Yeah, the disks are understandable, and many of the rest are not really broken parts but rather attempts by NTAP to troubleshoot a particular problem (hardware, software, or external). I find the power supply and fan assembly problems to be very bizarre, and guess you are either cursed or don't have the controlled enviornment you think you have.
As to the EOL issues, I agree; NTAP should not EOL products as quickly as they do. I would like to see 4+ years going forward. Of course, as a shareholder, I realize this will cut into earnings.
Bruce
From "Bruce Sterling Woodcock" on Mon, 07 Feb 2000 21:05:39 PST:
As to the EOL issues, I agree; NTAP should not EOL products as quickly as they do. I would like to see 4+ years going forward.
We couldn't agree more that their product life needs to be longer. This is especially true for disk shelves.
Granted, drive manufacturers are not going to slow down the development pace, however NetApp has been selling FC-AL for a year or so now and has already gone through three shelves, the first of which is EOL with the second on the way. It probably doesn't help that they don't make their own shelves either. Its most likely very difficult to get accurate power and cooling requirements from Seagate and others ahead of time.
On the other hand, why not just tell Eurologics, "we want a shelf that can handle twice the current predicted requirements for the biggest, fastsest drive in development." =)
-- Jeff
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Krueger E-Mail: jeff@qualcomm.com NetApp File Server Lead Phone: 858-651-6709 IT Engineering and Support Fax: 858-651-6627 QUALCOMM, Incorporated Web: www.qualcomm.com
----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff Krueger jkrueger@qualcomm.com To: Bruce Sterling Woodcock sirbruce@ix.netcom.com Cc: toasters@mathworks.com Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 8:02 AM Subject: Re: RMA reminder calls ( a new wrinkle )
On the other hand, why not just tell Eurologics, "we want a shelf that can handle twice the current predicted requirements for the biggest, fastsest drive in development." =)
If they can't persuade Eurologic and other vendors to produce components as long as they need them, then the alternative, of course, is to invest a large amount up front for spares and the like. This will kill the inventory stats, but I'm sure there are ways to finesse this.
Other companies must have solved this issue before, and modularity isn't the only solution.
Bruce
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Bruce Sterling Woodcock -
Jeff Krueger