ass running the Multi Protocol Group.