One of my major assignments at NetApp involved leading an effort to overhaul the administrative software for the company’s storage controllers – resulting in the NetApp System Manager product.
System Manager was recently back in the news in a positive light, featured in this InfoWorld article on data deduplication appliances.
It seems System Manager helped tip the balance in favor of NetApp against the products from FalconStor and Spectra Logic. I’m happy to see that, since System Manager explicitly renewed focus on simplicity and integration with Windows, making it easier to use NetApp’s entry-level platforms.
Some excerpts from the article:
IT has two options for managing the FAS2040: Web browser and the stand-alone management console, the NetApp System Manager. While the browser-based management portal was straightforward, I found System Manager much more user-friendly and intuitive, even more so than FalconStor’s UI. Both storage controllers were represented in the management utility with each major function broken into separate grouped tasks, making it very easy to locate specific items.
There are, however, useful graphs and data points, such as volume details and space saved, scattered throughout System Manager. NetApp did a good job of organizing System Manager so that the amount of information presented in it is applicable and useful, without going overboard and inundating you with too much data.
Nice work from the System Manager team!
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
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Thanks Kartik.
I think the Systems folks have always thought I was a GUI guy, and the GUI folks that I was a Systems guy
I’ve tried to take advantage of that to get useful things done once in a while.
I picked up the Dahon Speed 7 this spring to test the folding concept. I migrate from my condo in SoCal to my boat in the NorthWet, with lots of camping both ways. About to leave for Moab and try the folder there – but not on anything too mountain bikie.
I have been riding the bike all summer and I am a Happy Camper. It does what I need for an urban utility bike.
I have the same shifting issue as the previous review (4:5 or 5:6), but aside from that (and I expect to cure that this fall when the bike gets a tune up), I have had not issues – and at 215#, I am a big bear for this bike.
It’s fun to ride. It’s really handy. No bike racks! I fold it up and stick it in my van in lieu of one tote. When van camping, it sits behind the front seat at night. It has fit in well to our style of operations and really opened up the country. I can now explore my surroundings at 5-10 mph vs. on foot. Love it.
On the boat, it rides athwartship in the forecastle foyer and lets me get around the ports to explore, exercise and get the groceries.
I could have even used it on the job last year. We kept having to go to remote subpanels (1000′ away) to turn power off and on as we worked. Unfold bike, pedal off and do it. One of the crew had a skate board, so he got that job.
The major drawback is that with 7 gears, it does not climb steep hills. The NorthWet has steep hills. Thus, I am researching 26″ folding mountain bikes (wanted: Jeep that folds) for next season. Front suspension, 21 gears, 3′x3′x1′ footprint.
For this, I am looking at the Dahon Matrix and Montague Paratrooper.