On 6 mei 2009, at 08:35, Michael Green wrote:

I've just been notified that Netapp sales people will pay us a visit
in about a week from now and try to talk us into buying their backup
solutions. What tricky questions should I be asking them? I don't
exactly know what products they will  be talking about, but I guess it
will be about their VTL and/or FAS systems.

Well, NetApp is a software company. The hardware is not the most
expensive part of the solution. Each and every feature that you need
is licensed. The only feature that is free is iSCSI. So the trick
question is: how much will each feature cost? And remember, the
features are more expensive as the filer becomes bigger. Also, for
some features, you need to buy some other features as well.

SnapMirror is a great solution, but disks are still disks, so they eat
power even when you don't need the data. Tape is much greener....

I do believe that there could be a place for NetApp equipment in a
well designed environment. But start thinking of what you want to
achieve, and then find the best solution for your situation. NetApp
might provide a suitable solution, but they might just as well not...

Please email me in private. I promise to post a summary of all
interesting questions/ideas that I will receive after my meeting.
--
Warm regards,
Michael Green

--
Met vriendelijke groeten/Kind regards,

Remco Post
r.post AT plcs DOT nl