Storage, storage, and more storage

I was overwhelmed with the many storage solutions and vendors I saw at VMworld this year. Apparently everyone and their dog has a storage array for use with VMware's hypervisor. How do you pick the right one for you? This boasts fastest SPC-1 benchmark, that one boasts better software, they all provide Thin technologies, some have SATA drives, some have FC. Some tell you that they will place the data on the inside of the platters for Tier-1. What's an IT decision maker to do? iSCSI or FCoE? With so many decisions how can you ensure you make the right decision for your organization? I think it's simple. Pick a device that can scale, meet your performance needs, provide the easiest management software you can get. And above all, I really don't think what the drive behind the connector looks like. Behind the connector you see heads, platters, read arms, etc. They are essentially the same. I've held an axiom for a long time. Your business can be successful with any technology. Most of the time the difference between what EMC, NetApp, HP, or IBM has to offer is like choosing a server platform based on its power cord. One or two features may make it easier, but really are those features worth the money the SAN vendors offer? Stay tuned!