EXPERT RESPONSE
Over the past 10 years or so, traditional storage VARs with extensive experience in selling and maintaining IP storage SANs utilizing Fibre Channel (FC) have skillfully crafted effective post-sales support initiatives. These true and tested guidelines could be used by IP storage VARs to enhance their own offerings as well. Selling the actual SAN hardware is just one component of the bigger picture. In addition to providing the usual technical support services, IP storage solution providers need to also provide related networked storage service offerings such as:
- Consultative services that help align application requirements with proper storage provisioning
- Network infrastructure assessment services to improve SAN performance
- Security assessment to segregate SAN traffic from unwanted exposure to LAN traffic
- Backup enhancement services such as disk-to-disk, snapshot, mirroring and off-site replication for DR purposes
- Proactive management and monitoring services
The good news about supporting IP storage is that the solutions are simple to understand and are mostly configured with off-the-shelf components that can be kept on-hand without incurring a huge expense. Responsive customer support requires fast turn-around times for parts replacement during the initial warranty period. Good quality of service makes all the difference in your customer's confidence both in you and the solutions you offer.
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