NetApp's Makeover May Not Be

The comprehensive image makeover NetApp announced last month hasn't made an impact on a small but noteworthy subset of storage society -- Byte and Switch readers.

Just 22 percent of 260 respondents to our poll on NetApp's announcement (which is still open, by the way) said they thought the company's publicity program would help the vendor "enormously." Another 25 percent think it "may help a bit," and a full 46 percent don't think it will help much.

Of course, the strictly unscientific survey showed that no one can really agree on what NetApp's problem is to start with. Indeed, 23 percent don't think NetApp has a problem -- even if the management is determined to convince us they do.

Even more significantly, over 70 percent of the respondents said that if they weren't buying NetApp gear now, the campaign wouldn't make them take a fresh look.

Ouch!Anyone out there working for NetApp, take heart: Some readers think there are other vendors really in need of a makeover, including Sun (cited by 32 percent as in need of image remodeling); HDS (picked by 22 percent); HP (picked by 16 percent); EMC (picked by 15 percent); and IBM (picked by 9 percent).

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