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A Buyer's Guide for Virtual Server Backup is Coming...

  As the Universe gets ready for VMworld in San Francisco next week, I had a chance to sit down (virtually) this week with Jerome Wendt, lead analyst & President at DCIG and Bob Eastman, managing director, Research at SMB Research, LLC to discuss their upcoming Virtual Server Backup Software Buyer’s Guide.

Jerome, Bob, you both are well underway on your latest Buyer’s Guide, this time on virtual server backup software.   What are you hoping to accomplish with this Buyer’s Guide?

(Jerome) First and foremost, this DCIG Virtual Server Backup Software Buyer’s Guide is intended to survey the landscape, and to provide end-users with a clarifying look at the vendors that make up the virtual server backup software market.  This seems to be a rapidly growing, and under-covered area.  So DCIG and SMB Research believe that the Buyer’s Guide can provide a comprehensive view into the vendors that serve this segment and the features and functions that each vendor is offering.

End-users should find this Buyers Guide to be the best source available on the market for an in-depth comparative look at the features and functions of each virtual server backup software product to include which vendors have what products and what vendors’ features and functions best suit their needs.

We believe this will be the best source yet for analysis and research into this market plus virtual server backup software vendors should find this Buyer’s Guide to be an invaluable tool to help to differentiate their product, educate their prospects, and accelerate their sales cycles.

I am working closely with Miles Prescott and Bob Eastman from SMB Research, who are frankly doing much of the heavy lifting on this project, to produce a comprehensive, insightful, information-rich Buyer’s Guide.

How important will support for primary virtual server OS platforms be for this Buyer’s Guide?

(Bob) What we are hearing from end-users will define what will be “important” for this Buyer’s Guide. Support for virtual server OS platforms will be just one of many features and functions that we are looking at in our analysis.  Certainly, from an end-user standpoint, the backup software vendor’s support for “their” operating system is critical to them.  They may not care that a backup software vendor offers support for multiple other virtual OS’s although that certainly says something about the robustness of the vendor’s features and functions as a whole.

From your primary research, how many software options do you plan to look at for the Buyer’s Guide?

(Bob) We have not enumerated the number of different software options that we are looking at.  Suffice it to say that we have gone out of our way to ensure that this is a comprehensive view of the features and functions being offered for virtual server backup software.  If anything, we have erred on the high side in terms of querying some features and functions that we suspect may just be “me-too” features at this point.  We are putting a lot of work into the research side of this so that the end-result is a comprehensive view of the features and functions available in a single product.

For those interested in participating, what’s the best way to do that?

(Bob) We are very interested in hearing from any software vendor if they have a software solution offering for virtual server backup.  We have decided to focus on software-only solutions in this Buyer’s Guide with the intent to cover backup appliances in a separate forthcoming Buyer’s Guide.  However the dividing line here is not always as clear as one might think. 

The best way to participate is to contact Jerome at either (402) 884-9594 or jerome.wendt@dciginc.com or myself or Miles Prescott at SMB Research at (781) 904-0408. It’s also worth checking with the marketing and sales folks in your company as they may have already been contacted by us.  The cutoff date to participate is September 8. 

Do you plan on making recommendations on backup software packages as part of the Buyer’s Guide?

(Bob) Yes, we will be making recommendations which will include scoring and ranking all of the products in the guide. It would not be a full-fledged, certifiable guide unless we arrived at these conclusions as we consider that to be one of our obligations for end-users and vendors alike – to make some sense of what we are observing for features and functions offered by the vendors and to make some recommendations for end-users.

In some sense, you could think of this as the “Consumers Report™” of virtual server backup software.  So it is not just a case of looking to see who has the most features and functions. Rather, looking at the features and functions in total, and seeing how well each vendor supports and implements which features and functions that are important to end-users.

Although each end-user’s needs may be a bit different, we anticipate being able to make some very good recommendations about what features and functions, and what vendors, are most suitable for different types and levels of end-users.

