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QUANTUM CORP., one of the brand names that helps define the tapelibrary category, has finished among the top three in three of ourprevious five Quality Awards surveys for enterprise tape libraries. In the sixth edition of the service and reliability ratings, it breaks

through with an impressive overall win highlighted by a clean sweepof the five rating categories. If that wasn’t sweet enough, Quantum alsotopped the charts among midrange tape libraries, equaling its enterprisefeat of five category wins and romping to victory.

That’s not to suggest the other product lines represented in the surveywere slouches—the average of the overall scores for enterprise productswas second to only the last Quality Awards survey, and the midrangegroup’s overall average missed a record by a mere 0.04 points.

Tape might be playing a diminished or modified role in a lot of storageshops, but based on the consistently high ratings this category receives,we can only conclude the products are more fully featured, easier to useand more reliable than ever.

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40 STORAGE December 2011

BIGand SMALL

Quantum tape libraries lead the fieldAfter finishing well but never winning in past Quality Awards surveys,Quantum tape libraries romped through both the enterprise andmidrange categories this time around. BY RICH CASTAGNA

Overall ratingsENTERPRISE. Quantum’soverall average of 6.55outpaced tough competi-tors in IBM (6.37) and Oracle Corp. (6.34). IBMwas particularly tena-cious, finishing second in three categories andthird in the other two. Oracle rode one second-place finish and consis-tently strong scores to its third-place finish.

In winning, Quantum showed particular strength in the initial productquality and technical support categories. It won the other categorieswith smaller but still convincing margins. Coming in second this time,IBM maintained its record of always finishing in the top three since the inception of the enterprise tape library Quality Award surveys.

MIDRANGE. Quantumbested an even largerfield of competitors in the midrange group andwon by an even largermargin—6.86 to 6.52—over IBM. As it did in theenterprise group, IBM displayed remarkableconsistency, adding thissecond-place finish to its four seconds and onethird in previous surveys.Oracle placed third with a6.42 that just trailed IBM.But Quantum’s mastery of the midrange was clear, with across-the-boardcategory wins in the five rating categories and the only above-7.00 cate-gory ratings for product features (7.06) and initial product quality (7.03). Ina near replay of the enterprise contest, IBM came in second in four of thefive categories, ceding the second spot to Oracle for initial product quality.

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

HP

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 6.55

6.37

6.34

6.21

Enterprise tape libraries: OVERALL RATINGS

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Tandberg

Sony

HP

Dell

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 6.86

6.52

6.42

6.38

6.18

6.04

5.43

Midrange tape libraries: OVERALL RATINGS

Sales-forcecompetenceENTERPRISE. Quantumsure knows how to startout on the right foot withits users—at least thesurvey numbers certainlysuggest that. Quantumscored highest on all sixstatements in the sales-force competence cate-gory for a total of 6.33,with IBM (6.21) nipping at its heels for eachstatement.

MIDRANGE. Quantum was nearly as awesomeamong the midrangeproducts, garnering topscores on five of the six statements for an impressive 6.61. IBM just barely nudged outQuantum (6.44 to 6.41) for the statement “Mysales rep keeps my inter-ests foremost.” IBM’s 6.44average put it in second,with Oracle (6.31) takingthird. Dell Inc. andHewlett-Packard (HP) Co.also netted scores higherthan 6.00.

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Enterprise tape libraries: SALES-FORCE COMPETENCE

BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERS

• Quantum’s reps and resellers know their customers’businesses, as evidenced by its two highest categoryscores: 6.53 for “My sales rep is knowledgeable aboutmy industry” and a 6.39 for “My sales rep understandsmy business.”

• IBM was the only other vendor to score 6.00 or higher on all the statements, topped by a 6.34 for “The vendor’s sales support team is knowledgeable.”

• Oracle just missed an all-6.00-plus score sheet, dipping a mere 0.03 below on one statement, butnotching a solid 6.27 for having a knowledgeable support team.

Midrange tape libraries:SALES-FORCE COMPETENCE


• Quantum was consistently strong in this category,with its top scores for knowledgeable support teams(6.76) and being easy to negotiate with (6.75).

• IBM and Oracle received 6.00-or-higher scores on all six statements, while Dell just barely missed thatmark with a 5.99 on one statement.

• The lowest across-the-board average was 5.93 for “My sales rep keeps my interests foremost.”

6.61

6.44

6.31

6.19

6.03

5.78

5.12

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Tandberg

Sony

HP

Dell

Oracle

IBM

Quantum

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

HP

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 6.33

6.21

6.14

5.97

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Initial productqualityENTERPRISE. Quantumbuilt an average score of 6.74 by beating thecompetition on everystatement in this category.But once again, all thevendors scored well, withHP, IBM and Oracle trail-ing the leader but just0.07 points apart. And allvendors earned 6.00 orhigher on all six of thecategory statements.

MIDRANGE. Quantummight have been buildingup its momentum as itcharged through the othercategories: It cracked the7.00 mark for four of thesix statements in initialproduct quality on its wayto a category average of7.03—one of its two 7.00-plus category scores. Oracle, with a score of6.75 that could have beena category winner in otheryears, placed second,with IBM not far off the pace at 6.65.

