On 02/22/99 18:41:25 you wrote:

Has anyone used the XRP 1000? It's Nitech's "answer" to the Netapp (the even mention Network Appliance specifically as the market leader in network-attached storage, and that they compete with Netapp).

http://www.nitech.com/online/Company/Storage/XRP_1000/body_xrp_1000.html

I've never used one, but...

I went to the URL. I laughed. I cried. I want to surf it again and again.

The company provides virtually no background info on itself. No listing of who's at the helm. It looks like it's operating out of somebody's garage... of course, Netapp started the same way, but at least they had some sense to put together something professional.

The white paper is told in a somewhat folksy style; clearly it was written by someone just rambling and without much experience. It contains several grammatical and spelling errors.

The presentation still refers to Network Appliance, Inc. as Network Appliance Corporation, and even uses the old abbreviation NAC. The docs also from time to time mention a few filer details that this product doesn't suffer from, like single telnet sessions. All this leads me to believe that this is some guy who was once familiar with them and who decided he could compete, without really understanding the underlying software technologies.

The product may be good, but I have little faith in the company. Sure, even Netapp was once a nobody, but they were a lot more professional and had a lot more going for them.

Bruce