Fujitsu Takes the Quality Award for Enterprise Arrays

MARCH 2014 Managing the information that drives the enterprise VOL. 13 | NO. 1 STORAGE QUALITY AWARDS

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STORAGE VENDORS PEER INTO THEIR CRYSTAL BALLS FUJITSU TAKES THE THE TERM enterprise array may be broadly defined these THE TRUTH BEHIND days, but common wisdom says these data center main- SOFTWARE-DEFINED QUALITY AWARD stays share at least three prominent traits: a lot of I/O STORAGE horsepower, ample capacity and a price tag that usually GET A HANDLE ON FOR ENTERPRISE has more digits than a storage manager cares to count. CLOUD STORAGE But even measured against those high expectations, WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR ARRAYS enterprise array vendors don’t disappoint their customers, NETWORK IS A STORAGE as underscored by our ninth annual Quality Awards user BOTTLENECK This time—our ninth annual satisfaction survey for enterprise arrays. All the usual sus- QUALITY AWARDS FOR Quality Awards survey for pects were represented and fared quite well, but this year ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: a surprise winner emerged: Fujitsu, featuring its high-end FUJITSU STEALS A WIN enterprise arrays—Fujitsu Eternus systems. CONSIDERING SYNC AND didn’t just make the cut, Following Fujitsu are a bevy of more familiar play- SHARE? THINK HYBRID it took the cake by ers, including EMC Corp., IBM, Hitachi Data Systems, VIRTUAL SERVER Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. and NetApp Inc., in yet an- STORAGE GETS SMARTER earning top honors. other typically tight race for rankings. Over the past few

CONFIDENCE IS HIGH years we’ve seen some fairly high scores for these big iron FOR DISASTER products, and this year’s survey yields similar results. RECOVERY SUCCESS

By Rich Castagna QUALITY AWARDS

BY THE NUMBERS Overall rankings HOME Fujitsu’s margin of victory over runner-up EMC (0.06) was the smallest we’ve seen since 6.71 NetApp nipped EMC by the same margin in the fifth edition of this survey. (EMC and Net- Fujitsu’s highest category score STORAGE VENDORS App tied for first on the fourth survey.) Fujitsu’s overall score of 6.57 was accrued by snag- PEER INTO THEIR (product features), but CRYSTAL BALLS ging the top scores in three of the five rating categories, with one of those wins earned by it placed second to a mere 0.01 point. IBM and Hitachi prevailed in the remaining two categories, while EMC Hitachi’s 6.77 (product THE TRUTH BEHIND nipped at all the winners’ heels with a consistently competitive set of scores and an overall reliability). SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE 6.51 that was just off Fujitsu’s mark. 3, 3, 3 GET A HANDLE ON With only 0.07 points separating them, IBM (6.48), Hitachi (6.45) and HP (6.41) were Third highest ever CLOUD STORAGE bunched tightly in spots three through five. NetApp, a winner/co-winner of four previous group average scores enterprise array survey overall crowns, rounded out the field with a 6.14. for sales-force WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR competence, initial NETWORK IS A STORAGE As another indicator of the wall-to-wall quality these products represent, they all earned product quality and BOTTLENECK a score of 6.00 or higher across all rating categories. It’s just the second time that has product features.

QUALITY AWARDS FOR happened with enterprise storage arrays, and a good gauge of customer satisfaction. ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: 6.43 FUJITSU STEALS A WIN For this survey, we had 348 responses that included a total of 602 product evaluations. The overall average score for all products CONSIDERING SYNC AND in the survey; SHARE? THINK HYBRID ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: OVERALL RANKINGS excellent, but still just the fourth highest VIRTUAL SERVER ever. 8.00 STORAGE GETS SMARTER 7.00 6.57 6.51 6.48 6.45 6.41 6.14 KEY STAT 6.00 CONFIDENCE IS HIGH This is the first time 5.00 FOR DISASTER that Fujitsu gained RECOVERY SUCCESS 4.00 enough responses and 3.00 product evaluations to 2.00 qualify as a finalist 1.00 among enterprise 0 arrays. Fujitsu EMC IBM Hitachi HP NetApp

