Agnes Lamont
David Lamont
I’m chairing what may be the first ever marketing-oriented session at the annual Flash Memory Summit in August 2013. A lively panel of experts, editors, and analysts will be discussing product differentiation in a growth market in a session called: Differentiate or Die – Marketing Flash-Based Storage Systems. So, as part of a primer on product positioning, I thought I’d list the players in the game. In this case, I’ll narrow the field to those competing for enterprise buyers. In most cases, the solution is a hardware product that uses Flash memory, but not always. Some vendors develop software products that mitigate the need for additional hardware, essentially fulfilling the same customer need.
As you can see from the list of 75+ (below), there are enough vendors, products, and brands to make any buyer’s head explode. But if they wait, most will be gone by the end of the decade. A handful will be gone because they won the positioning game with the global players and were acquired for big bucks. Most will just be casualties who could not differentiate themselves in a way that attracted enough customers, or who could not defend their position from competitors claiming the same benefits at a lower cost.
Vendors Promoting an Enterprise Solution that Uses Flash
This June 2013 list (with a July update) includes some newborn vendors (not yet shipping) and some undead vendors (they look dead, but still might bite.) In general, I excluded those selling only hard disk drive form-factor SSDs (e.g Seagate) and Flash chips (e.g. Toshiba, Samsung), but I included PCIe SSD vendors if they claimed to have a product for enterprise servers.
- Aberdeen
- Amax
- Arkologic
- Astute Networks
- Assurance
- Avere Systems
- BiTMICRO
- BridgeSTOR
- Cachebox
- Cisco
- Condusiv
- Coraid
- DataCore
- DataDirect Networks (DDN)
- DataON
- DDRdrive
- Dell
- Dot Hill
- Echostreams Innovative Solutions
- EMC
- Enmotus
- Fastor
- Foremay
- Fusion-io
- GreenBytes
- Hitachi Data Systems
- HP
- Huawei Symantec
- IBM Systems and Technology Group
- IceWEB
- Infinio
- Imation
- Intel
- iXsystems
- JetStor (AC&NC)
- JBOD
- JDV Solutions
- Kaminario
- Kove
- LSI
- Marvell
- Micron
- NetApp
- Nimble Storage
- Nimbus Data Systems
- OCZ
- Oracle
- Panzura
- PernixData
- Pivot3
- Proximal Data
- Pure Storage
- QLogic
- Qsan
- Radian Memory Systems
- Reduxio
- Renice Technology
- Runcore SSD
- SanDisk
- Scalable Informatics
- SeaChange
- Skyera
- SolidFire
- Soligen
- Starboard Storage
- sTec
- StorageQuest
- Super Talent
- System Fabric Works
- Tegile Systems
- Tintri
- VeloBit
- Violin Memory
- Virident Systems
- WhipTail
- X-IO
If I missed a vendor, please let me know.
About this Series on Positioning and The Flash Memory Summit
Join me and a lively panel of experts, editors, and analysts at what may be the first ever marketing-oriented session for CEOs, CTOs, and marketers at the annual Flash Memory Summit in August 2013. We will be discussing product differentiation in a growth market in a session called: Differentiate or Die – Marketing Flash-Based Storage Systems on Wednesday, August 14, 9:50-10:50 am. This is an Open Session so you can register for free up until 8/11/13.
You can follow this blog by signing up in the left sidebar. You can find related posts like these by clicking the Flash Memory Summit 2013 category:
- Flash Memory Summit 2013 Session: Differentiate or Die – Marketing Flash-Based Storage Systems
- Competitive Positioning of Flash-Based Products – A Primer for CEOs, CTOs and Marketers
- Market Changes Impacting Flash-based Products – A Positioning Primer for CEOs, CTOs and Marketers
- Positioning and Hype for Flash-based Products – A Primer for CEOs, CTOs and Marketers
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About the Author
David X. Lamont is an accomplished marketer of IT products and a partner at Marketingsage, a PR and lead generation firm that specializes in marketing data storage, data management, and enterprise software products. He can be reached by email at blog [at] marketingsage.net. Fellow marketers and IT professionals are invited to join his network on LinkedIn and to subscribe to this blog (see sidebar).
