High-Tech PR Blog >> Beyond the Hype

SNW, what's to come?

It was about this time last week that the dust was beginning to settle on another Storage Networking World (SNW) Spring Conference. No signs of hurricanes to delay the arrival of attendees or speakers as in years past. No signs of some major sponsors as in years past, Dell being one of many conspicuously absent. Few signs of major news conferences from multiple companies, Brocade being one of the only to leverage SNW for a press event. Fewer signs of life in the bars. And, much discussion about how relevant SNW was/is/could be. 

It seems as many have noted that this year's event passed without much ballyhoo. The usual musings:  Was it worth my time? Did we generate enough leads from those end users in attendance? Did we get full value out of our sponsorship and commitments? Did we need to be there for as long as we were?  Was attendance impacted by the economy? Should we continue to come back? 

For many, some of those questions are still being answered, but it was refreshing to hear and see several positives come out of this spring's event.  Although, with the good comes the not-so-good. 

From the good perspective, social media was front and center in many ways at SNW. George Crump at Storage Switzerland gave us daily updates via his blog on Byte and Switch to each day's happenings.  Jerome Wendt at DCIG did something similar via his own blog.  And, the folks at the Wikibon Group took it one step further by tweeting updates from meetings as they happened real time. Also from the good, companies I spoke to and have the pleasure of working with, all noted that end user interest was up even if attendance was lighter than in years past. Demos were in full force which may speak to those that were attending were generally more interested and engaged. Speaking engagements were well received, some presentations were standing room only.  And, the weather was accommodating.

From the not-so-good category, not many companies chose to make SNW the center of their PR and launch effort, as George Crump noted. In fact, some media I spoke to recently were wondering why some companies like EMC waited to do their major announcement the week after SNW. Were they trying to send a message? 

Also, in the not-so-good category, the communication around one of the premier items at the show, the SNW Best Practices in Storage Awards, was less than ideal. Maybe it had to do with moving the event from a dinner lasting a few hours on Wednesday night to a more intimate gathering for 15 minutes on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am or 10:15 am depending on which invite you checked last.  Regardless, some people I spoke with that were genuinely excited about the recognition and had flown in specifically for the acknowledgment were left feeling disappointed.

Overall, and from my perspective, perhaps SNW was showing signs of what's made it successful in the past: a storage-focused venue where end users, companies, and pundits convene to have industry-- specific conversations. And, we all benefit when that happens. Perhaps storage is back. The networking is back....even if the world may just be a little bit smaller. Let's hope that's just a sign of the economic realities we all face though rather than a sign the conversation may be shifting to another venue.

SNW by the numbers

Another week.  Another storage trade show.  Another chance to question why. This week marked the annual pilgrimage to Dallas, host of the Fall SNW.  As with many SNW's past, end users were a rare species.  Vendors were left wondering how hard the economy would impact their customers. Some analysts were issuing projections that made a few wonder when the proverbial turn-around would come.  And, many sponsoring companies were left questioning the value of their investment by either sponsoring or attending.  Security was in attendance to make sure that non-paying individuals didn't make their way to areas they weren't allowed, like the press room.  News around FCoE, Adaptable Modular Storage, SSDs and thin provisioning was the rage and business development was in full force in the lobby, at the Java Coast and surrounding restaurants and alcoves.

SNW is always about reunions, though.  A chance to see where people are now.  A chance to catch up with old friends, make new friends and try and separate hype from reality.  So as in year's past, we took a look at a few numbers that came out of the conference:

70.  Average number of requests most media received for briefings ahead of or at SNW.

37.  Number of meetings one analyst mentioned he had in four days while at SNW.

1.  Days you can probably shorten SNW by and lose nothing.

66. Approximate number of news announcements with SNW as the dateline.

18.  Approximate number of "new" product introductions.

54.  Number of sponsors, excluding training partners, media sponsors and official wire service.

Less than 100.  Number of qualified leads secured by some companies.  In comparison, VMworld generated as many as 800-1,000 for many companies.

163.  Approximate number of presentations, excluding Hands-On Lab, booths, lobbies, hotel rooms.

Hopefully SNW was a success for you.  Congratulations to those end users recognized by Computerworld, SNIA and SNW in this year's Best Practices Awards.  Congratulations to Mario Apicella for joining Storage Strategies NOW to kick-off the firm's new TPV service.  And, to the many media and analysts for surviving so many requests to meet and the meetings themselves. I hope to see old and new friends at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando from April 6-9.

10 Signs that You Heart Storage

After surviving a heavy dose of storage news the past few weeks related to VMworld, Oracle Open World and Storage Decisions, all eyes turn to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Hotel near Dallas, Texas, home to the next venue in the busy storage conference season, Storage Networking World. Or, affectionately known to many by its initials SNW. So, it's with SNW in mind and creative license inspired by Diann Daniel at CIO.com, that we discuss the 10 sure-fire signs that you have storage coursing through your veins.

1) You don't need a Wiki page, encyclopedia or translation service to understand a LUN.

2) You understand the difference between synchronous and asynchronous replication and file and block-level deduplication.

3) You miss the edge Byte and Switch used to have.

4) You know that Alphabet Soup isn't as filling as Storage Soup.

5) You back up your computer at home with more than just an external hard drive.

6) You know the difference between a Gigabyte, Petabyte and Terabyte.

7) You're excited about the emergence of large content depots.

8) You understand why virtualization is a boon for storage vendors.

9) You understand the difference between Tape Emulation, VTLs and Automated Tape Libraries.

10) Your e-mail archive could fit on a 1TB tape.  Be it SDLT, LTO or AIT.

Think we missed anything?  Let us know.  And, keep your eyes open from the best from SNW to come next week.

Kicking off trade show season with VMworld 2008

We have now entered September and not only does this month mark the beginning of Fall, but it also marks the beginning of trade show season for many of us in the high-tech industry. From VMworld to Web 2.0 to Interop to SNW, many of us here are in the middle of prepping our clients for a busy (and fun!) few months.  While many things have stayed the same, the many ways in which we communicate has changed due to social media.  As we've seen from the adoption of everything from Facebook to Virtual Plazas to Twitter, social media now has a predominant place in getting messages across to a whole host of audiences. This was evident at last week's VMworld 2008 conference, where several attendees and journalists were communicating for over a month before the show even kicked off. VMworld took it one step further by hosting a Twitter community on the show website, as well as a Twitter Virtual booth. We'll certainly see more of this as trade show season rages on.

I was lucky enough to attend VMworld last week and had a chance to catch up with a couple of leading industry analysts and reporters while in Las Vegas. Carryl Roy of Virtual-Strategy Magazine and George Crump of Storage Switzerland shared their insights on what they were most looking forward to seeing at the show while also shedding light on what some of the biggest trends in virtualization and storage today. They commented on VMware's Paul Maritz's "Trinity of the Future" strategy, cloud computing, SSD, and how storage companies are working to address virtual machine management. But, like many others in the industry, in the coming months, I'll be looking forward to see what trends will emerge and what rumors will be proven false.

Enjoy the video and let us know if you agree - or disagree - with their musings.

Podcast: Deni Connor on storage trends

Today, we bring you episode 6 of our Beyond the Hype podcast series.  In this segment, Don Jennings chats with Deni Connor of Storage Strategies NOW about current trends in the storage market.  They discuss the prospects of the storage industry in the current economic environment, as well as emerging technologies like iSCI.

Don opens the conversation by asking Deni if storage as a technology is recession-proof.  While she states that no technology is completely recession-proof, she sees a never-ending growth of data and archiving needs because of more regulation around compliance.  She feels that from this perspective, storage is not as prone to be impacted by a recession.

Since Deni last year made the switch from storage beat reporter at Network World to analyst by founding Storage Strategies NOW, Don asked her how her new business is doing and about the transition.  Deni replied that the new venture has let her do something that is very interesting, which is educating end-users.  She does that by writing white papers on topics like iSCSI, as well as continuing to contribute to Network World.  She says that in this regard, she is "a hybrid" between journalist and analyst.

From there, the conversation switched to a discussion of emerging technologies.  Deni sees the adoption rates for iSCSI continuing to pick up, based upon her discussions with users that are replacing aging fibre channel SANs with iSCSI because it is less expensive, less costly, and easy to manage.  This is especially true in the Linux market because of ease of deployment.

At the same time, she says, newer technologies like Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) are attractive to companies that have invested in fibre channel SAN's.  The reason is that is allows users to leverage existing investments in skills, cabling and adapters.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we'd love to hear your feeback. You can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes.

Doing the Storage Shuffle, How you can help!

While the words of change from vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are still ringing across newsrooms today, change continues to be the main course for what's going on with those media who have tracked and covered all things storage over the past few years. Let's revisit some fairly substantial changes over the past year alone, and some quite recent:

• Chris Mellor sells his succesful Blocks and Files to take on reporting and analysis for the Register. Filling the hole left when Ashlee Vance departed to take on a tech reporting role at the New York Times. Thankfully, we don't lose any of Chris' insight and perspective in the market.
• Deni Connor leaves her position at Network World to become a successful storage analyst at her own firm, Storage Strategies NOW. Thankfully, we still get to read her byline each week for the Network World Storage Alert Newsletter.
• Mary Jander moves over from CMP's owned Byte and Switch to CMP's Internet Evolution. Now if they can only find someone to help James Rogers out! 
• Jo Maitland moves from TechTarget to Forrester.
• Tim Stammers moves from Computerwire to analyst firm Ovum.
• Brian Fonseca leaves Computerworld, making room for Todd Weiss to cover all things storage. Todd will be the first to tell you, he's still learning the intricacies and players in the storage industry.
• Jerome Wendt, DCIG, spends less time writing Tech Reports for Storage Magazine and more on blogging, storage analysis and market reports. While we lose the great insight and customer focused stories for Storage Magazine, we continue to get it daily from his own site and from Searchdatabackup.com and Computerworld.

