Can We Live Without Data?

I visited storage industry pundit Marc Farley 3500 miles away to ask Marc, "Can we live without data?"

In March I headed to San Francisco to see my good friend and industry pundit Marc Farley.  Marc and I have been friends for years and I am very happy to know him.   He has been a big influence in my storage career.  Marc was on a bit of a hiatus from his latest storage technology endeavors which allowed us to while I was visiting him which allowed us to talk much more openly about the things we were working on these days.  Of course he wanted to know all about INFINIDAT and the technology.  I shared all I knew because Marc is always a good sounding board to ask questions to and think about technology in different ways.  One of the things that Marc found pretty impressive about the technology is the fact that it holds over 2.5PB in a single rack.  Give how data is growing these days, many companies these days are going to need this type of capacity.  Not just for their business transaction data but their marketing data as well.  Today, people are taking to video to talk more about their product and this is something Marc and I know a lot about.

I'll never forget the first (Steering Wheel Camera Society of America) SWCSOA video I saw of Marcs.  I was impressed and I knew he had the start of something pretty awesome.  From just taking quick videos on his phone to now using Go Pros the foundation is still the same.  I tell everyone I know that today we live it the "Scooby Doo" era.  What does that mean? It means when I was growing up, my dad would come downstairs in the morning and read the news paper.  When I came down stairs in the morning, first thing I wanted to do was watch TV.  I consumed all my information from TV in the form of video.  Today this is still the case.  The days of the white paper having the 'thud factor' (sound it makes when it hits the desk), in order to determine how good it is, are over.  

Today people who run IT are looking to be efficient and quick.  They are not looking to read long white papers on 'how to' - they want quick video explainers to make sure they are in the ball park of what they need to know or do and move on.  This was the case with SWCSOA.  Marc was able, in short videos talk about product, make smart analogies, do competitive analysis, all from the seat of his car, and because he commutes in California, had plenty of time to maximize his time.  Marc has had some great ones in the past and pretty creative.

The format and the environment is perfect.  I even took a stab at one, check out my First SWCSOA.  

I explained my new show, Data Unknown to Marc and the thought the concept pretty cool.  Then he told me about his new idea, Ride Casting, doing videos in your car.  It is a concept that is taking off and there are a great deal of people doing this today.  I love the idea and its really taking off and I love Marc's site.

Anyway, hope you join me and Marc for a great episode of Data Unknown.