#181 - Is There a Future for Storage Infrastructure Companies?

This week Chris and Martin debate the future of on-premises storage infrastructure companies in light of announcements and events from IBM, Dell and NetApp. IBM is splitting in two, while Dell and NetApp have recently held virtual versions of their annual conferences. Is the on-premises infrastructure business shrinking and becoming too low-margin to be worthwhile?

Martin mentions Lou Gerstner’s book – linked here – Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?

The Simpson’s episode where Mr Burns runs for Governor is “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” – without a doubt a classic.

Martin mentions Fabric Pools – here’s a link to the documentation.

Elapsed Time: 00:36:09

Timeline

00:00:00 – Intros
00:02:00 – What’s the future of the infrastructure business?
00:03:05 – IBM splitting into two companies
00:06:00 – IBM mainframe storage will stay in IBM?
00:08:40 – Mainframe retained for z/Linux?
00:10:00 – IBM continually reinvents itself
00:11:00 – Where does IBM Research go?
00:13:10 – What was the value of DTW?
00:14:40 – So Mr Burns, why are you so popular?
00:16:40 – Apex – Capex with a silent C?
00:18:15 – Is “as a service” a real infrastructure business model?
00:19:30 – Violin Systems acquired by StorCentric
00:20:40 – Could the IBM spinout be acquired?
00:21:50 – NetApp is morphing into a cloud business
00:24:55 – Project Astra – NetApp wants to be cloud glue
00:26:40 – Is cloud storage enough to re-invent NetApp?
00:28:30 – Everyone is “service washing” their product lines
00:29:15 – Recurring revenue is the holy grail
00:31:50 – Buying MIPS is the future!
00:32:35 – As-a-service storage needs to be operationally efficient
00:35:25 – Wrap Up

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