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This Presentation date is April 8, 2010 at 07:45-10:45.
Drobo Tech Field Day 2 Roundtable
At the Drobo roundtable during Tech Field Day 2, a panel of IT professionals and influencers discussed their impressions of Drobo’s products and offerings, sharing feedback based on the company’s positioning, feature set, and future potentials. The conversation centered around Drobo’s target markets, product capabilities, and integration limitations, as well as their vision for the company’s evolution in the enterprise and prosumer storage space.
The discussion revealed that the Drobo product line is currently better suited for small offices, workgroups, and prosumer environments rather than large enterprises. While the group acknowledged Drobo’s redundancy features and simplicity, they noted that the devices lack advanced functionalities typically expected in enterprise settings, such as native Active Directory (AD) integration, dual power supplies, and multiple network interfaces. Despite having rack-mount options and competitive pricing, the consensus was that Drobo’s current offerings are more compatible with temporary or light-duty setups rather than mission-critical infrastructure. Attendees recognized that the simplicity of setup and use makes Drobo appealing for smaller teams without dedicated IT staff, but they also flagged the absence of central authentication and scalability as major barriers to broader enterprise adoption.
Much of the conversation focused on the role and potential of Drobo Apps, highlighting both their promise and limitations. While some panelists saw value in Drobo offering an extensible platform through apps, others expressed concerns about reliability, maintenance, update compatibility, and security of third-party applications. The lack of a centralized, vetted app marketplace akin to the Apple App Store or Microsoft Store was seen as a drawback that could affect the business viability of depending on Drobo Apps for core functionality. Instead, participants proposed further product evolution including a more robust Drobo appliance with a controlled, enterprise-ready feature set—one that actively supports networked identity management, app stability, and enterprise-grade performance. Ultimately, they envisioned a scalable, hybrid solution capable of starting as a small office setup and growing into a more full-featured enterprise storage platform.
Personnel: Bas Raayman, Carlo Costanzo, Davang Panchigar, David Davis, Edward Haletky, Greg Ferro, Greg Knieriemen, Jason Boche, Matt Simmons, Robin Harris, Scott D. Lowe, Simon Seagrave