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BY THE NUMBERS Sales-force competence HOME Call it the foot in the door, the first impression or whatever catchphrase best sums up the 6.75 initial vendor-user experience. How well a vendor’s sales force and representatives under- The highest statement score in the sales- STORAGE VENDORS stand a potential customer’s environment and business needs is likely to be one of the key PEER INTO THEIR force competence CRYSTAL BALLS make-it-or-break-it factors for whether that enterprise-class rig ever makes it into the category, earned by data center. EMC and Fujitsu for THE TRUTH BEHIND having knowledgeable SOFTWARE-DEFINED Fujitsu edged out EMC in the sales-force competence category in a real squeaker, winning sales support teams. STORAGE by the smallest possible margin, 6.51 to 6.50. Fujitsu prevailed on three of the six rating statements in the category, while EMC scored highest on two; the two vendors tied on a GET A HANDLE ON 6.41 CLOUD STORAGE third. For all three statements that Fujitsu won, EMC placed second, and Fujitsu had the Hitachi’s score was second-highest rating for one of the statements on which EMC ranked best—further good for third place in this category, WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR demonstrating just how closely contested this category was. NETWORK IS A STORAGE highlighted by an BOTTLENECK Fujitsu’s winning statement scores were for having flexible sales reps, for reps that keep excellent 6.71 for a knowledgeable sales QUALITY AWARDS FOR customers’ interest foremost and for reps who are easy to negotiate with. EMC’s wins support team. ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: came for the statements, “My sales rep is knowledgeable about my industry” and “My FUJITSU STEALS A WIN sales rep understands my business.” 6+ CONSIDERING SYNC AND For two statements— SHARE? THINK HYBRID reps knowledgeable ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: SALES-FORCE COMPETENCE about customers’ VIRTUAL SERVER industries and STORAGE GETS SMARTER 8.00 knowledgeable 7.00 6.51 6.50 support teams—all 6.41 6.27 6.24 6.02 CONFIDENCE IS HIGH 6.00 vendors had scores FOR DISASTER higher than 6.00. 5.00 RECOVERY SUCCESS 4.00 KEY STAT 3.00 A slim margin of 0.02 2.00 separated this group’s 1.00 sales-force scores 0 from the best ever Fujitsu EMC Hitachi HP IBM NetApp mark.

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BY THE NUMBERS Initial product quality HOME Users of IBM’s enterprise storage ranked their out-of-the-box experience the best—but 6.60 only by a small margin, with IBM edging out Fujitsu 6.57 to 6.54. But that difference was The highest statement average for all STORAGE VENDORS even greater than the gap between Fujitsu and third-place HP, which racked up an initial PEER INTO THEIR products for “This CRYSTAL BALLS product quality category average of 6.53. IBM outscored the competition on three of the six product was installed category statements, while Fujitsu, HP and Hitachi each snagged one. without any defects.” THE TRUTH BEHIND SOFTWARE-DEFINED IBM’s strong points were ease of use (6.66), delivering good value (6.55) and having prod- STORAGE ucts that require little vendor intervention (6.45). Fujitsu scored 6.71 for “This product was 6.57 IBM’s winning GET A HANDLE ON easy to get up and running,” and Hitachi’s statement leader was 6.75 for “I am satisfied category score is the CLOUD STORAGE with the level of professional services this product requires.” But the highest single state- third highest ever for ment score was HP’s 6.76 for products that install without defects. initial product quality, WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR tying Hitachi’s mark NETWORK IS A STORAGE All the products scored 6.00 or higher for all rating statements in the initial product quality from last year. BOTTLENECK category, with the third best cumulative average we’ve seen to date. With so much empha- QUALITY AWARDS FOR sis these days on the immediate productivity that pre-tested, pre-configured converged 6.39 ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: systems can offer, it seems vendors are rising to the challenge with enterprise arrays that The group’s average FUJITSU STEALS A WIN also install and get up to speed quickly. for the bellwether statement, “This CONSIDERING SYNC AND product delivers good SHARE? THINK HYBRID value for the money,” ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: INITIAL PRODUCT QUALITY which has been VIRTUAL SERVER exceeded only twice STORAGE GETS SMARTER 8.00 before. 7.00 6.57 6.54 6.53 6.42 6.38 6.16 CONFIDENCE IS HIGH 6.00 KEY STAT FOR DISASTER 5.00 Model of consistency: RECOVERY SUCCESS 4.00 The difference 3.00 between IBM’s best and lowest scores for 2.00 initial product quality 1.00 was 0.21. 0 IBM Fujitsu HP EMC Hitachi NetApp