There seem to be many ways to solve the VMware backup problem, a few of which are agent-based backup, image-based backup and serverless backup. Do you think we’ll see any surprises from the results of the research and vendor participation in the Buyer’s Guide?

(Bob) I’ve worked in the analyst industry for the past 13+ years while Jerome worked his way through the ranks as an end-user but both of us have learned to assume nothing and we are constantly surprised by what our research turns up.  So yes, I certainly do anticipate seeing some surprises. 

(Jerome) This is an area where there seems to be a lot of change and evolution with how people are doing things, and it will just be interesting to see how the vendors are responding to this in their solution offerings.  We are asking the vendors to provide us with some information on their various backup technical approaches. So we anticipate being able to provide some insight on how the various approaches to backup are shaking out.

What other Buyer’s Guides can we expect to see in the future?

(Jerome) DCIG has already talked on its website about Buyer’s Guides for eDiscovery software, Midrange Array Replication Software, and Small Business Storage Arrays, so DCIG has these and others under way.  DCIG’s goal is to produce one of these a month by 2012 if not sooner.

Disclaimer:  Neither DCIG or SMB Research are clients of Lois Paul & Partners.  I’ve known Jerome for many years and we’ve shared numerous conversations over time about the storage industry.

SNW, a reflection and review of the numbers

Last week marked the annual pilgrimage to one of the storage industry's seasonal events, Storage Networking World, held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida.

As with events past, last week had many industry watchers buzzing about the week’s events and conversations, while those of us who weren't fortunate enough to be able to attend, watched from afar.

There were few real surprises from the week, although, as in years' past there were certain to be discussions emerging around how relevant SNW is and how much do industry watchers and end users alike really get out of the week’s sessions, hands-on lab and festivities.

While it’s not the focus for this blog to take that discussion on, as in posts past, it is interesting to reflect on the numbers.  So without further ado, let’s look at some of the more compelling numbers from last week’s event.

140.  Number of tweets using the “official” #SNWUSA hashtag over the past week. Most prolific twitterer, which should come as no surprise to many, is Stephen Foskett. Of note, the #SNW hashtag generated only fifteen tweets in a search for the week.

132. Number of presenters listed on the SNW USA website. Updated to reflect the latest AP Stylebook correction.

58.  Number of blogs, as of April 16^th, referencing “SNW” or “Storage Networking World” as subject matter.  One of the personal faves was the “unofficial” review of chotckies or “Conference Loot” written by Stephen Foskett as Pack Rat, in this instance.

19.  Number of pre-registered “media” on the official SNW pre-registered media list dated 4.9.10.  Interesting to note, InfoSmack podcast co-hosts Marc Farley and Greg Knieriemen as pre-registered media.  Not sure those traditional media, such as Stephen Lawson from IDG and Dave Raffo from TechTarget, would feel the same.  Regardless, and I realize I don’t qualify even though I blog about the event, but is it too early to dream about a media badge for the fall?

17.  Number of NetApp presentations highlighted in a recent press release. That’s not a typo.  Granted it raised awareness along with a few eyebrows, but 17 seemed high if not excessive from any one company. To be fair, some were customer presentations and tied to SNIA but it left many of us working on the fall’s abstracts looking for the special sauce needed to make submissions rise to the top of the selection process.

16.  Number of press releases distributed via BusinessWire, MarketWire and PR Newswire.

9. InfoSmack Podcasts and counting, plus three videos and counting.  Media or not, they produce a lot of great content.

1.  Average number of tweets from the “official” SNWUSA twitter channel.

As discussed with many attendees, as well as clients, it seemed as if this Spring’s pilgrimage was a little lighter attended then most.  As one analyst noted, there appeared to be fewer vendors attending.  And, the bar was emptier. While potentially true, the bar did turn up one picture that few tracking the industry of late thought they’d see,

For those that attended and shared their experiences, a huge thank you. It’s always good to see and hear how the conference continues to evolve.

