Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Elisa Larkin — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:37:30 GMT

I didn't order my Power Edge online, I called a Dell rep. What did I get, a "promise" of a delivery time. I was flying someone in to set up our server. What did I get, the day before the order was "estimated" to ship, I called Dell Customer Service, where I spent 4 hours being transfered from one person to the next, not one of which could even tell me if it would ship on the estimate date. Finally after many hours on hold, many transfers later, someone told me a part was on back order. 3 people promised to call the next morning to tell me if it would ship. The next day, 3 hours on the phone, a new "estimated' ship date and out of pocket expenses in the thousands; I called HP. They atleast pointed me to someone local to help me obtain a server. I ended up with a comparable server, saved $1,000 and finally got a call from Dell; an automated system, saying my new "estimated" ship date was a week away (of course my IT guru would not be here then and I was not about to fly him back). I requested my order be cancelled. Then true to Dell's customer Un-service, I received a call the next day (after hours) saying my order had shipped, I cancelled in writing! I told them I would refuse shipment and that I was 5 minutes away from taking out a full billboard ad stating Dell could not deliver on any promises and give out the HP number as they atleast helped me achieve my goals as a business.

Sorry, Dell, but my business will be elsewhere until you focus on customer service and train your personnel from the bottom up and top down.

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

glenn_keels — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:00:30 GMT

Steve,

I'm glad that you've joined the conversation. You're right; an open dialogue is in the best interests of all parties, particularly customers. Therefore, I thought I'd take a quick second to address some of the points you brought up.

You correctly state that Dell's power and cooling strategy is anchored in the devices that need to be powered and cooled. However, your assertion that this view reflects Dell's holistic power and cooling strategy is simply untrue. As I mentioned in my post, I'll outline our holistic power and cooling approach that we're delivering today (including "savings at the rack level, virtualization, and the infrastructure") in an upcoming post.

Simply put, the numbers I presented speak for themselves. Without first focusing on the servers that require power and create heat, HP has missed a great opportunity to create a power and cooling trickle-down effect for its customers. In addition to reengineering the data center atmosphere with proprietary architectures such as Thermal Zone Mapping and DSC, I'd recommend that HP take a closer look at the Proliant and c-Class Blade servers that are consuming more power, creating more heat and requiring additional infrastructure investments.

Stay tuned, Steve. As promised, I'll have more on this soon. By the way, I'd love a demo when DSC is ready.

Best,

Glenn Keels

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Steve Cumings — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:01:37 GMT

When a friend of mine sent me this article a few days ago, I enjoyed reading that Glenn had taken the time to discuss HP's Dynamic Smart Cooling solution. The more discussion around reducing power consumption the better; however, for accuracy a few things should probably be cleared up:

Glenn first notes that "I can't tell you if it's "Dynamic" or "Smart" because the product isn't slated to be released until later". That's right, we've said all along that DSC will be available in late summer of this year. But perhaps he missed our press release on DSC and Thermal Zone Mapping, which was coincidentally published a few days before this blog article (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070725xa.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN) that discussed work we've already done with DSC early adopter customers and partners - in fact, we specifically named our first US customer, Wachovia. Typically we show new technologies to customers before competitors, so it's not entirely surprising that we haven't given a demo to Glenn yet. Perhaps I'll meet him at an upcoming industry event and we can chat.

He next notes that "HP's power and cooling strategy is anchored around "Dynamic Smart Cooling," and correctly points out that a single approach is not holistic. He's right, it wouldn't be. But even though it's near and dear to my heart, HP's power and cooling strategy isn't anchored around DSC, or in fact any one technology, because that's not a total solution.

Our view is that reducing IT power and cooling demands requires technologies spanning from the power substation to the chip, and chip to the chiller - in other words, from the internal components of the server, all the way to the data center power and cooling infrastructure itself. This is the only way to address all opportunities to reduce IT power consumption, cooling requirements, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Leaving out parts of the portfolio means missing out on some of the power reductions and savings.

The part I don't quite understand is that Glenn then describes the Dell approach, which is focused on just the servers - specifically, that Dell's holistic solution "is simple. It's anchored in the devices that must be powered and cooled." Remember, this is after stating earlier in the article that a single approach is not holistic. Isn't focusing on just the devices a single approach? What about savings at the rack level, and virtualization, and the infrastructure. IT power consumption in the data center is usually less than power consumption for cooling and infrastructure.

Anyway, the good news for you and HP is that we're about to start taking general orders for DSC deployments, and it's not limited to data centers running HP equipment. Chances are Dynamic Smart Cooling can drastically reduce the power consumption of your data center - even if you're running Dell servers. Now THAT is holistic.

Steve Cumings

Director, DSC

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Dan — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:45:25 GMT

I just cancelled my Dell Notebook order - after waiting 5 weeks for delievery. This is ridiculous. Don't take orders online with the expectation of rapid delievery, only to tell the customer after the order is taken and boked that there is a part shortage (supposedly no glass at all for the notebook screens.. come on!) - then 3 weeks later, delay it again for 3 weeks.

I am buying a stock notebook , off the shelf from a competitor.

One lost customer for good.

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

susie martin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 20:07:59 GMT

Well atleast they talk about xps cause they dont address inspirons 1520 etc. cause we are in the same boat a guess a sinking boat. my orignal order on june 27 and still havent recieved now tell me aug 28. This is ridiculous

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Ron C — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:05:10 GMT

I can't add much more to this than has already been said. I don't give you kudo's for this blog while the xps700 and m1330 people are still having issues. So, for all the hot air you have blown about HP maybe you ought to look squarely at the problems you are having and face them.

Clear up all your own issues before you start tooting your horn as you have a long ways to go!

I can't believe you guys at Dell....sure hope Michael gets a good look at this blog and tries to get his own house in order before trying make HP look ridiculous. Look within and see the enemy Dell...it's YOU!

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Matt — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:51:37 GMT

What would be win-win-win is if Dell would be so kind as to deliver the notebook-notebook-notebook I ordered and paid for five (5) weeks ago.

I give a left nut about their pissing contest with HP in server-land.

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Andrew — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:25:21 GMT

Customers will learn more about IT products from the talk btw Dell and HP. And this two companies will alos learn more from each other. Actually, this is a Win-Win-Win situation, especially for customers.

Go ahead, Dell.

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Jim — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:40:17 GMT

It's not exactly childish.

If you can't do additions, how can one expect you to do multiplication?

In this case, if Dell can't even get the basics of delivering a promising product such as M1330 to customers, how can one expect Dell to deliver anything else better?

re: Dear Mr. Hurd: Power and Cooling Has Sparked a Debate; Customers Want More Than Hot Air!

Laurent — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:05:08 GMT

Is it how Dell conceive responsibility and humility after (and still in the actuality) their shipping problem (not only for the M1330 but also the latest Vostro)?

Before criticizing other companies, start to do at least what you are supposed to do : focus on customers.

I don't even believe it. What a great communication! Dell, come on, what are you thinking? Even if what you say is right, do you think it makes you better? I don't think so. Being arrogant like this makes you even worse.

Ciao

Laurent