After for going steady for a number of years, it seems that HDS and BlueArc have finally made their relationship permanent. HDS have finally acquired BlueArc.
As the Big Data meme grows and spreads it was inevitable that this was going to happen this as HDS really needed a file-based storage story of their own. Partnership only gets you so far and at some point if you want to get real hold of the roadmap and direction; you need to own it. And with so many of the big players coming into the space, BlueArc really needed a safe-harbour to develop their products.
In some shape or form, all of the players have a Big Data product now and now it’s going to come down to execution and message. Dare I say it, it’s the message (a.k.a marketing) which is as usual going to be the important thing and HDS are not really great at messages.
If they make the mistake of pitching BlueArc as something special because of their hardware implementations i.e. their traditional technical-based sale; it is going to be hard for them as the people who are buying into the Big Data story are not really that interested in technology. They are interested in what the technology can do for them and how they can do it without worrying about the technology.
How do I put this….ahhhh, got it; ‘they want Information without Technology’. We know that they can’t have the former without the latter but don’t sell the latter, sell the benefits of the former.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
So who is on the auction block next?