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BY THE NUMBERS Product features HOME When a product meets quality and reliability expectations, even a relatively modest product 3rd feature list will be acceptable. But we know that high-end storage systems typically don’t The group’s across- the-board average of STORAGE VENDORS lack for features, although our survey focuses on core capabilities. As a group, these prod- PEER INTO THEIR 6.50 for the product CRYSTAL BALLS ucts certainly seem well-equipped to meet enterprise requirements, as respondents gave features category was them their second highest category rating (6.50). The leader of the pack was Fujitsu once the third highest ever. THE TRUTH BEHIND again, collecting a solid 6.71 to outdistance EMC and IBM who nearly tied at 6.61 and 6.60, SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE respectively. 6.61 These products are GET A HANDLE ON Fujitsu scored highest on four statements, doing so with the four highest scores for all apparently handling CLOUD STORAGE products in the group, highlighted by a 6.91 for interoperability, a pair of 6.83s for replica- growing capacities tion and capacity scaling, and a 6.79 for management features that meet users’ needs. EMC very well as they earned their best WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR was the winner of mirroring features (6.78), while IBM captured two statements: the com- NETWORK IS A STORAGE average mark for BOTTLENECK prehensive “Overall, this product’s features meet my needs” statement (6.78) and snapshot capacity scalability. features (6.53). QUALITY AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: HP, Hitachi and NetApp also did well in the product features category; HP scored best on 6.38 FUJITSU STEALS A WIN the overall features statement, Hitachi’s top mark was for capacity scaling and NetApp Interoperability is still an iffy proposition; the CONSIDERING SYNC AND logged a 6.52 for snapshots. group had its lowest SHARE? THINK HYBRID average for this feature and four of the VIRTUAL SERVER ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: PRODUCT FEATURES six products posted STORAGE GETS SMARTER their lowest scores for 8.00 interoperability. CONFIDENCE IS HIGH 7.00 6.71 6.61 6.60 FOR DISASTER 6.42 6.37 6.31 KEY STAT 6.00 RECOVERY SUCCESS There has never been 5.00 an enterprise array 4.00 line that has won the 3.00 overall Quality Award 2.00 without also winning 1.00 (or co-winning) the 0 features category. Fujitsu EMC IBM HP Hitachi NetApp

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BY THE NUMBERS Product reliability HOME A satisfying sales process, great out-of-the-box experience and cool features won’t add up 6.65 to much if the array doesn’t stay up and running. The five rating statements in the product The group’s two highest averages for STORAGE VENDORS reliability category measure how well products meet those expectations. There are appar- PEER INTO THEIR all products were a CRYSTAL BALLS ently very few sleepless nights for Hitachi users, who rated their products so highly for reli- couple of 6.65s for ability that Hitachi prevailed on four of those statements and came in second on the fifth. meeting service-level THE TRUTH BEHIND EMC took the fifth statement honors (a 6.85 for meeting service levels) and was second to requirements and SOFTWARE-DEFINED products that have STORAGE only Hitachi on three of the others (IBM was second for providing comprehensive upgrade very little downtime. guidance). GET A HANDLE ON CLOUD STORAGE Hitachi flirted with a 7.00 score but settled for an impressive 6.98 for “This product expe- 6.52 riences very little downtime.” Hitachi’s other leading grades were for upgrade guidance The group’s overall average for reliability WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR (6.76), non-disruptive patching (6.69) and requiring few unplanned patches (6.60). NETWORK IS A STORAGE was its highest in the BOTTLENECK IBM (third place) and Fujitsu (fourth) also fared well in the product reliability category. IBM survey—that has happened in eight of QUALITY AWARDS FOR achieved its best mark for meeting service-level requirements (6.74) and Fujitsu’s high the nine enterprise ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: grade (6.71) was picked up for the same statement. array surveys fielded FUJITSU STEALS A WIN to date.

CONSIDERING SYNC AND KEY STAT ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: PRODUCT RELIABILITY SHARE? THINK HYBRID This is the sixth time Hitachi has scored VIRTUAL SERVER 8.00 highest for product STORAGE GETS SMARTER 7.00 6.77 6.70 6.59 6.51 6.44 6.12 reliability on the 6.00 Quality Awards for CONFIDENCE IS HIGH 5.00 enterprise arrays. FOR DISASTER 4.00 RECOVERY SUCCESS 3.00 2.00 1.00 0 Hitachi EMC IBM Fujitsu HP NetApp

