Microsoft Acquiring Dell for the Enterprise?

Today the news of Dell’s foray into private ownership took an interesting turn. Seems that Microsoft is considering an equity stake in Dell and I’m cautiously optimistic about it. There’s a lot of buzz around this but most of it focuses on...

Dell: From Blueprint to Cement, Part 1

FULL DISCLOSURE: I finished my Dell career in April 2012, but this article is based solely on publicly available information and a little reflection.   Yesterday, Dell announced a $60 million venture fund to invest in start-up storage companies. You can read the...

Marketing campaign

In a nod to traditional approaches, I’m considering a postcard campaign to 250 marketing directors. At the moment, this is the very rough layout that’s floating to the top of the pile.   Who thinks it’s great? Who thinks it’s crap?...

Disruptive Performance

For years in mid-range primary block storage, architectures were much the same. Two controllers, active/passive or active/active, loops of backend connectivity connected to boxes of disk. And performance, so the vendors would tell you, was much the same. After all,...

Why Do Coffeeshops Matter to Creative Types?

I’m a coffee aficionado. Grinder, fresh refrigerated beans, two coffee presses, one drip coffeemaker, one espresso machine, and an entire countertop comprise my coffee station at home. But I’ve rarely been one to work in coffeeshops. I do it now and again,...

Human connections

In my last post, I asked a basic question about whether we should market the product…or market the experience. There are advocates for both positions. This is one of the most concise and interesting ways of making that point. The video of course makes many other...