4 ms·
I spoke with both IBM and NetApp vendors several years ago, just seeking an appliance. We didn't want phenomenal capacity, but needed something with good perfo
by Twirrim 12y ago
I spoke with both IBM and NetApp vendors several years ago, just seeking an appliance. We didn't want phenomenal capacity, but needed something with good performance.
I've never dealt with such completely incompetent salesmen before. Other vendors I've engaged have had salesmen relentlessly pursue me for the sale, even when it was very likely a small contract to them.
Both NetApp and IBM left me having to do the chasing. I don't mind doing that to some extent, but the amount of chasing I was having to do left a bad taste in my mouth and pretty much ensured I've no real interest in dealing with either vendor again. I wonder if companies really realise the importance of care even on small contracts. People change jobs all the time these days, and just because they are buying something small from you now, doesn't mean they're not going to be interested in something very large in the future. How you treat them will have a large impact on whether you even get a look in on something bigger.
- douche 12y agoSounds like IBM... They can be pretty dysfunctional.
- liveoneggs 12y agoYes. NetApp products tend to be really great but dealing with their sales guys directly sucks. Next time contact an VAR like Vandis who will size it, sell it, and help (or just do) set it up.
- omerh 12y agoI agree, I had to chase them for more than 2 weeks to get a disk shelf quote which was overpriced around $3k competing with a local vendor that buys from them. I bought from a vendor and not directly from Netapp
- nasalgoat 12y agoI was spending almost $2 million on a 1PB solution and I couldn't get NetApp to call me back. EMC knew the name of my senior admin when they called me back in 2 hours. Guess who got my money?
- KaiserPro 12y agoHeh, I had the almost direct opposite experience. However we only had the netapp for VMware and home directories(and some cache stuff). only added up to about 300tb. The petabytes were scratch built jobbies. (as no appliance maker used the super dense 60 drives in 4u cases, despite Netapp making them)
- acdha 12y agoThe reverse is true, too. After IBM couldn't even send a quote for a seven-figure purchase, we went with Sun's amd64 servers. For years, they got additional business because the process was to email or call & wait 10 minutes for a detailed quote which was correct on the first try. Every so often we tried to get IBM or HP involved but their sales guys talked us out of it within the first 15 minutes.