From: poffen@rushmore (Russ Poffenberger)
Subject: Re: AUSPEX ? 
Organization: Schlumberger Technologies, ATE division, San Jose, Ca.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 20:28:36 GMT

karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger) writes:
: In article <bertil.717927487@isy.liu.se> bertil@isy.liu.se (Bertil Reinhammar) writes:
: >!!!
: >Here in the outbound, we appear to lack representation
: >of AUSPEX. Thus I ask You:
: >1) Why should I (not) buy an AUSPEX system ?
: >   1a) NFS service any good ?
: 
: Incredibly good.  This is what the box is for.  8 ethernets driven as hard
: as Ethernet can take 'em on the NS5000 series.  They also sell a write
: accelerator which is a modified PRESTOSERVE product.  Their architecture is
: a functional multiprocessor, and NFS operations never see the "primary" CPU.
: In fact, you can crash the primary and NFS ops will continue (which can be
: rather disconcerting :-).
: 

It uses similar techniques for write caching, but I don't think it is the
same as the prestoserve product. It is integrated on the SP III processor card.

: >   1b) Compute service any good ?
: 
: No.  They have a Sparc processor available for compute service, but it is
: essentially a 4/110.   Don't run processes on it unless you must.  They 
: will be slow.  They need the host processor to do things like grant mount
: requests and the like, but otherwise it is pretty feeble and really doesn't
: do much.
: 

Actually it is closer to an SS-1. They use a SparcEngine-1E which is an SS-1
chipset (12 MIPS) with a VME interface.

: >   1c) OS any good ?
: 
: Quite good.  Its a modified SunOS release with their own additions.  It
: "feels" like SunOS.  Their OS, however, isn't really SunOS -- its what is
: running on those processor boards driving the disks and ethernets.
: 

The SW that runs on the HP is a modified version of SunOS 4.1. However you
will find that a number of bugs in SunOS 4.1 exist in the Auspex form also.
One person has commented that Auspex is 100% bug compatible with Sun.

: >2) Where do I get in touch with a proper AUSPEX
: >   representative ( provided I wish after all answers :-)
: >   given that I live in Sweden.
: 
: No idea in Sweden.
: 
: One other thing.  Auspex has a quality definition that would make anyone
: green with envy.  Any firm which is trying to compete in a global market
: would do well to take their policy and implement THAT.  Those of you at Sun
: who are reading this need to take some lessons from these folks.
: 
: A few points from the policy:
: 
: 1)	No system's revenue is recognized until the customer is satisfied.
: 	That is, the sale does not "count" until that time.  It also means
: 	that all sales are by definition "on approval".
: 

True, When we bought ours, *I* defined the acceptance criteria. I established
what my current problems are with the Sun servers, and defined what I wanted
to accomplish with an Auspex. I could send the machine back if it didn't meet
these criteria. Happily, they did.

: 2)	If you're not satisfied, you can call the CEO.  Direct.
: 

Yes, they give you a little business card with all the executive officers
phone numbers.

: 2.5)	If you're not satisfied you will be :-)
: 
: 3)	No server will experience more than a 4 hour downtime -- or you will
: 	get a call from executive management explaining why and apologizing.
: 

In fact, they call ME when the system reboots (not very often, usually because
of a power failure, or scheduled maintenance) to see if all is OK.

: 4)	Every department and employee is rated on customer satisfaction and
: 	quality improvement in some fashion.
: 
: 5)	Auspex does not edit their customer list to avoid disclosing a
: 	dissatisfied customer.  You can get (on a non-disclosure basis)
: 	their unedited trouble statistics and customer list.
: 
: We have one of these at my day job, and I can safely say that both the 
: machine and their attitude as a company has been exemplary.  Highly
: recommended.
: 
: I'd love to work for these folks -- this is a company that wants to produce 
: a quality product, and spares no trouble to do that and act in an ethical 
: manner at the same time.  Highly recommended.
: 
: There is a rumor that they will go public sometime soon.  I'd buy their
: stock if you want to invest in a quality organization when it becomes
: available.
: 

I have to agree with these statements.

Russ Poffenberger               DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies ATE   UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive		CIS:	72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110             Voice: (408)437-5254  FAX: (408)437-5246