Want to vanquish EMC? Just don't compete.

Chuck takes the big stick to "independent" NetApp sponsored benchmarks. It's actually good to see someone higher up in the company bring this up as I've been busting FUD around similar benchmarks in front of customers for a while now.

What I've found about these style of tests is that they can be a gift from god when it comes to speaking to a customer. You're having a conversation about their issues and what you think could be done, they drag up something from one of these "independent" tests knocking what you're speaking about. That's when you get to demolish the tests and the competitors product without looking like you're the bad guy. Like you're the one bashing something just for the sake of it.

What people need to realise is that as a company EMC reads & discusses everything even if it's never discussed in public. That was the big mystery around why EMC wasn't blogging, it wasn't that EMC was not part of the conversation it was that it was just listening to what every one else was saying. The fact is that EMC listens to everyone, even if the company doesn't agree with what they're saying or truly believes them to be mistaken. 

In a situation like this "independent" benchmark you'll see a swarm of internal experts take it apart word by word and then generate factual results from data they've collected and verified, results designed to show us where we're wrong and someone else is right, not the other way around. There's no point in saying someone is wrong if they're right, that isn't how issues are resolved and you'll get caught in any lies you tell soon enough. 

From my experience if EMC as a company didn't have competitors and all that comes with having competitors it would probably just keel over and die on the spot. Even though the ruthless aggression of the mid-90's appears to have calmed somewhat over the years the EMC competitive streak makes up the framework of the company's DNA.

Employees come and go, companies and products are bought and sold, but the moment a competitor isn't heckling EMC is the moment the soul of the company dies and it's nothing but a shell.