Vendor Evaluations

This month (and possibly running into next month) we're going to be evaluating different vendors for servers, load balancers, storage systems, data centers, and other cool stuff. Oh yeah, I work over at Trulia now as a Systems Engineer.

For servers we're checking out what Sun and HP have to offer. Having had my fair share of Dells, I'm happy for the change. The main thing we're looking for is good remote management. Both HP and Sun seem to know what they're doing in this area.

For load balancers we're checking out F5 Big-IPs and Citrix NetScalers. I've used the F5 back at MarkMonitor so I feel comfortable with them. But I always hear great things about the NetScalers so it's going to be fun checking them both out.

For storage systems we're checking out NetApp, Hitachi, and 3Par. I've used NetApps before and so the familiarity factor is there. We're going to the 3Par facility in Fremont tomorrow so I'm excited about getting my hands on some hundred thousand dollar hardware.

For data centers we're now down to either Equinix or NaviSite. NaviSite is within walking distance from our office, but Equinix is looking like the price winner (and Equinix is a pretty trusted name in the data center world so I feel pretty comfortable about that).

So stay tuned for some unbiased opinions on the above vendors.