And before I sign-off, the usual disclaimer. No clients were consulted ahead of time in the preparation, drafting and re-drafting of this entry. One word of parting wisdom. When creating blogs, make sure to hit save often.

What's up with Virtual Desktops?

There's renewed interest now with the introduction of Windows 7 to evaluate desktop virtualization.  This "trend" though is no surprise to Timothy Stammers, senior analyst at OVUM.  Tim, along with his colleague Steve Hodgkinson, authored a comprehensive report on the virtual desktop market this summer, Enterprise Virtual Desktop Alternatives:  A Market Scan.  

Coming on the heels of VMworld and Citrix Analyst day, we caught up with Tim to discuss trends in desktop virtualization for the latest in our Beyond the Hype podcast series. For this segment, we talk to Tim about how mature a market opportunity desktop virtualization presents and where the cloud fits into all of this.  

As Tim mentions, coming out of VMworld and the Citrix event, there was more of a renewed focus on desktop systems.  Tim elaborates on the "Battle for desktop virtualization" which he sees began in 2007 when Citrix and VMware launched their first solutions. He goes on to talk about how far we've come and how both Citrix and VMware have large install bases with Citrix claiming more than 7,000 customers and VMware more than a 1,000,000 seats.

In this new era of virtualization as Tim describes, the market is mature and he is definitely seeing demand. We've gone past the point where "it's going to happen" as Tim says. He adds that one of the sticking points is persuading users of the cost savings as he feels the costs can be hard to predict.

He goes on to talk about what he is seeing in the market around use cases and how, from his perspective, there is a mix of three architectures around traditional thin clients, streaming and VDI or, as he says, is probably better labeled as hosted virtual desktops. And, there can be no discussion around virtualization where implications for the cloud aren't raised. Tim closes with his thoughts on virtual desktops and implications for the cloud.  As Tim sees it, there are still concerns around security and network latency but he notes how IBM has promised to host desktops in the cloud.

We hope you will enjoy this podcast. Please feel free to share your feedback as we welcome your comments and thoughts.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes

Beyond the Hype - Episode 13

Podcast: In marketing, cadence is critical

The following is the second part in our Beyond the Hype podcast series with Bob Maness, Vice President, Marketing, for Pillar Data Systems, an LP&P client. We sat down with Bob recently to discuss the evolution and incorporation of social media into Pillar’s B2B marketing efforts.

Bob begins with a healthy discussion on tracking and measurement. In particular, he focuses in on how to effectively measure social media impact on overall marketing initiatives. As Bob notes, while capturing data for quantitative analysis is important, don’t overlook the qualitative aspect, in particular looking at trends. Too often, as Bob explains, marketing gets caught up in moments in time, particularly for events. An event may cause a spike, everyone pats themselves on the back and then the marketing team moves on to the next event. From Bob’s perspective, cadence is critical.The ability to create a steady cadence and keep to it without overcomplicating the message and/or activities will lead to success. Often times, you may get conflicting perceptual issues but at the end of the day, you can capture and measure success by the influence you have on buying behavior. When customers consider and ultimately purchase a product or service, that is the ultimate form of measurement and effect.

Bob closes with reflections on the recent success of the Pillar Cash for Clunkers program which played off on the Federal Government Car Allowance Rebate System. As Bob noted, while the Pillar program had a gimmicky element to it, the fact they had a key financing partner participate and that they were able to pick up where the Federal Government left off with its own program, made the overall program a success. For Bob, the hook was clear and his team was able to tap into a simple, obvious event to create a broader perception of interest for the company.

We hope you will enjoy this podcast. Please feel free to share your feedback as we welcome your comments and thoughts.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes

As SNW Approaches, time to reflect...

 
Next week marks the annual pilgrimage for many to the SNW Fall conference.  The agenda is full.  The press and analyst list is even fuller still.  Early rumblings are that it will again stir up the passions that many of us live each and every day in the storage industry.

"Where's the best place to dedupe data?"  "Tape is dead, long live disk."  "FCoE is here, really it is, we're not kidding."  "Cloud is coming, is here, is in use for storage."  "Lower your TCO."  "Increase your ROI."  "Shrink your backup windows."  "Utilize more disk."  "Become more efficient." 