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BY THE NUMBERS Technical support HOME We’ve said it many times before and it’s still true: Good technical support can help a user 6.54 overlook a multitude of shortcomings in a storage product. No matter how dependable the The group’s highest average score was for STORAGE VENDORS product, timely tech support is always welcome. PEER INTO THEIR the statement, CRYSTAL BALLS “Support personnel Fujitsu was back on top with the tech support category, scoring a 6.57 to give it a fair lead are knowledgeable.” THE TRUTH BEHIND over a tightly bunched pack led by IBM and with HP, EMC and Hitachi all doing some heel SOFTWARE-DEFINED nipping. Fujitsu scored highest on six of the eight statements in this category, with its best STORAGE marks for knowledgeable support personnel (6.79), support issues that rarely require esca- 6.14 The lowest average GET A HANDLE ON lation (6.71) and having knowledgeable third-party partners (6.61). score for this group of CLOUD STORAGE enterprise arrays was IBM topped the group for documentation and support materials with a 6.52, while EMC had for providing adequate WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR the other winning statement score for supplying support as contractually specified (6.66). training—a traditional NETWORK IS A STORAGE Third-place HP’s best showing was a 6.58 for knowledgeable support personnel, and fifth- bugaboo for vendors BOTTLENECK place Hitachi’s best rating came for “Vendor supplies support as contractually specified” on these surveys.

QUALITY AWARDS FOR (6.58). ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: 6.57 FUJITSU STEALS A WIN Fujitsu’s winning category score was ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONSIDERING SYNC AND bettered only four SHARE? THINK HYBRID previous times—twice 8.00 by NetApp, and once 7.00 6.57 VIRTUAL SERVER 6.40 6.39 6.31 6.30 6.09 each by Hitachi and STORAGE GETS SMARTER 6.00 IBM. 5.00 CONFIDENCE IS HIGH 4.00 KEY STAT FOR DISASTER 3.00 IBM and Hitachi have RECOVERY SUCCESS 2.00 each earned the 1.00 highest scores for 0 enterprise array technical support Fujitsu IBM HP EMC Hitachi NetApp three times. (NetApp has prevailed twice.)

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ABOUT THE AWARDS The Storage magazine/Search- Would you buy this product again? Storage.com Quality Awards are designed to identify and recog- HOME Go figure; Fujitsu is the overall winner for user ratings in five categories, but trails most of nize products that have proven their quality and reliability in actual the rest of the field on the “add-on” question, “All things considered, I would buy a [name use. The results are derived from STORAGE VENDORS your product] again.” Of course, in this case, the difference from top to bottom is a mere 8 a survey of qualified readers who PEER INTO THEIR assess products in five main cat- CRYSTAL BALLS percentage points, and any vendor would probably be delighted with an 80-something per- egories: sales-force competence, initial product quality, product fea- cent satisfaction rate. Still, it’s hard to explain the “buy again” numbers on many of these tures, product reliability and tech- THE TRUTH BEHIND surveys, with familiarity seeming to be a leading factor. With that said, our hats are off to nical support. Our methodology SOFTWARE-DEFINED incorporates statistically valid poll- STORAGE EMC, IBM and HP for finishing one-two-three on this question. n ing that eliminates market share as a factor. Our objective is to identify the most reliable products on GET A HANDLE ON the market regardless of vendor name, reputation or size. Products CLOUD STORAGE ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: WOULD YOU BUY THIS PRODUCT AGAIN? were rated on a scale of 1.00 to 8.00, where 8.00 is the best score. A WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR total of 348 respondents provided 89% 602 product evaluations. NETWORK IS A STORAGE 87% 85% BOTTLENECK 84% 81% 81% Products in the survey: The following products were included in the ninth Quality Awards for enterprise QUALITY AWARDS FOR storage arrays survey; the number of responses for finalists is shown ENTERPRISE ARRAYS: in parentheses. FUJITSU STEALS A WIN EMC Corp. Symmetrix VMAX/ VMAXe or DMX-3/DMX-4 (147) CONSIDERING SYNC AND Fujitsu Eternus DX8400/DX8700 SHARE? THINK HYBRID or DX200 S3/DX500 S3/DX600 S3 (27) VIRTUAL SERVER Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. XP Series, HP StorageWorks P9000 STORAGE GETS SMARTER EMC IBM HP Hitachi NetApp Fujitsu Series, HP 3PAR StoreServe 7000/ HP 3PAR P10000 Storage Sys- CONFIDENCE IS HIGH tems (149) FOR DISASTER Hitachi Data Systems USP/USP RECOVERY SUCCESS V/VSP Series (63) IBM DS8000 Series or XIV Storage System (100) NEC Corp. D8 Series* NetApp Inc. FAS6000 Series or V6000 Series (108) SGI 15000/16000/17000 Series*

*Too few responses to qualify as a finalist Rich Castagna is editorial director of TechTarget’s Storage Media Group.