SAN: 'It's More Than Speeds & Feeds'

CHICAGO -- Service, vendor relationship, and cost are as important as speeds and feeds when buying a storage system, according to a panel of users at the Storage Decisions conference here today.

Four users on a "Rate the Disk Vendors" panel here agreed they want their vendors to do more than sell them a product. They want them to be involved in what they're actually trying to accomplish with SAN and NAS systems. They want help throughout the process of buying, implementing, and servicing.

Rob Stevenson, technology strategist Nielsen Media Researchs Oldsmar, Fla., data center, says he wants to know his vendors are never too far away in the event of trouble. “Service is important. A vendor has to have a large number of engineers nearby. They have to have a large presence in our area.”

That might not be much problem for Nielsen, who’s supplier base reads like a "Who's Who" of key players: EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP), and Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK). But smaller companies need to make sure they have their vendors' attention, too.

Cliff Dutton, CTO at Providence, R.I.-based Ibis Consulting , says part of ensuring enough attention is getting to know a storage vendor well, and vice versa, before a sale.“Do you know them? Are they willing to get involved with your design team?” asks Dutton, whose company uses a Compellent Technologies Inc. SAN, a BlueArc Corp. Titan NAS, and a Acopia Networks Inc. switch to manage file data. “It’s also important that they engage with our other vendors, not just us.”

He says that’s especially true when buying from startups. “Get to know the board and their VCs to see how much juice they have,” Dutton advises.

Despite the risks, some find it more rewarding to deal with startups. “Because they’re lightweight and high-speed, you can get them to adopt your agenda,” says Gary Pilafas, storage architect for United Airlines. His company uses a range of SAN vendors, including large companies like EMC, Hitachi, and StorageTek, but he thinks there are advantages to going with smaller fry. “You can help drive a startup. Large companies open an RFP and they throw you in a basket with everybody else.”

Larger players have agendas that may not tally with those of their customers. James Tarala, CIO of Appleton, Wis.-based Schenck Business Solutions, recently purchased an IP SAN from startup EqualLogic Inc. for his accounting firm, and he's pleased. “With a larger vendor, if there’s something that’s critical to us, that might not fit where they’re going,” he says.

Price is always a consideration when buying from a startup. For instance, Tarala says he saved $100,000 and tripled capacity when switching from an older EMC Clariion to his EqualLogic system.Users on the panel said there are other ways to save money as well, even with large suppliers. “Understanding when your vendor’s quarter and year ends can be a big benefit to getting better deals,” Tarala says.

Others say planning ahead always helps, too. “If you know you have eight projects and buy storage for all of them at once, you have better margins and can cut better deals,” Pilafas says.

The users also stressed that saving money doesn’t always mean getting a lower price for a system. Factors such as the time it takes to install a system and the manpower it takes to manage also need to be figured in. “Figure labor issues in the TCO,” Stevenson advises. “Time to implement is big for us.”

Pilafas says: “Price does not equal cost over the long term. Price is capex. Cost is opex. A lot of incremental expenses are opex, such as downtime and time it takes to do upgrades.”

One area where users don’t want to trust vendors is with published speeds and feeds and industry benchmarks. Everyone on the panel agreed they give more credence to their own testing. “You have to kick the tires yourself,” Stevenson says.— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch