I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come? Ps 121:1
The Sheraton is located a block or so off downtown Chicago's 'magnificent mile'. The Chicago river runs past it with an unnatural blue-green iridescence while upriver the new Trump Tower is is getting the remaining glass panes installed in its upper floors. This part of Chicago is clean, elegant beautiful. The city pulsates with sound and movement, punctuated by distant sirens and taxi horns. I look up in the warm late afternoon and am surrounded by tall beautifully arcitected buildings bejeweled with thousands of panes of glass glinting in the afternoon sun.
The Michigan room of the Sheraton however, is not overlooking the skyline or the iridescence of the river. It is in the basement with a few Wave representatives and two Seagate engineers ready for conversation with prospective customers of the Momentus 5400 FDE.2. One of the Seagate engineers was Sam, who is also the project leader for the Momentus 5400 FDE.2. Sam is warm and engaging. Wave's CEO, Steven Sprague is also in the room. No representative from Dell is there and unfortunately, few prospects are in the room. Word was that word hadn't sufficiently gotten out and there was some murky communication gap with Dell regarding the seminar schedule. Ouch, this not the auspicious atmosphere you might imagine from your desktop with a high speed connection to your favorite discussion board.
I talked with Sam at length. He estimates Seagate produces roughly 145 million drives per quarter. With no previous information about Seagate's production numbers, I am unable to confirm or challenge that estimate. It is a big number. He also says that Seagate has no problems with production of the FDE.2 and has no problems meeting the demand for the product. This is a company that clearly knows how to scale production. I pressed Sam as to why he thought HP would not also incorporate his elegant solution into their own platform. He said they felt their current solution was adequate.
I was also able to get re-aqainted with Steven Sprague. Steven was again engaging, enigmatic, allusive, slightly defensive, informed and visionary. His anecdotes are laced with enough facts and confirmable references to be believable. In the dark basement room of the Sheraton Steven articulates Wave's veil of bright promise and impending demand, however, it sounds thin, faded and worn. I remember, it's time to feed the parking meter and I need a short break.
Outside, the skyline is illuminated by the lights of the windows from towering mountains of concrete and steel. I'm reminded that behind nearly every window of every building there are computing machines - PCs. Most of them are unsecured and unaccounted for, maintained by an IT person who knows there is risk. The risk is not confined to the windowed buildings but in the honking cars, in the surrounding suburban homes and O' Hare. It's mobile and at risk. Somewhere up there behind those glass panes are IT people, CEOs and CTOs who are concerned. They want to keep important, critical data from turning up in the wrong place. It's a shame they didn't know the solution was in the basement of the Sheraton. How will they hear if no one tells them?
Will the word get out to the right people? Seagate's CEO, Bill Watkins has certainly promoted it and they have committed resources to it. Dell's reps are getting trained in the technology of 'advanced security' are promoting it and more importantly are commissioned for selling the 'advanced security' option. When pressed, Sam says the demand will come from the financial industry, They are the ones making the most inquiries and have the available budgets for advanced security. In short, they are the most motivated and in the best position to act. Sam said the military is evaluating the drives, but they are likely looking at 2010 before fully evaluating the product within their own specialized needs and prepared to place an order. The Wave story continues to require patience and faith.
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