Storage awards: Take 'em with a grain of salt?

So, what's the deal with all of the storage awards? There are the "best practices" awards, the "storage" awards, the "quality" awards, the "MVP" awards, etc. Is there any value in having so many awards? And, more, importantly, how much weight should, you, the end-users, place on the results?

These are questions I've been wrestling with for years -- well before my days at ESG. The simple truth is that there is value in industry awards, but you've generally got to dig deep -- beyond the hype and gloss -- to find it.

Of course, award programs that are based on first-hand product experience ("best practices" are a particularly good example) are generally more valuable than award programs that are run by panels of judges comprised of editors, vendors, and analysts (unless, of course, the judges have first-hand experience with the products). But even these types of awards speak volumes about industry trends -- and about the overall health of the industry. In fact, industry awards are generally reflective of end-user interest in -- and adoption of -- new technologies, as well as old standbys.

Therefore, though it's still early on in the award season, I think it's safe to say that this year's winners will represent a cross-section of today's who's who in VTL, CDP, D2D, and even de-duplication. (Heck, Avamar, DataDomain, FalconStor, and XOsoft have already picked up awards this year.)

I recommend taking this year's award programs with a grain of salt. However, if nothing else, they are a great starting point for tracking interesting technologies -- ones that you should be thinking about. If you find yourself really interested in a specific technology or vendor, then do some additional homework. Is the product "real" and being delivered by a "real" winner, or is it a "glorified science project" with little hope of commercial acceptance?

All in all, the good news is that we're out of the "theory" phase and folks are really shipping product (unlike a few years ago). Remember when Byte and Switch had Cereva and Zambeel as their top-two companies to watch?