And, that only scratches the surface. So what can we do to help? Here's a list of things I feel will not only help those who have taken over new positions or that have to deal with the 30-40 email pitches alone on a daily basis but also move our role as PR professionals into a helpful role. Some of this isn't earth shattering but serves as a good reminder.

Be smart. Don't expect any new reporter to educate you on what they need to write a story. If as many in the media continue to tell us, read the last 10 stories they have written. You'll be light years ahead of some of your PR counterparts.

Be respectful. We all have points to make. Important information to communicate. Deadlines to deal with and bosses and clients that demand answers. There are convenient times to call versus email versus IM.  Be cognizant what each reporter is facing to do their own jobs first.

Be relevant. Understand what FYI outreach is versus continuing a meaningful conversation. You will be far more successful if you can provide the extra value, perspective and context for your own clients as well as what's happening in the broader market.

Be patient. Too often we lose sight of the forest from the trees and push to get answers in an unreasonable timeframe. Some of these timeframes we create for ourselves by not thinking. Some of these are outside our own control. I haven't seen many that do media relations well that carry the nickname "the Bulldog," "the Badger" or "the Bull."

Be current. If you're not in a story a reporter has written, find ways to freshen the story or offer a new perspective that helps to illustrate a point they may have made, or better yet, missed.  Also, don't wait to respond.  The importance of the response loses any meaning the further it is away from the story you're talking about.

Think I missed anything?  Let me know. And, for those of us who live to track the comings and goings in the storage industry, this fall season is shaping up to be a busy one.

And we thought Santa had it tough...

If you still believe in Santa, perhaps you should stop reading now.  With SNW in full swing this week, I'm reminded of many a comedian's take on what Santa has to do in order to deliver presents to all the deserving boys and girls (and sometimes moms and dads) around the globe each December 24.  If you need the scientific take on what Santa would need to accomplish in a 31 hour window (factoring in the world's time zones), you're better off reading it here.

The lesson for SNW is much the same.  There are only a finite set of reporters that cover storage in North America, let alone attend or follow SNW closely.  At last count, it was fewer than two dozen, excluding freelancers.  So let's study the science.

-Since April 4, there have been approximately 68 press releases issued with the Orlando, Fla., SNW dateline.

-More than half are announcing new products, services or technologies outside of promoting "come see our CEO speak on XXX day."

-In addition, there are at least two significant competing conferences happening this week where storage is being discussed, including RSA and the Open Fabrics Alliance.  And that's not even factoring in next week's NAB conference where the conference coordinators have added the Creative Storage Conference to this year's agenda.

-For those reporters that cover networking in addition to storage networking, you would have also competed with CTIA Wireless 2008 which happened last week.  It's worth factoring this in because as Mary Jander at Byte and Switch noted in her Choice Bits blog on Monday, this spring's SNW has taking on the feeling as the "the FCoE" show. There are implications beyond mere storage for FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) and if you wanted to pre-brief any of the networking reporters last week, you'll understand the challenge.  Mary's colleague James Rogers filed more on FCoE late yesterday after attending a major press conference at SNW in the afternoon on the topic.

-And the news just doesn't stop for SNW.  In addition to news around products, services and new partnerships being forged between many companies at SNW, storage companies continue to do what they do best, acquire and grow.  Take EMC's official announcement this morning to gobble up yet one more company, Iomega, for $213M. 

While we don't have all the answers on how Santa delivers the presents, it's worth taking a moment to put yourself in the media's shoes and understand their challenge - distinguishing which of the many news packages they get from companies or PR elfs are something nice (worth covering) and which merits as much attention as a lump of coal.

Stay tuned for more on SNW as we share our conversations with clients, colleagues, and friends who made the trip down to SNW this week.   

Podcast: Jerome Wendt on the state of storage

Today, we bring you Episode 4 of our Beyond the Hype podcast series. In this segment, LP&P's Don Jennings chats with Jerome Wendt, lead analyst and president of DCIG about the key drivers in the storage technology market.

Don opens the discussion by asking for Jerome's view of the impact of the current economic uncertainty on storage spending. Jerome states that he's not seeing signs of a negative impact because companies are getting more value for their money, and their storage needs continue to grow. Jerome feels companies need to tier data storage and as part of this look at archiving and storage resource management software.

Don then asks what storage technologies are exciting customers the most. According to Jerome, data de-duplication is at the top of the list, with off-site storage commanding a good deal of mindshare as well.

