In today's IT world, lots of folks talk about solutions but very few vendors actually do a world class job of delivering them. In new SAN consolidation projects, the sale starts after the initial product is shipped. That's because these types of initiatives often are a journey, requiring complex and sophisticated migrations over periods as long as two to three years. This means 50-70% of the negotiations for a consolidation project will actually occur after the first round of hardware and software is delivered.
While there are still some holes, most suppliers are getting their consolidation product acts together. But just as buyers must update skills to exploit new technologies, suppliers must aggressively sustain an approach that can support the provision of complex services at a level that many storage companies aren't delivering today. Specifically, users need help to support the exploitation of and testing for server- and storage-side virtualization, services to define and classify data, support for developing automated tiering strategies and migration services to support automating processes and procedures in general.
Consolidation 2.0 will be hard work and successful vendors will demonstrate that they have deep relationships that can sustain knowledge transfer over long periods of time. As switching costs decline, storage vendors must realize that the sale starts after the box is delivered, not when the order is booked. SAN consolidation 2.0 is not a good business opportunity for startups looking for a quick exit.
Action Item: While storage suppliers must continue to fill gaps in consolidation product offerings, vendors wanting a piece of the next wave of SAN consolidations must invest in services capabilities that can facilitate the adoption of new virtualized SAN infrastructure and demonstrate best practice knowledge across a variety of industry domains.
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