Storage Q&A: Touchpoint Technology

Which storage solutions do you deploy?

HP, Sun/Oracle, IBM, Dell, EMC, NetApp and, most recently, Pure Storage. We're getting into some of the disruptive, flash-based storage technologies.

When did your company first get involved in storage?

It’s always been a big part of the business since
we were founded in 2009. It’s a critical piece of infrastructure that makes or breaks an environment. We’re focused entirely on the data centre: servers, storage and communications.

Which are your company’s storage credentials?

HP ASE Storage Solutions, SNIA Storage Solutions Architect and Pure Storage Accredited Partners, along with a wealth of practical experience. We’re well-versed in all the technology we sell, and we’ll engage the vendors to educate their customer.

Tell us about your distributors and distribution strategy?

Dicker, Ingram and Avnet. Who we buy from depends on what we’re selling. 

What cool or interesting recent storage technology is occupying your thoughts?

Flash is exciting but the memory channel storage is quite cool. At a very high level, it’s flash technology on the motherboard right next to the CPU (such as IBM eXFlash) and HP has something right on its heels. As vendors continue to create more powerful servers in a smaller footprint, it brings the concept of the data centre in a box much closer.

Can you tell us about a recent storage deployment you have done?

We have a key account that has a complex environment, and we helped them with a 100TB SAN solution for a large CCTV network at a number of different locations. The solution that included servers, switches and storage came in at 20 percent under budget. It was a good outcome and one where a fair amount of disties were happy to reference into. 

What is driving customers’ storage projects?

Big data continues to drive people’s storage requirements. Despite the rapid improvement in cloud security, a lot of organisations are still nervous about not having complete control over their storage. They’re looking to buy their storage for next five years at least. 

Storage is ...?

Overpriced. There are simple and effective ways for customers to get the storage solutions they need without breaking the budget. When we engage on
a storage project for a customer, we aim to get one that fits for now and their future plans.