Storage vendors are finding success with their various flavors of marketing guarantee programs, as evidenced by several programs being extended into 2010 and new offerings from Hitachi Data Systems and 3PAR launched in December 2009 and January 2010, respectively. End users considering products from these providers may find these guarantees useful if they are being asked to provide additional justification for storage purchases during tough economic times.

• Four storage vendors — Compellent, Isilon, NetApp and Pillar Data — have extended their capacity and utilization rate guarantee programs into 2010. A fifth vendor, Hitachi Data Systems, launched a program in December 2009 and a sixth, 3PAR, launched one in January 2010.
• While five of the programs guarantee capacity reductions and two guarantee improved storage utilization rates (NetApp has two programs), each vendor approaches the guarantee differently, resulting in a set of programs with sometimes subtle differences.

• With NetApp, and now Hitachi Data Systems, as exceptions, it is generally smaller or less-well-known storage vendors that implement these kinds of programs, which are designed to create broader awareness, grow demand and sway the buying decision in their favor.

• At the start of your next storage purchasing cycle, ask each vendor if it offers a capacity savings or utilization guarantee. Some vendors promote these programs heavily, while others do not.
• Gartner advises users to get bids from at least three vendors during any storage procurement cycle and to include emerging storage vendors in that process where applicable. Even in cases in which the vendor does not offer a guarantee program, having a provider on the bid list that does can be beneficial. Users can negotiate more confidently with incumbent vendors when all parties know that the hesitation to switch vendors is reduced.

• Even similar programs have differing requirements and remedies. Some programs require the purchase of professional services or specific software while others do not, and some programs' remedies are more all-encompassing than others. Be sure to include all these elements in your evaluation and do your total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis carefully, as you are not comparing apples with apples.

Two more storage providers have jumped onto the marketing guarantee program bandwagon joining Compellent, Isilon, NetApp and Pillar Data. On 1 December 2009, Hitachi Data Systems executed a quiet launch of its Storage Capacity Reclamation Guarantee, and on 20 January 2010, 3PAR publicly introduced its Get Thin Guarantee.

Hitachi Data Systems' Storage Capacity Reclamation Guarantee program (launched quietly in December 2009 and then publicly on 28 January 2010) guarantees that customers will be able to reduce their raw storage capacity requirements by 50% when migrating data from a competing disk array to a new USP-V or USP-VM. To participate, customers must be migrating from a traditionally provisioned, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) 1 environment with 100% overhead, to either a RAID 5 (RAID 7+1) configuration or a RAID 6 (RAID 6+2) configuration, though the raw capacity savings guaranteed when moving to RAID 6 is 35% rather than 50%. (Customers, whose source data is not configured as RAID 1, are only guaranteed a 20% usable capacity savings.) To participate, customers must purchase and deploy Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning (including activation of Zero Page Reclaim) as well as certain professional services (installation and Storage Reclamation Service). In addition, Hitachi Data Systems places some conditions on the types of environments that are eligible to participate. These conditions center on the operating systems in use, the existing storage utilization rate (must be within 10% of the industry average, which Hitachi Data Systems defines as 35%), and the amount of space allocated to select file types.

Hitachi Data Systems does provide a formal contract for this program in which it guarantees that it will pay the customer for the difference in capacity between what was promised and what was achieved (calculated at the purchase order's dollar per terabyte [TB] rate) if it does not achieve the promised capacity savings goal. This remediation is capped at 12.5% or 20% of the USP-V or USP-VM purchase price for RAID 1 and non-RAID 1 environments, respectively. Presumably Hitachi Data Systems hopes that the customer would then use that money to purchase the additional necessary capacity from Hitachi Data Systems and complete the migration. This is not required, however.

3PAR's Get Thin Guarantee promises that customers can reduce their raw capacity requirements by 50% when migrating written data from a legacy (non-3PAR) storage environment to a new F-class or T-class InServ Storage Server. Targeted at new and established customers who have delayed a technology refresh due to economic conditions but now want to move forward, 3PAR's Get Thin Guarantee program presupposes that the customer's actual written data does not exceed 50% of the legacy array's capacity in written TB and then looks to reduce the total raw capacity by at least half.