Enterprise tape libraries: INITIAL PRODUCT QUALITY


• Quantum’s scoring was again notably consistent,topped by three 6.83 ratings for products that requirelittle daily intervention, provide ease of use and repre-sent good value.

• Tape vendors must be doing something right: IBM(6.63) and HP (6.62) had their highest marks for ease ofuse, while Oracle’s 6.49 was its second highest score.

• The group’s 6.50 average in this category standssecond only to the previous survey’s 6.67.

Midrange tape libraries:INITIAL PRODUCT QUALITY


• Quantum snapped up 7.00-plus scores for needinglittle intervention (7.18), ease of configuration (7.06),good value (7.06) and easy installation (7.00).

• Oracle just missed the 7.00 mark with a 6.96 forease of installation and scored well for ease of useand configuration.

• All the scores in this category were strong; theoverall category average of 6.54 effectively tied the previous high of 6.55.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Oracle

IBM

HP

Quantum 6.74

6.47

6.41

6.40

7.03

6.75

6.65

6.60

6.42

6.40

5.92

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Tandberg

Sony

HP

Dell

IBM

Oracle

Quantum

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STORAGE

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ProductfeaturesENTERPRISE. IBM managed to slow downthe Quantum juggernauta bit in the product features rating category;it wasn’t enough to denya victory, but certainlyenough to give the com-pany a run for its money.Quantum edged out IBM,6.72 to 6.63, although IBMmanaged to prevail ontwo of the eight categorystatements, gaining itshighest marks for man-agement features anduser interface.

MIDRANGE. Quantumkicked into overdrive with its second 7.00-pluscategory score, a veryimpressive 7.06 that resulted from scoringmore than 7.00 on sevenof the eight categorystatements. Rarely out of the top three state-ment leaders in this category, IBM’s 6.63earned it second-placehonors, while Oracle’s6.55 put it in third.

Enterprise tape libraries: PRODUCT FEATURES


• Quantum had the only 7.00-plus statement scorewith a 7.15 for scaling; it was just shy of 7.00 for performance (6.95) and an overall feature set thatmeets users’ needs (6.90).

• IBM’s highest scores were for scaling (6.78), overallfeature set (6.74) and performance (6.73).

• All four vendors rated highly, with all statementscores coming in above 6.00.

Midrange tape libraries:PRODUCT FEATURES


• Quantum’s highest scores were for managementfeatures (a very impressive 7.24) and interoperability(7.21).

• IBM’s top mark (6.81) was for overall feature set,while Oracle’s high score was earned for loading and ejecting tapes efficiently (6.73).

• Scores were strong for the entire field, with arecord product features category average of 6.39.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

HP

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 6.72

6.63

6.54

6.36

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Tandberg

Sony

HP

Dell

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 7.06

6.63

6.55

6.46

6.37

6.08

5.57

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Product reliabilityENTERPRISE. In the reli-ability category, Quantumcame in second on twostatements and was tiedon another, but it stillmanaged to roll up thehighest mark (6.46). Thatslight chink in Quantum’sarmor wasn’t enough forIBM (6.33) or Oracle (6.29)to prevail.

MIDRANGE. The productreliability category is typically something of an Achilles’ heel formidrange tape libraries,with scores dipping compared to the othercategories. That’s trueagain for the overall average (6.15), but not for Quantum, which mustered an excellent6.80—the highest winningscore we’ve ever seen for midrange product reliability. IBM finishedsecond with a score(6.46) that would havebeen a winner in three of the previous five tapelibrary surveys. Dell (6.30)broke into the top threeby just barely edging outOracle (6.26).

Enterprise tape libraries: PRODUCT RELIABILITY


• Quantum “stumbled,” if you can call it that, on non-disruptive updates/patches (6.13 to IBM’s 6.24) andproviding upgrade guidance (6.36 to Oracle’s 6.43).

• IBM tied Quantum’s 6.41 on the statement “Thisproduct experiences very few bugs.”

• Users’ tape library expectations are apparently being met, with an overall 6.50 average for “The product meets my service-level requirement.”

Midrange tape libraries:PRODUCT RELIABILITY


• Quantum was buoyed by a 7.18 on the statement“This product requires very few unplannedpatches/updates.”

• Quantum won all but one of the seven statements,coming in fourth to IBM’s 6.24 for “Patches/updatescan be applied non-disruptively.”

• With the exception of IBM, most vendors weretripped up by the patches/updates statement, withmost getting their lowest scores on that statement.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

HP

Oracle

IBM

Quantum 6.46

6.33

6.29

6.09

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Tandberg

Sony

HP

Oracle

Dell

IBM

Quantum 6.80

6.46

6.30

6.26

6.07

5.84

5.31

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TechnicalsupportENTERPRISE. Tech sup-port is often the finalmeasure of a product’svalue, as responsive andeffective support canoutweigh skimpy featuresets or other shortcom-ings. Quantum’s winning6.49 was achieved by cop-ping the top spot for sixof the eight categorystatements. Oracle (6.34)scored highest on theother two statements fora second-place finish infront of IBM (6.28).

