[Bioclusters] Any experiences with these guys? Seems like they might have something

[Chris Dagdigian]

{putting my list admin hat on for a second...}

I've worked with Rackable Systems for years. They are on the short list 
of whitebox vendors that I like and refer business to. Their hardware is 
actually quite solid -- the half-depth servers really are very nice. 
Their main selling point is being able to get blade like server 
densities with standard server mainboards and other commodity parts.

I'm a bit suspicious about your message though. I hope I'm wrong but 
your yahoo ID is brand new and you posted from an IP block belonging to 
Kinkos.

Ever since Rackable got that latest round of venture funding they have 
hired a bunch of aggressive outbound sales and marketing people who have 
already pissed off one the life science labs I had referred Rackable to. 
The message below sounds like more of the same.

If you really want opinions on Rackable then please contact me off-list 
and I'll be happy to give you a customer/partner perspective. I've got a 
bunch of their gear in my home office this week that is almost ready for 
a customer delivery.

If you are a Rackable employee trying some astroturf type stealth PR 
work (I'll be making some phone calls about this tomorrow) then please 
stop. Now.

Regards,
Chris






Scott Kurasad wrote:
> Has anyone heard of these guys???
>  
> I have never heard of this company Rackable Systems until I read an 
> article that was just sent to me (I cut and pasted it below). 
> 
> After reviewing their website (www.rackable.com 
> <http://www.rackable.com/>) it appears they offer 1/2depth server’s 
> custom built to order servers for large scale deployments.  They claim 
> to have 2x density vs. typical full depth chassis’ offered by Dell, IBM, 
> HP, etc… (176 CPU’s in a Rack!!), that’s comparable density to Blades 
> less the issues like heat, power consumption, etc…
> 
> Anyone have experience with them?
> 
> Here is the article that was sent to me, it was published 10/29/03 in 
> “Tier 1 Research”**
> 
> *“Rackable Systems...a better Linux play than RedHat”*
> 
> Rackable Systems, a privately held Linux-based rack mount server vendor, 
> took time to bring Tier 1 Research up to speed on its extremely strong 
> third quarter and momentum. Having been in the trenches slugging it out 
> against Dell [DELL] and HP [HPQ] for a few years now, Rackable Systems 
> has become the largest of the rackmount server contenders and is now 
> gunning for the leaders. Our phrasing of the situation this way may 
> sound far fetched, but having booked $25mn in new sales for 3Q03 with a 
> similarly strong 4Q03 expected, eclipsing $100mn in sales for 2004 is 
> now well within the company's line of sight. This is not from the 
> company pumping out single server sales to millions, but instead the 
> company saw an average deal size in 3Q03 of $250k. Even more important, 
> the company is achieving this growth at profit levels higher than the 
> leader s. To keep the success engine humming, Rackable Systems' growth 
> plans call for completing the salesforce expansion in the U.S. in 2003 
> and then turning to international markets in 2004. Should the success 
> continue through 2004, we could see the company considering an IPO near 
> the beginning of 2005.
> 
> Whether the company goes public or not, a more interesting story to 
> attract investors to Rackable Systems is its relationship to the 
> adoption of Linux. Considering that RedHat [RHAT] has amassed a market 
> cap of $2.6bn on annualized revenue of $110mn all without actually 
> owning any of its own intellectual property, Rackable Systems is riding 
> a similar growth trend and has a very strong stable of IP related to its 
> server designs. Since talk of intellectual property is only relevant 
> when validated in the courts, Rackable Systems was pleased to share with 
> us that it just successfully defended its IP in a lawsuit it filed 
> against Kingstar. The case resolved with Kingstar admitting to the 
> validity of Rackable Systems’ patents following which Rackable Systems 
> is underway with another patent infringement suit against an unnamed 
> competitor. Expec ting the same outcome in this case, we are extremely 
> intrigued with the potential for growth that mirrors or exceeds the 
> growth of Linux.
> 
> The successes of the business to-date are numerous with many details 
> shared suggesting there is much more ahead for the company. Topping the 
> list is the profitability of Rackable Systems compared to its larger 
> competitors. Wall Street analysts following Dell show the company having 
> gross margins for its enterprise server line of 22.1%. Rackable 
> disclosed to us that its gross margins are generally in the 22-25% 
> range. This will be an area worth more commentary as Rackable continues 
> its growth and competition against Dell, but management strongly 
> expressed the belief in being able to maintain its profit margins and 
> still compete effectively with Mr. Dell. Accordingly, at the high end of 
> the competitive landscape, Rackable is performing well, but the company 
> also pointed us to consider its success with a 55 person workforce 
> relative to the competition. The nearest competitor to our knowledge is 
> privately held RackSaver, which we believe has roughly 2x the headcount 
> with slighly lower revenues according to our sources. Stated simply, 
> Rackable Systems' secret sauce is apparently working.
> 
> Another key area of success for Rackable has been its work with 
> partners. One example is its work with Oracle [ORCL] - Rackable has 
> developed substantial expertise in Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) 
> deployments and Oracle itself has apparently become a Rackable Systems 
> customer. As for partnerships on the technology front, AMD [AMD] has 
> been growing in importance to Rackable since the chip vendor's new 
> 64-bit Opteron solution has been introduced. Rackable Systems says its 
> has shipped over 200 systems with AMD’s 64-bit Opteron to-date. The 
> company indicated that its Linux support capabilities and expertise are 
> leading to new business wins and that one of its new customers - Cisco - 
> indicated that Rackable's Linux expertise was superior to that of its 
> other technology suppliers. While the company couldn’t share names of 
> other certain major deal wins, it was mentioned that substantial deals 
> were won in the oil & gas sector as well as the entertainment sector.



-- 
Chris Dagdigian, <dag@sonsorol.org>
Independent life science IT & research computing consulting
Office: 617-666-6454, Mobile: 617-877-5498, Fax: 425-699-0193
Work: http://BioTeam.net PGP KeyID: 83D4310E  Yahoo IM: craffi