Customers must purchase licenses for 3PAR Thin Provisioning, Thin Conversion and Virtual Copy with a new InServ Storage Server and must deploy ASIC-accelerated FAST RAID, but there is no requirement for professional services. There is also no limit to the amount of data that can be migrated, although the program does require that the migrated data be primary storage (defined as database, e-mail or virtualized server environments and their associated disk-based copies). It also excludes volumes that are already thin provisioned on the legacy system. If, for any reason, 3PAR does not meet the guarantee, the contractual remedy includes free disk sufficient to make up the capacity difference plus free software licensing and maintenance for that capacity.

Also based on data migration, Compellent's Space Reclamation program guarantees that new Storage Center customers will require 40% less raw capacity with the Compellent disk array than was needed on the existing system. Customers can take advantage of Compellent's program whether the legacy system is traditionally provisioned or thin-provisioned. However, the guarantee is limited to a maximum of 100 TBs) of allocated legacy storage. If Compellent does not meet the guaranteed condition, it agrees to provide a free Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) enclosure and disk drives sufficient to make up the raw capacity difference, as well as associated software licensing, installation and "whatever else is needed to make the customer whole." There is, however, no formal contract that outlines this remedy.

Other storage vendor guarantee programs include storage utilization guarantees from Isilon and Pillar Data and two reduced capacity guarantees from NetApp.

Isilon's Scale-Out NAS guarantee pledges that its customers can achieve a single file system or single volume of up to 10.4 petabytes (PB) of capacity and greater than 80% storage utilization rates continuously over a 12-month period when deploying an IQ S-Series, X-Series or NL-Series scale-out NAS product. EX storage expansion nodes, performance accelerator nodes and backup accelerator nodes are not counted toward the five-node minimum, although they can be included in the guaranteed configuration. The utilization guarantee applies to the total raw capacity of a cluster (defined for the purposes of this guarantee as between five and 144 storage nodes). No professional services are required. For the purposes of this program, Isilon requires the purchase of at least 10TB of raw capacity and deployment of a minimum of five nodes; however according to Isilon this is a program minimum, not a technical requirement for reaching 80% utilization. While there is no formal contract with this program, Isilon promises to provide one free hardware node and one free OneFS operation system software license if they don't meet the guarantee.

NetApp offers two guarantee programs for customers operating in a virtualized server environment and purchasing a new FAS Series or V-Series system for primary storage. The NetApp 50% Virtualization Guarantee Program looks at how much data the customers need to store, and calculates the amount of capacity in raw TB that they would need to purchase on a non-NetApp system to do so. This is the baseline used for comparison. NetApp then guarantees that the customer can store the same data with no performance degradation, using 50% less raw capacity on a FAS Series or V-Series. NetApp's 35% Virtualization Guarantee is based on NetApp's deduplication capabilities. It guarantees that customers who deploy a new V-Series system in front of non-NetApp storage will see at least a 35% reduction in the amount of raw capacity required when using NetApp's deduplication versus the same configuration without deduplication enabled and that again there will be no degradation of performance. (The specific non-NetApp storage supported is defined in NetApp's V-Series Support Matrix.) Both programs require that the NetApp system be configured with thin provisioning, data deduplication, Snapshot, AutoSupport (NetApp's "phone home" feature) and on the FAS Series, RAID-DP (the V-Series guarantee uses whatever RAID level is configured on the attached storage). They also limit the amount of certain kinds of data that can be covered under the guarantee. Professional services are required in both cases. VMware (desktop or server), Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix Xen environments are all supported. The NetApp guarantee programs have formal contract addenda that provide for free disk capacity, sufficient to make up the capacity difference, free associated software licensing, installation and "whatever else is needed to make the customer whole" — up to a maximum of 50% of the storage purchase — if they do not meet the guarantee.

