Storage Effect

Enterprise Strategy Group’s Mark Peters and I sat down in Minneapolis today and talked shop.  Besides having a cool Oxford-trained English accent, his views on the storage landscape rang true to me:

• The storage system market is out of balance right now, with several “big boys” (IBM, EMC et al) and dozens of “little guys” playing in the same sandbox. 
• This is not sustainable, and causing the industry mainstays to make unusually bold moves (witness EMC’s SSD and Mozy forays and IBM’s Diligent and XIV acquisitions)
• Xiotech and Atrato are exciting because they are promising clear, core benefits.   “Do you want maintenance-free storage, or storage that requires service visits/costs/risks?”
• Xiotech and Compellent are both based in Minnesota with common management roots, but seem to have staked out two distinct storage solution spaces.  More on this in another post.
• “Green” is overhyped.  Mostly storage companies mean “energy efficient”, and would do well to be clearer on this. 

Keep your eyes peeled for a new blog from Mark.  Not too surprising given ESG’s success with Steve’s IT Rants blog.  I hope Mark dives in.  His unique perspective would benefit many.