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

Much has been written over the past few years about SNW's relevancy, including here on our own blog.  SNW has been lauded for the testing and interoperability work done by SNIA and others, for its focus on the customer and as a launch pad for many of the industry's more interesting developments (FCoE, Aperi, Best Practices in Storage Awards, among others).  On the flip side, many pundits claim few customers actually attend and even fewer in the reseller community that serve the storage end user.  It has even spawned a counter movement earlier in this year with the first annual Business Development Networking Event in Boston where some billed it as the "Anti-SNW." The coordinators are now heading west, with an appearance in Palo Alto in late January, 2010.

Regardless of what happens and who has what to say about SNW, it got me to thinking, in a reflective sort of way.  What has come and gone over the past few years that may make you flip through your SNW yearbook and think, I wonder what's up with that now?

-Byte and Switch:  For years, the number one place to turn to the "ins" and the "outs" of the storage industry.  Recently relaunched under the Network Computing umbrella.  Mike Fratto and team are working hard to make the new site as relevant to the storage industry as possible.  However, gone are the hilarious headlines and lengthy discussion threads.  And, gone are the prose of Mary Jander, Dave Raffo, James Rogers, Jo Maitland and Todd Spangler to name a few.

-TechTarget Industry Quizzes:  Okay, maybe not gone as you can still access the library, but nothing new since 2008.  I personally miss those email newsletters with the latest "test your knowledge" on the storage industry.  If for no other reason than to send to colleagues and say, "care to wager?"

-The annual Haiku Contest:  Each year, Mike Karp, then of EMA and writer of the Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter for NetworkWorld, would issue his annual Haiku contest.  Readers were asked for their best storage related haiku.  And, he'd get enough submissions to create two topics.  Some of the runners up were as good, if not better than the winners.  Imagine if Twitter were around then!

-Breaking news:  Nothing beats a beat.  And, for many years, those of us working in storage had the reporter personalities to match the beats they were assigned.  I fondly recall talking to one beat reporter when he came on board at eWEEK years ago and he was "limited" to cover a few companies.  He said, tell me why the company you work with (by the way, which had been doing nothing but selling storage products and services for 30 years to the tune of $2BN+ in revenue for a number of years) merited as much attention as the latest CDP startup or better yet Cisco or Microsoft which were launching storage initiatives.  While many of these same personalities have taken different roles in the industry (Deni Connor formerly solely at NetworkWorld now principal at SSG-Now; James Rogers formerly at Byte and Switch now at TheStreet.com, Tim Stammers formerly at Computerwire now at Ovum, etc.), the breaking news story doesn't have the same feel to it.  Thankfully, Dave Raffo, Beth Pariseau at TechTarget/SearchStorage, Chris Mellor at The Register, Lucas Mearian at Computerworld, Chris Preimesberger at eWEEK and Joe Kovar at CRN still carry the baton.

So as the build up continues to next week's SNW, it will be interesting to see how the conversations within the industry evolve and how the channels open to conversations do as well.  Who knows, maybe Dave Vellante and the folks at the Wikibon were ahead of their time with the Tweet Suite!

Podcast: Social media creates a 'paranoia of omission'

The following is the latest in our Beyond the Hype podcast series. For this segment, I sat down with Bob Maness, Vice President, Marketing, for Pillar Data Systems, an LP&P client, to discuss the evolution and incorporation of social media into B2B marketing efforts.  Bob believes that paranoia, fear and omission too often lead to me-too marketing and confusion.

