Thanks for the kind words. I read your post on NMP RR and iooperationslimit=1. Do you have any test data on VMAX? As you can tell from my testing, my PP numbers are much better than RR at 1000. When I take it to 1, the gap disappears. But I understand from your posts and Duncan's that things would be different on multiple hosts, with multiple LUN's. Unfortunately I am running into time constraints, and I don't think I'll be able to do a huge test with several hosts. Just checking with you to see if there is any data out there. I've got to make a decision really soon on this PPVE purchase.

Excellent story Chuck! I see so many companies stuck in situations just like this. It really is sad to see rampant incompetence impacting a company. It's even worse when YOU get the blame for it. I think you handled it perfectly.

VDC's are great. I only wish there was some way to connect them without patching a cable over. Good interview Vaughn.

Nice write-up. In addition to the example you give above, I think a reason VMAX is a better fit for some organizations is the criticality of the workload and the SLA's involved. As reliable as the mid-tier arrays are these days, for some it comes down to whether you are able to tolerate that extra "nine" of downtime or performance degradation. Nines are algorithmically expensive, so only your business can determine what one is worth.

Great post! Thanks for sharing. I've been wondering how FastCache would help one of my SQL workloads.

Great presentations Chad. It was nice to get more detailed info on VNX.

Wow! EMC has their own Stig! **http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig for the uninitiated.

Interesting. What this says to me is that the negative attacks, although a lot less in number, carry a LOT more weight with social media followers. Take note.

Chad: I sent it over via e-mail. It's one of those documents that's locked away behind their "information firewall". When you get a chance to read it, I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Good write-up. I hear this out there quite a bit. I think the study you show from ESG is indicative of the current state of IT research these days. I can show you an Aberdeen report that shows almost the exact polar opposite of what the ESG one shows. Of course the Aberdeen one doesn't specify demographics, or even number of respondents. I do think it illustrates why we all should be as skeptical of these "research" firms as we are vendor marketing. Is there really a difference?

Excellent points Tyler.

I don't agree that it would be better to buy a car entirely built by one company. BMW uses ZF transmissions. Because ZF makes a fantastic transmission. As a customer, why do I want BMW to make their own transmissions when they can buy better quality ones cheaper from ZF? I don't. This whole scenario explains why I am not a huge vBlock fan. I don't believe that an EMC Clariion is the perfect array for every customer, and every application. I don't believe UCS is the perfect server platform for every application. I want the flexibility to choose something else if it will perform better for my particular application.

One must assume that the intent is to extend the economic malaise. There is no other logical explanation.

This is going to be awesome! I enjoyed the Charlotte panel, but tossing another vendor in the pool should help further the conversation.