You don't worry about your eyes until things become blurry. Similarly, you don't worry about your data storage components until something starts going wrong. They respond quickly to end-user problems because customer satisfaction reflects directly on their company's success. They react rapidly to products that generate too many problem calls and eat into the already-slim profit margin. It is not at all surprising that a recent Reseller Management magazine reported that product quality was the number one selection criteria when a VAR decides to carry a vendor's product.
Reliability is the single largest contributor to product quality.
Certain measures have been developed to help predict the reliability of data storage products. We rely on them for competitive comparisons. We use them to calculate the frequency of preventive maintenance service events and to manage spares parts inventories. Levels of severity also need to be agreed upon. All reliability numbers start as goals that are extensively influenced by customer desires as well as by the specifications of competitors.