Paul and Eddie -
It is true that big companies have little need of Zips and Jaz on the desktops in their offices. As you both point out, there are servers with big tape backup systems and that's where most of the sensitive data goes.
I do network consulting with some pretty big companies, and I can testify to this first hand. But I wanted to point something else out about a trend you may be unaware of.
The company I am currently on assignment with is in the midst of an enormous expansion of remote network access for its employees. There will be well over a thousand users dialling in to the network from home PCs by this time next year. That number will continue to grow.
Now many of these users are getting brand new PCs from the company. The PCs are all configured at the office, and shipped out to the employees' homes. How are all these users going to backup their home systems? Certainly not to the company backup servers over analog or ISDN phone lines.
Nope, many of these nice new PCs are being fitted with internal Jaz drives. And they get a few disks to go with them.
Telecommuting is becoming more and more popular. The number of people who work at home for big companies is increasing. All these people will need to backup their work. It doesn't always make sense, timewise, to send big files back to the office. So they need local backup.
I also have a comment about the idea that big companies make decisions about computer products solely based on price. While price is a big consideration, it isn't the only one. Large companies know that there are costs associated with support. Therefore they want computer products that are reliable, easy to use, and cost effective. But they definitely don't always buy the cheapest alternative.
And that is true of home users, too. I believe it was Ken Pomeranski who said, "people buy computers based on price, boys and girls." This was his argument for why OEMs would never make Zips standard on their products. In fact, features are an important consideration as well, Ken.
That's my rant for now. Thanks for indulging me, everyone.
- Allen |
