Pillar Data Rolls Out ‘Cash for Storage Clunkers’ Program

Pillar Data Systems is taking an idea that has worked effectively for the Obama administration and the automobile industry and trying it out on the data storage sector.

Pillar Data, which makes highly virtualized, intelligent storage architecture that runs on commodity-type arrays, Aug. 21 launched what it calls the “Cash for Storage Clunkers Program,” which offers cash incentives for trade-ins from older storage hardware to its new-generation Pillar Axiom products.
The federal government, which dedicated some $3 billion to the effort to energize vehicle sales and get older, inefficient cars and trucks off the roads, was due to end its program Aug. 24.
“Pillar’s taking over for the government,” Bob Maness, Pillar Data vice president of worldwide marketing and channel sales, told eWEEK. “We’re bailing out the old legacy storage vendors, getting their stuff off the floors and putting more efficient software back on it.”
Users can rid themselves of “outdated, oversized, underperforming and energy-guzzling” storage systems of any brand from any company, Maness said, and get cash credit in return for buying a Pillar system.
The Cash for Storage Clunkers program is a three-step process, Maness said. First, users submit basic information on existing storage equipment they want to trade in. Second, a quote will be generated — typically within 48 hours — once the information is submitted, through Pillar partner Key Equipment Finance.
Third, quotes will be valid for up to 15 days, so users will be able to track their trade-in status, Maness said.
“It’s pretty straightforward. If you want to get some equipment off the floor, and the lease is coming due, and it’s tape or disk storage, we’ll get Key Equipment to buy back your old stuff and we’ll tell you our much-higher utilization rates and Green IT story and sell into it,” Maness said. “We can make it look like customers getting brand-new equipment at very little cost.”
To get a free quote, prospective customers provide basic information, including product type, manufacturer, model, condition and zip code of where the storage is located.
“There’s no reason why users shouldn’t be able to move their data onto more efficient storage solutions without having to drain their budgets or be locked down by their existing leases or contracts,” Maness said.
Pillar claims that its Axiom storage system is the only type in its class to differentiate performance based on application priority. The company also claims guaranteed storage utilization rates of 80 percent or higher; the industry-wide average has been documented at about 40 percent.
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