Our conversation kicks off with Bob discussing how the paranoia of omission can lead to four challenges and how they can further hinder your efforts at differentiating your company, products and services. The four challenges Bob discusses are:

1. over-complication
2. constant fiddling and tweaking of the message
3. fuzziness from what makes you different, and
4. issues with perception

From there Bob goes on to discuss what he does both formally and informally to help focus on differentiation. As Bob mentions, what marketers want to do is make their efforts positive, but by complicating processes they end up overworking tasks and activities. Bob goes on to talk about how marketers need to look outside the box both literally and figuratively and tap their networks both inside and outside their respective markets. This is one way that social media continues to drive the 1:1 marketing efforts and to help make his marketing efforts successful without large, formal programs and budgets.

Bob concludes part one by discussing how the fear of thinking prevents us from going through any process to get to the obvious. More often than not, he knows his efforts will be successful when someone says, “Why didn’t I think of that?” It’s the obvious, simple and uncomplicated that lets you know when you have stated something of value.

This is part one of a twopart discussion. In part two, I talk to Bob about how to effectively measure your social media and marketing efforts.

We hope you will enjoy this podcast. And, of course, we would love to get your feedback on this subject here.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes

SNW, what's to come?

It was about this time last week that the dust was beginning to settle on another Storage Networking World (SNW) Spring Conference. No signs of hurricanes to delay the arrival of attendees or speakers as in years past. No signs of some major sponsors as in years past, Dell being one of many conspicuously absent. Few signs of major news conferences from multiple companies, Brocade being one of the only to leverage SNW for a press event. Fewer signs of life in the bars. And, much discussion about how relevant SNW was/is/could be. 

It seems as many have noted that this year's event passed without much ballyhoo. The usual musings:  Was it worth my time? Did we generate enough leads from those end users in attendance? Did we get full value out of our sponsorship and commitments? Did we need to be there for as long as we were?  Was attendance impacted by the economy? Should we continue to come back? 

For many, some of those questions are still being answered, but it was refreshing to hear and see several positives come out of this spring's event.  Although, with the good comes the not-so-good. 

From the good perspective, social media was front and center in many ways at SNW. George Crump at Storage Switzerland gave us daily updates via his blog on Byte and Switch to each day's happenings.  Jerome Wendt at DCIG did something similar via his own blog.  And, the folks at the Wikibon Group took it one step further by tweeting updates from meetings as they happened real time. Also from the good, companies I spoke to and have the pleasure of working with, all noted that end user interest was up even if attendance was lighter than in years past. Demos were in full force which may speak to those that were attending were generally more interested and engaged. Speaking engagements were well received, some presentations were standing room only.  And, the weather was accommodating.

From the not-so-good category, not many companies chose to make SNW the center of their PR and launch effort, as George Crump noted. In fact, some media I spoke to recently were wondering why some companies like EMC waited to do their major announcement the week after SNW. Were they trying to send a message? 

Also, in the not-so-good category, the communication around one of the premier items at the show, the SNW Best Practices in Storage Awards, was less than ideal. Maybe it had to do with moving the event from a dinner lasting a few hours on Wednesday night to a more intimate gathering for 15 minutes on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am or 10:15 am depending on which invite you checked last.  Regardless, some people I spoke with that were genuinely excited about the recognition and had flown in specifically for the acknowledgment were left feeling disappointed.

Overall, and from my perspective, perhaps SNW was showing signs of what's made it successful in the past: a storage-focused venue where end users, companies, and pundits convene to have industry-- specific conversations. And, we all benefit when that happens. Perhaps storage is back. The networking is back....even if the world may just be a little bit smaller. Let's hope that's just a sign of the economic realities we all face though rather than a sign the conversation may be shifting to another venue.

SNW by the numbers

Another week.  Another storage trade show.  Another chance to question why. This week marked the annual pilgrimage to Dallas, host of the Fall SNW.  As with many SNW's past, end users were a rare species.  Vendors were left wondering how hard the economy would impact their customers. Some analysts were issuing projections that made a few wonder when the proverbial turn-around would come.  And, many sponsoring companies were left questioning the value of their investment by either sponsoring or attending.  Security was in attendance to make sure that non-paying individuals didn't make their way to areas they weren't allowed, like the press room.  News around FCoE, Adaptable Modular Storage, SSDs and thin provisioning was the rage and business development was in full force in the lobby, at the Java Coast and surrounding restaurants and alcoves.