MIDRANGE. For technicalsupport, it was anotherstatement sweep forQuantum, on its way to a6.77, the second-highesttech support categoryscore ever for midrangetape libraries. Quantum’sscores were high andconsistent, ranging from a couple of 6.60 scores to a 6.94. IBM racked upanother second-place category finish with a6.41, while Dell put up a 6.34 for another third-place finish.

Enterprise tape libraries: TECHNICAL SUPPORT


• Oracle’s two statement winners were a 6.23 for having knowledgeable third-party partners and a 6.26 for providing adequate training.

• No support surprises for tape users: The higheststatement average for all vendors was a 6.43 for “Vendor supplies support as contractually specified.”

• Overall, there was only one sub-6.00 statementscore, which suggests vendors are doing a prettygood job of supporting their products.

Midrange tape libraries:TECHNICAL SUPPORT


• The top four vendors (Quantum, IBM, Dell and Oracle)all scored above 6.00 on all eight statements.

• Vendors may want to revisit their training practicesas the statement with the lowest average score (5.90)was for providing adequate training.

• As with their enterprise cousins, the top supportgrade for all midrange tape libraries was 6.35 for thevendors delivering support as promised.

6.49

6.34

6.28

6.15

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

HP

IBM

Oracle

Quantum

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Tandberg

HP

Sony

Oracle

Dell

IBM

Quantum 6.77

6.41

6.34

6.24

6.10

6.00

5.23

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Carry thatload, buy it againAlthough not necessarilya measure of vendorservice or reliability, the amount of data thatpasses through a tape library on a weekly basismay indeed be a gaugeof users’ expectations,dependence and confi-dence in a product.

Oracle—likely due toits heritage stretchingback to StorageTek Corp.and Sun MicrosystemsInc.—sits atop both theenterprise and midrangegroups when it comesto the sheer capacity itsproducts churn through.

We always make it a point to ask respon-dents, given what theynow know, whetherthey’d make the sameproduct purchase again.Often the “buy again”numbers run contraryto the ratings largelybecause users oftenfeel a degree of loyalty(or at least familiarity)after having workedwith a product foryears. This time around,the “buy again” numbersjibe pretty closely withthe ratings.

Mid

rang

e

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Tandberg

HP

Dell

Sony

IBM

Quantum

Oracle

HP

Quantum

IBM

Oracle

Ente

rpri

se

68

61

49

39

45

43

37

34

29

27

26

Heavy hitters: Average TBs backed up per week

Mid

rang

eEn

terp

rise

91%

88%

88%

76%

94%

92%

88%

87%

85%

84%

73%

0% 20 40 60 80 100

Tandberg

Oracle

Dell

IBM

Sony

HP

Quantum

Oracle

Quantum

HP

IBM

Would you buy this product again?

STORAGE

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About the surveyThe Storage magazine/SearchStorage.com Quality Awards are designed to identifyand recognize products that have proven their quality and reliability in actual use. Results are derived from a survey of qualified readers who assess products in fivemain categories: sales-force competence, initial product quality, product features,product reliability and technical support. Our methodology incorporates statisticallyvalid polling that eliminates market share as a factor. Indeed, our objective is to iden-tify the most reliable products on the market regardless of vendor name, reputationor size. Products are rated on a scale of 1.00 to 8.00, where 8.00 is the best score.A total of 783 respondents provided 930 tape library evaluations.

Products in the surveyThe following vendors/model lines of enterprise-class and midrange tape librarieswere included in this Quality Awards survey. The total number of responses foreach finalist is shown in parentheses.

ENTERPRISE

Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. ESL/EML Series (107)

IBM TS3400 or TS3500 (135)

Oracle Corp. (Sun) StorageTekSL500/SL3000/SL8500 (72)

Overland Storage NEO 8000 Series*

Qualstar Corp. TLS or XLS Series*

Quantum Corp. Scalari500/i2000/i6000 or PX720 (41)

Spectra Logic Corp.64K/T120/T200/T380/T680/T950

or T-Finity*

* Received too few responses to be includedamong the finalists

MIDRANGE

Dell Inc. PowerVault Tape Backup124T/114T or TL4000/TL2000

or ML6000 Series (168)

HP MSL Series (145)

IBM TS3100, TS3200 or TS3310 (111)

Overland Storage NEO 200s/400s, NEO 2000e Series

or NEO 4000e Series*

Qualstar RLS Series*

Quantum M Series, PX502, Scalari40/i80 or Scalar 24/50 (17)

Sony (all models) (25)

Spectra Logic 20K/T24/T50*

Oracle (Sun) StorageTek SL24 or SL48 (38)

Tandberg Data StorageLibraryT24/T40/T80/T120/T160

or StorageLoader Series (33)

BIG - acapacific.com.au€¦ · The “Big Data” conspiracy Occupy Storage! Hot techs for 2012...

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Transcript of BIG - acapacific.com.au€¦ · The “Big Data” conspiracy Occupy Storage! Hot techs for 2012...