🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1994Dec28.193900.6043@malad2.mala.bc.ca>, dunnett@mala.bc.ca (Malcolm Dunnett) writes:
>In article <D1JHGq.85I@world.std.com>,
> mew@world.std.com (Michael E Willett) writes:
>> 
>> The original article appeared in the November 28 issue of Computer
>> Reseller News and was written by one of their editors, Joel Shore.
>
> [stuff deleted]
>
>  (Quoting from article mentioned above ...)
>
>> It turns out that a known engineering fault exists in Digital's 
>> StorageWorks RAID system:  Remove and replace a drive too often and 
>> you'll blow a diode that in brings the entire system to a screeching 
>> halt. 
>
>    So what is "too often". Is this a situation that most users are
>likely to encounter, or does it only show up if you sit there plugging
>the drive in and out continuously for a while ( as you may well do in
>a booth at a trade show, but would be unlikely to do in real life )?
>I'm not trying to say this isn't a problem, just curious what the chances
>are that I, as a user of the product, would have trouble because of this
>defect.
>
>> But there is more.  The unit on display in the Digital booth was 
>> having fits as well.  And to make matters worse, the StorageWorks product 
>> manager admitted onstage during his Test Center interview that the 
>> problem has been recognized for nearly the entire four months since the 
>> company began shipping the product.
>>
> 
>    Did anyone ask how many customers had actually had a failure from
>this problem? There's obviously a big difference between what you can break
>when you beat on it in the lab and what is likely to happen in regular
>usage.
>
>> Such brazen disregard for resellers cannot pass without comment.  
>> Although an engineering change is in the works, the company knowingly 
>> continues to ship a product shackled with a potentially--and 
>> likely--fatal flaw.......
>> 
>
>    What exactly are these guys whining about with this "brazen disregard
>for resellers" stuff. Is Digital refusing to honour warranties and replace
>these units when they fail? Are the resellers getting stuck for the cost?
>Are flocks of customers having this problem and beating on the reseller
>over it? If any of this is true why don't they come right out and say
>so, all we know for sure is *their* unit failed under some test condition
>which they don't elaborate on.�%�>
>    I'd love to hear what these guys have to say about Intel and the
>FDIV problem in the Pentium (which strikes me as several orders of
>magnitude more serious than the problem they're reporting here) :-)
>
>> And while the band plays on the sinking ship Digital, the company is 
>> admitting it knew all along that a problem existed.......
>> 
>
>    So was Digital ignoring the problem or working on an ECO and contacting
>the customers to arrange its installation? I have had numerous "problems"
>fixed in Digital products before I even knew I had them ( Digital F/S calls
>you up and says they have an ECO to install ). That fact that they take
>a proactive approach like this is far more valuable than just expecting
>them to get everything perfect the first time ( a standard which NO vendor
>will EVER achieve ).
>
>    If this type of journalism is typical of "Computer Reseller News" then
>all I can say is they must be the "National Enquirer" of the trade press.
>Makes me glad I'm not a reseller and not "qualified" to receive this rag.
>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> This sinking ship stuff surely gets carried too far.  The people here at
>> StorComp think DEC has been, continues to be, and will be a fine company, 
>> generating super products such as the Alpha.  One does wonder if Ken had 
>> still been running DEC, with his commitment to engineering excellence, 
>> whether these ECOs would have been necessary.
>> 
>
>     It's just the products which compete against yours which are no good
>then is it ;-)
>
>     I can recall several ECO's during KOs time at the helm which sound
>at least as serious as this one ( eg the "travelling glue" problem on
>RA81 disks and a P/S problem on VT100s which could put hazardous voltages
>on the power cord of a freshly unplugged terminal ).
>
>    Any company can, indeed will, release some products which have significant
>defects. What they do about correcting them is what really differentiates a
>quality company from a fly-by-night outfit ( that is not meant to be a comment
>about StorComp - I've never dealt with you and have no idea which end of the
>spectrum your company fits into ) 
>
>
>--
>=============================================================================
>Malcolm Dunnett    Malaspina University-College     Email: dunnett@mala.bc.ca
>Computer Services  Nanaimo, B.C. CANADA V9R 5S5       Tel: (604)755-8738


I would like to add that we have used the Storagework product for over a 
year now and have not had one single problem with it.  We have use Dec 
equipment for years and have always found the equipment very reliable and
Dec has always notified us of any problem found in their equipment or
operating systems and have fixed the problems as quickly as possible. (
of course we also carry the products under maintenance agreements).  

I know of numerous other companies that we have had dealings with that 
we have not gotten this kind of support.

charlie