Pillar Data's 80% Utilization/Performance guarantee promises that customers who purchase a new Axiom 600 platform will consistently achieve at least an 80% storage utilization rate with no performance degradation (based on agreed-on performance levels of IOPS) for a 12-month period. Pillar Data does not require that customers deploy its thin provisioning feature, although doing so could improve utilization even more, but customers must use the Pillar Pulse Professional Service to determine the utilization rate as part of the quarterly health check and must agree to notify Pillar of any changes to their IT environment (external to the Axiom), which may drive a renegotiation of the agreement relative to performance service levels. The company does have a contract addendum for the program; however, rather than spell out in the boilerplate version what it will do if the guaranteed condition is not met, the specific remedies are individually negotiated with each customer.

A comparative breakdown of the six programs is also included in Table 1.

With all procurement proposals receiving increased scrutiny in the current economic climate, storage administrators interested in deploying advanced technologies or architectures from small or emerging vendors may find that they are required to provide more justification than if they were proposing traditional storage from an incumbent or established vendor. Having a guarantee program available to back up the vendor's claims may help to reduce the perceived degree of risk in these circumstances or, indeed, in any case in which the customer is considering transitioning away from the incumbent vendor, so that a genuine conversation about the technology's pros and cons and how it fits the user's needs can be conducted.

Gartner offers the following general observations and advice for end users:

• During the research phase of your next storage purchasing cycle, ask each vendor if it offers a capacity savings or utilization guarantee, because some vendors promote these programs heavily, while others do not.
• Gartner regularly advises users to get bids from at least three vendors during any storage procurement cycle. We also encourage users to include emerging storage vendors in that process where applicable. Even in cases in which the leading vendor does not offer a guarantee program, having a provider on the bid list that does can be beneficial, because it allows users to negotiate more confidently with incumbent vendors, because all parties know that the hesitation to switch vendors is reduced.
• Know what's being compared. Is the guarantee based on a configuration estimate of what you might otherwise have bought? Is it relative to an existing system? Is it strictly based on the performance of the new system?
• Read the fine print. Some programs have more conditions than others. Thoroughly evaluate your environment to ensure that you meet all the requirements.
• Similar programs have different requirements and different remedies. When considering offerings from different vendors with guarantee programs, do your TCO analysis carefully, as you are not comparing apples with apples.
• Note phrases like "meet best practices" and get a full definition in writing prior to signing up. A vendor's best practices might not be the same as yours.
• Closely examine program descriptions and contracts for vague language. Although a long list of caveats may seem restrictive, the opposite can also be a problem. Vague language may result in a nonenforceable guarantee.
• Pick apart the remedy to determine any hidden costs. For example, find out whether additional disk capacity, relevant software licensing, installation costs, additional rack space, and additional power and cooling costs are part of the deal. The first three, at least, should be free if the system fails to perform up to the guaranteed standard.
• If professional services are required to participate in the guarantee, particularly if they are not something you would have utilized anyway, drill down into the service costs and be sure to include it in your bid analysis and TCO calculations.
• Have a clear written agreement that specifically sets forth what is being guaranteed, the customer's eligibility requirements (what the customer must do to qualify and remain in compliance), the claim process and the specific remediation if the guarantee is not met.
• Ask a lot of questions. To make a fully informed decision about whether to participate in a guarantee program, users must first clearly understand not only what is being promised but also what they will be responsible for as part of the agreement. Sample questions might include the following:
  • How is the guaranteed capacity savings or utilization rate measured?
  • Specifically what tools will I be required to use and when?
  • What happens if there is a change to my environment (such as new applications or added capacity)?
  • What is the time period for the guarantee and when is the deadline for submitting a claim?
  • And what, if any, guarantee do you make about performance?

Implementing the features required for the guarantee could potentially impact performance. Be sure this is taken into consideration and that the minimum requirements are defined before committing.