My name is Alfons and I joined DataCore roughly 7 months ago as a new member of the product marketing team in Germany. As the only member of this team based outside of the US, I discovered that this area, which has around 300 active DataCore resellers, is actually doing a significant portion of our overall business.
My First Order of Business? WhatMatrix
My necessary onboarding started with several remote trainings and a week-long technical boot-camp in Florida. Soon after arriving in the US for the face-to-face training, I was given my first big assignment: Submit DataCore’s SANsymphonyTM and Hyperconverged Virtual SAN (HVSAN) to be listed on a publicly accessible comparison platform with a completely independent, in-depth technical evaluation by WhatMatrix.
Even with this comprehensive onboarding, I questioned my ability to sufficiently answer and proof all 105 capabilities evaluated by WhatMatrix. It’s important to note that 98 of the 105 capabilities are rated, and any vendor on this list is measured by the result of that rating. At this point in time, it was impossible to accurately estimate what the ratings would turn out to be for DataCore’s Software Defined Storage offerings–because we had never before submitted our products for review.
The DataCore Culture
I remained undaunted and began populating data into a WhatMatrix-supplied template, relevant to DataCore technology. As you might expect, I had no trouble answering some questions but [being a newbie] struggled with others. I sought help from other DataCore technical experts, which turned out to be a good move. Early on, I had been impressed with the caliber of my new colleagues, their positive attitude and their expertise. And they did not let me down. This meant that within just a few weeks, I was in contact with many helpdesk specialists who provide excellent (and award-winning!) support worldwide, from Europe to the US. Getting to know them–what they do, and how they do it–was a great way to kick off my new role at DataCore. As a result, I now know entire teams across Europe and elsewhere.
DataCore Stands Out in the SDS/HCI Category
During the following discussions with WhatMatrix on each single capability they evaluate, I began to understand and appreciate the truly unique capabilities of our offerings, which–to be honest–was not as obvious to me prior to the WhatMatrix comparison.
Suddenly, the value proposition of the DataCore products became crystal clear. Previously, I had to search the two or three product differentiators for an offering and boom! Now, I have so many options, the hardest part of my job is to deciding what to focus on first.
I’m happy to report that after three months at DataCore, my first priority task, of course which happened along with other job responsibilities, was completed. On July 10th, 2017, SANsymphony and Hyperconverged Virtual SAN were publicly visible in WhatMatrix SDS/HCI.
DataCore Makes a Show-Stopping Entrance on WhatMatrix
The results: SANsymphony was listed as the highest-rated, pure software defined storage offering by far, with HVSAN following a close second.
Because the WhatMatrix SDS/HCI comparison is a joint category of Hyperconverged (HCI – mandatorily requires HW as part of the offering) and Software Defined Storage (SDS – software only), we are currently number two, by 1% backlog, overall.
I’m pleased that with the new capabilities of our recently announced PSP7, we are well-positioned to be the highest-rated vendor even in this joint category. This is my next big task here at DataCore, one I’m excited to participate in–and no longer as a newbie!
To close, the observations I made during this exercise and the expertise I’ve gained will help me convey the value of DataCore’s HCI/SDS/PSP7 to IT teams everywhere. When I joined DataCore, I knew it was a good company, with good products and good growth potential. But today, I believe it is a brilliant company with enormous growth potential – and I’ll be supporting the company, my colleagues and the product to help achieve that growth as best I can.
Discover the results for WhatMatrix’s SDS/HCI comparison here or experience a live demo of SDS or HVSAN for FREE!
