1.002: that just about says it all
When I'm not calling attention to the foibles and FUD being tossed around like spring pollen by Symmetrix wanna-bees, I usually spend a large part of my day helping EMC's customers, prospects and sales teams understand what Symmetrix is really all about.
Earlier this week, I spent the day with the EMC SPEED Gurus at their annual SPEED Summit. These are the men and women who set the appropriate performance configurations and expectations in pre-sales situations, and/or implement them post-sales. (During this annual Summit, we provide the Gurus with in-depth understanding of the performance characteristics of virtually every aspect of Symmetrix, as well as its competition. Consider them Armed and Dangerous)
Then today, I was in back-to-back discussions of current and future Symmetrix capabilities with two different long-time EMC customers in the Hopkinton EBC.
The discussions with both audiences were similar - centered around the recent enhancements delivered for Symmetrix DMX3 & DMX4, including Enterprise Flash Drives, Virtual Provisioning, Symmetrix Compatible Flash(copy) and the rest of the features delivered in Enginuity 5773. And of course we spent some time looking towards the future of storage technology, and how EMC is evolving Symmetrix to leverage key technology changes that are likely within the next few years.
Throughout these discussions, I am repeatedly struck by the notion that as interesting as all the technology is, it wasn't why I am asked to meet with these audiences. It hit me that no matter how much focus we put on performance, availability, scalability, competition or even the "efficiencies" (as in utilization-, energy- and cost-efficiency), that wasn't what was most important about these meetings.
No, as a member of the executive team that defines and drives the Symmetrix business, I'm there (and here, in fact) for a very basic purpose.
it's all about trust
As the front-line interface between EMC and our customers, field experts want to know that we hear the challenges their customers face, and that we're listening. They want to know that there is real data to back up the performance guidance that they're given. And they want to know where we're going and how we're going to deal with the all the emerging and evolving changes in the industry.
Customers, on the other hand, want pretty much the same thing - face-to-face assurances that our products not only do what they need them to today, but that the company has a compelling vision for how our products will evolve to help them tomorrow.
And when I'm meeting with those that have chosen to depend upon, sell, service and/or support Symmetrix, it's one of the most rewarding parts of my responsibilities to be able to help reinforce their trust.
And in fact, this is pretty much the entire motivation and focus behind EMC World, coming up in just over a week from today. There, EMC's developers will meet face-to-face with the customers of their products. Sessions will explain best practices for the products as well as secrets and short-cuts. And while customers will inevitably learn a lot more about the products than could ever be put into a manual, the developers will get a better understanding of the ways customers use their products and the specific challenges they face.
But the most important thing that both customers and developers will get out of the week (hopefully) will be a mutual respect for each other - a comradery born out of the symbiotic relationship between provider and consumer.
Chris Mellor posted an article today in which he uncovers the significance of this notion of trust to the EMC/Symmetrix installed base (see EMC DMX4 success story). The article deserves a read (it's not that long). In it, Chris explores an important UK-based customer's decision to consolidate their storage onto a pair of Symmetrix DMX4s.
Why?
As Chris says in his article:
... because they trust EMC to supply storage products that do the business
for their data centres.
It is as simple and as important as that.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
See you at EMC World!!!
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