2005 Top Ten: Memorable Quotes

Every year, even the best and brightest people in the storage industry say things theyd like to forget. But we won’t let them.

After reviewing 2005's year in storage, we picked the most interesting statements given to Byte and Switch. These quips remind everyone that, often, comical things don’t seem funny at the time. Well, some of them were funny at the time.

Here’s our top 10:

No. 10: “We have a couple of small obstacles we should be overcoming.” -- McData CEO John Kelley, talking of problems preventing EMC from qualifying McData’s new i10K director.

That was in September. Those small obstacles remain, as McData is still waiting for qualification.See: McData Still Waiting for Upswing

No. 9: “Absolutely, it’s still the plan of record. I’d like another shot at it.” -- Engenio CEO Tom Georgens, when asked if he still wanted to spin Engenio off from its parent company LSI Logic and go public last July.

A month later, LSI Logic CEO Abhi Talwalkar said Engenio would remain part of the parent company and Georgens was gone. We guess Georgen’s IPO plan is now off the record.

See: Engenio CEO Still Eyeing That Bell

No. 8: “Companies that are healthy make these moves all the time. Unfortunately, companies that aren’t healthy do it, too. And it might be hard to tell the difference.” -- Xiotech CEO Casey Powell, after laying off one-quarter of the SAN vendor’s work force.So Dr. Powell, is the patient a perfect picture of health, or terminal?

See: Xiotech: 'We're Out of the Red'

No. 7: “If they had a full-blown virtualization box today, they’d still be seven or eight months behind us.” -- Claus Mikkelsen, Hitachi Data Systems' senior director of storage applications, says of EMC’s Invista.

And if Hitachi had full-blown NAS today, it would be about seven or eight years behind.

See: EMC Unveils InvistaNo. 6: “Beating up on little companies don’t mean anything. Beating up on Microsoft is going to be a helluva lot of fun.” -- Symantec CEO John Thompson after completing $13.1 billion acquisition of Veritas.

Hey John, are you having fun yet?

See: Symantec CEO Opens Roadmap

No. 5: “I kinda screwed up.” -- Network Appliance CEO Dan Warmenhoven, explaining why NetApp should have started its new product rollout at the high end instead of the midrange.

This honest assessment came two weeks after Warmenhoven blamed late deals that closed after the quarter for dampening NetApp’s quarter.See: NetApp 'Kinda Screwed Up'

No. 4: “Will we do things beyond storage? The answer is obviously yes. That train has left the station.” -- EMC CEO Joe Tucci, detailing plans for EMC to dabble in network and server management and security.

And it’s headed to Cisco-ville, unless EMC can divert it.

See: EMC Casts Wider Net

No. 3: “It is with mixed emotion today that I announce my passing of the baton as Brocade’s chairman and CEO. It's now time for me to transition into a new role in the company.” -- former Brocade CEO Greg Reyes.That role would turn out to be albatross...

See: Brocade Switches CEOs, Restates

No. 2: “While the consulting agreement remains in place, the company can no longer demonstrate that services are being received for the payments being made." -- Recently departed Brocade CFO Tony Canova, disclosing that Brocade is looking to try to wiggle out of an agreement to pay former CEO Reyes $1.7 million as a consultant.

See: Brocade Blasts 'Consultant' Reyes

No. 1: “Larry wants a storage company, and he’s interested in a homerun, not a bunt." -- Mike Workman, CEO of Pillar Data Systems, on Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s $150 million storage startup.Right now, he’d probably settle for a loud foul ball.

See: Pillar Leaves Post – At Last

— The Editors, Byte and Switch

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