SNW is always about reunions, though.  A chance to see where people are now.  A chance to catch up with old friends, make new friends and try and separate hype from reality.  So as in year's past, we took a look at a few numbers that came out of the conference:

70.  Average number of requests most media received for briefings ahead of or at SNW.

37.  Number of meetings one analyst mentioned he had in four days while at SNW.

1.  Days you can probably shorten SNW by and lose nothing.

66. Approximate number of news announcements with SNW as the dateline.

18.  Approximate number of "new" product introductions.

54.  Number of sponsors, excluding training partners, media sponsors and official wire service.

Less than 100.  Number of qualified leads secured by some companies.  In comparison, VMworld generated as many as 800-1,000 for many companies.

163.  Approximate number of presentations, excluding Hands-On Lab, booths, lobbies, hotel rooms.

Hopefully SNW was a success for you.  Congratulations to those end users recognized by Computerworld, SNIA and SNW in this year's Best Practices Awards.  Congratulations to Mario Apicella for joining Storage Strategies NOW to kick-off the firm's new TPV service.  And, to the many media and analysts for surviving so many requests to meet and the meetings themselves. I hope to see old and new friends at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando from April 6-9.

10 Signs that You Heart Storage

After surviving a heavy dose of storage news the past few weeks related to VMworld, Oracle Open World and Storage Decisions, all eyes turn to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Hotel near Dallas, Texas, home to the next venue in the busy storage conference season, Storage Networking World. Or, affectionately known to many by its initials SNW. So, it's with SNW in mind and creative license inspired by Diann Daniel at CIO.com, that we discuss the 10 sure-fire signs that you have storage coursing through your veins.

1) You don't need a Wiki page, encyclopedia or translation service to understand a LUN.

2) You understand the difference between synchronous and asynchronous replication and file and block-level deduplication.

3) You miss the edge Byte and Switch used to have.

4) You know that Alphabet Soup isn't as filling as Storage Soup.

5) You back up your computer at home with more than just an external hard drive.

6) You know the difference between a Gigabyte, Petabyte and Terabyte.

7) You're excited about the emergence of large content depots.

8) You understand why virtualization is a boon for storage vendors.

9) You understand the difference between Tape Emulation, VTLs and Automated Tape Libraries.

10) Your e-mail archive could fit on a 1TB tape.  Be it SDLT, LTO or AIT.

Think we missed anything?  Let us know.  And, keep your eyes open from the best from SNW to come next week.

Kicking off trade show season with VMworld 2008

We have now entered September and not only does this month mark the beginning of Fall, but it also marks the beginning of trade show season for many of us in the high-tech industry. From VMworld to Web 2.0 to Interop to SNW, many of us here are in the middle of prepping our clients for a busy (and fun!) few months.  While many things have stayed the same, the many ways in which we communicate has changed due to social media.  As we've seen from the adoption of everything from Facebook to Virtual Plazas to Twitter, social media now has a predominant place in getting messages across to a whole host of audiences. This was evident at last week's VMworld 2008 conference, where several attendees and journalists were communicating for over a month before the show even kicked off. VMworld took it one step further by hosting a Twitter community on the show website, as well as a Twitter Virtual booth. We'll certainly see more of this as trade show season rages on.

I was lucky enough to attend VMworld last week and had a chance to catch up with a couple of leading industry analysts and reporters while in Las Vegas. Carryl Roy of Virtual-Strategy Magazine and George Crump of Storage Switzerland shared their insights on what they were most looking forward to seeing at the show while also shedding light on what some of the biggest trends in virtualization and storage today. They commented on VMware's Paul Maritz's "Trinity of the Future" strategy, cloud computing, SSD, and how storage companies are working to address virtual machine management. But, like many others in the industry, in the coming months, I'll be looking forward to see what trends will emerge and what rumors will be proven false.

Enjoy the video and let us know if you agree - or disagree - with their musings.