Compellent Roundtable at Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Seattle

This roundtable discussion focusing on storage maker Compellent is taken from Tech Field Day Seattle, held in July of 2010. The delegates dive into the topic of enterprise storage, reacting to Compellent’s presentation of their products and technology.

One of the most-interesting points raised concerns the recent technological advances made by the major vendors. Is it too late for a small, innovative company to seize market share or will the big guys match their functionality and head off their advance?

Another key issue in the conversation is W. Curtis Preston‘s discussion of snapshots and data protection. Can traditional backup be made obsolete by storage system snapshots? “Mr. Backup” doesn’t see why not, and suggests that Compellent be more aggressive in pushing this capability.

This episode includes also discussion of the following:

• Bob Plankers‘ initial impressions of the product
• Ethan Banks‘ reaction to a long-distance replication configuration (is this an affordable alternative to EMC V-Plex?)
• Jason Boche notes the “21st century” management interface that, as Howard Marks notes, reduces the need for expensive training classes
• Howard also points out that licenses can be carried forward as the system is upgraded
• Craig Stewart is impressed but questions Compellent’s presence in the European market