On Tue, Dec 28, 2004 at 05:09:19PM -0500, Howard, Bryan wrote:

Just read this message and the previous, would the people who responded to Kelsey please send me their input as well? We use NetApp filers now and are discussing going to EMC...

Here's some quotes from some of the responses:

Don't believe the hype.

Lies, damn lies and EMC. I am not familiar with actual test results (SPEC), but as you know, Evil Machine Company lied about the 600 (sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks) and I suspect are stretching the truth on the 500. We have found the best bet is to in-house evaluate if possible, SPEC results are so vertical it is difficult to get a baseline to work with (each situation\solution is different). If they are so positive of their product, have them put one on-site to evaluate. As a side benefit, your NetApp representative gets to see EMC hardware on site and manages to find a few points to shave from their solution. ;)

We recently engaged both companies in racing a FAS940c vs. an EMC 500 for a SAN implementation and EMC declined to participate.

We currently own another cx500 and much like it's predecessor, it seems to have some annoying (but not fatal) reliability issues (both Service processors going zombie!) Other than that, it's not a scary as the 600 series.

In any case, EMC is getting kicked in the head which is why they are practically giving away they're stuff (compared to 4 years ago when they thought they were the Cisco of storage). I know NetApp has lost deals to EMC but based solely on price, nothing else.