My counterpoint was simply that the training of EMC system admins is not a barrier to NTAP. Both NTAP and EMC need new customers and none of them are trained on EMC.
Roger that. I missed your point completely.
I would only add that the people who have been trained on EMC for 2-3 years move up and on to positions that have buying influence. My point, if really had one to begin with, was that these people would be swayed more towards a product they know than one they don't. I don't know if this is really an effect on sales or not in today's environment, and I don't know how large that effect might be. I don't know if you would classify that as new customers, anyway.
Ditto to that cooperation/competition thing. I sure like watching the fur fly, though.
EMC and Auspex make as much sense to me as EMC and DG. But, and it's a big but, we get into that east coast / west coast dichotomy thing with EMC & Auspex. I wonder about the ease of digestion. I wouldn't pull the trigger on that deal, but then I ain't the one sitting in the corner office smoking big cigars, either, if you know what I mean.
Ya know, I still don't understand Auspex' fall from grace. Not that NTAP is now kicking their a**, but how Auspex let it happen. They were the gold standard in that space for so long. Now, there's an innovator's dilemna. I'd love to read a Harvard Business Review on that one.
buck |