Jerome then talks about two other issues on the minds of customers -- data recovery and lowering power costs. On recovery, he says that "everyone is holding their breath" and saying "I hope this recovery works. But that's not going to cut it, as customers are going to expect data to be recovered in near real-time." He adds that any technologies that lower power costs will be hot this year and beyond. "Companies are telling me that we can't plug any more stuff into our wall without jumping through hoops to run more power to our data center because [power companies] don't have it to give anymore."

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we'd love to hear your feeback. You can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes.

As one chapter closes, a new one begins for Deni Connor

For 10 years, I was one of many who read what Deni Connor wrote regularly for Network World.  She was always one of, if not the first, to break major news items from many of the leading storage industry players. In fact, rumor has it that some of the PR community avoided briefing her in advance for fear she'd scoop the news. Still, Deni persevered and always had relevant insight and perspective on the technologies and trends customers cared about most.  She developed an impressive Rolodex and many, including me, were fortunate to work with Deni for many years.

As the media community continues to change and evolve, and print publications look for ways to differentiate themselves from online media outlets, Deni decided now is as good a time as any to take her passion for reporting on the latest storage and datacenter technologies and trends, to analyzing them.

This week, Deni officially announced the formation of her new analyst firm, Storage Strategies Now.  In an email announcing the new firm, Deni explained that she will now "apply knowledge acquired during my 25-year career working with technology firms and publications, to provide expertise in the services of strategic analysis."

I'm sure Deni will bring the same passion and enthusiasm to the latest technologies and trends impacting storage and the datacenter today as she did as a senior editor at Network World.  For those of us that enjoyed reading her byline on Network World, we'll still be able to read it each week as she writes the Storage Alert Newsletter.

Perhaps John Dix, editor-in-chief at Network World, summed it up best in a quote Deni highlighted in her e-mail announcement...

"Deni is fearless. As a reporter, she never failed to objectively cover the prickliest issues.  As an analyst, we expect her to be one of the best."

Whither SNW?

Last week marked another Storage Networking World Conference (SNW).  This time, the conference was held at the Gaylord Texan Resort Hotel and Convention Center near Dallas, in Grapevine, Texas.  Billed as the "world's largest and foremost storage networking event," SNW has become more of a reunion of sorts for many in the storage industry, especially in the vendor community.  Although, finding out where former friends and colleagues end up transcends the vendor community as reporters and analysts take up new positions within publications and industry analyst firms that track the comings and goings in the storage industry.

As one reporter I spoke to who attended the conference noted, "it was like Vegas only without the casino."

Each Spring and Fall, SNW USA along with IDG and the Storage Networking Industry Association, and thousands of vendor representatives and executives, media, analysts and end users converge on venues in Phoenix, Orlando, San Diego, and now Grapevine, Texas.

The hope is as SNW promotes:

You can choose from over 140 educational sessions and network with peers from around the globe-plus visit with top solutions providers in the world's largest Expo and Solutions Center focused on storage.

With the power of the industry behind it, more vendor booths and more Tchotchkes to collect than a kid in a candy store would know what to do with, why does it feel like SNW is a shell of its former self?

Perhaps as Mary Jander from Byte and Switch appropriately pointed out in SNW in Pictures, the venue has taken on a turf war feel between conference organizers going to bat for sponsoring exhibitors and the non-sponsoring storage industry representatives whose clientele weed through agenda topics to find the right one to justify the trip and three plus days out of the office.  This Fall, though, the turf war got downright nasty.  So much so in fact, that as one reporter told me, company representatives were either escorted from areas they weren't welcome or asked to leave the conference altogether.  In large part, because in a variation of the words made immortal by Gold Hat in the 1948 film, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, they did indeed need "stinkin' badges."  We won't name names here to protect the innocent.

Rather than strong-arming individuals out of the conference, a courteous reminder to review the Conference FAQ probably would have sufficed.  Or, perhaps, conference organizers might insure that the press room is used for just that, press meetings, rather than sponsoring company sit downs for executives that weren't on the ball to get a suite.  But that's a post for another day.

Regardless, SNW is at a crossroads.  With vendor companies asked to justify value and ROI more than ever before on marketing and PR dollars and with IT travel budgets curtailed so end users are forced to choose between fewer venues to attend, SNW is competing with both vendor-sponsored end user conferences and shorter, tightly-packed conferences liked those hosted by TechTarget.  As such, SNW needs to find a way to re-establish itself as one of, if not the pre-eminent storage conferences it has long promoted.

If it doesn't, it will continue to be an easy target for the likes of Jon Toigo and others, who continue to question the value end-users gain by attending.

I, for one, am hoping that SNW can re-emerge.  If things don't change, however, then as one reporter who attended mentioned to me, "this conference runs the risk of being more of a snorage than storage event."