Of the messages we received, the following is my favorite. Curiously, it wasn’t sent directly to Byte and Switch, but to a message reflector run by the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA). (Don’t bother trying to join; the reflector isn’t open to people like us.)
One of the FCIA’s members, in the true holiday spirit of pot stirring, forwarded the message in my direction. Here it is, in full:
- From: Ed Grivna [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 7:57 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: FCIA - Need Rebuttle to Light Reading - The Global Site For Optical Networking
* From the fc reflector, posted by:
* Ed Grivna
To my Fibre Channel associates,
The following article documents in print, in a major trade rage
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=9346
If any of you are worth your salt, you will generate a vehement response to this pack of s**t.
I do not doubt the point that iSCSI will have a significant market presence, but using this as the harbinger of death for Fibre Channel is much more than I can stomach.
I look forward to your replies.
Regards,
Ed Grivna
Vice Chairman NCITS TC T11
Cypress Semiconductor
Now, Mr. Ed here isn’t some flea-bitten Cypress cube monkey (ee! ee! ee!). He’s an applications manager at Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY), in addition to serving as the vice chairman of TC T11 – the committee within the National Committee for Information Technology Standards (NCITS) responsible for Fiber Channel standards.
An Important Fellow, then. With a sensitive stomach.
I found a few things interesting in the message (apart from Ed’s p*tty mouth). For one, I was grateful to Ed for explaining that I work for a “trade rage.” I think that’s much more impressive than working for a business and technology publication, don’t you? (I’m now debating whether to have business cards reprinted with the title "Founding Rager.")
But what’s even more intriguing is the distribution on Ed’s message. Check out the list of people that Ed cc’d on his message – a veritable Who’s Who of the Fibre Channel world.
You wouldn’t guess it from the salutation – "To my Fibre Channel associates" – but some of these companies are supposed to be competitors. I’m sure their respective stockholders think they are fighting each other for revenues, red in tooth and claw. But in the clubby atmosphere of the Fibre Channel vendors’ world, such collegial bonhomie is not unusual – it’s the norm.
In fact, this sort of "co-opetition" has been going on for as long as I can remember, all the way back to the formation of the FCIA. Instead of establishing an ombudsman for users’ interests, vendors set up the FCIA as an exercise in not rocking the boat, instead setting the shortest course for profitability they could chart. The almost total lack of dialectic that resulted meant that full interoperability, which was one of the group’s purported objectives, has never been achieved.
Comes the Avalanche
So what sort of reaction did Ed manage to stir up with his message to the FCIA members? Not much. The message boards attached to the original column generated 28 messages on Byte and Switch, another 15 on its sister publication, Light Reading.
The messages on the boards can be divided into four roughly equal groups: Group 1 strongly disagreed with the premise of the column. Group 2 agreed with the column. Group 3 were neutral, sort of. And Group 4 used the boards to talk about totally unrelated topics.
There were a couple of gems. I particularly enjoyed the one from a cerebrally limited McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDT) employee, who wrote to tell us he thought the article was completely biased… in favor of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD)! No kiddin'. Check it out: Fall of FC?
I also received five emails from people who wanted to let me know that they agreed with the column but were worried Ed would raise a gun-totin’ posse and come after them if they said so in public.
OK, I made the last bit up.
While Ed’s call to action didn’t have much effect, it was certainly valuable in providing a behind-the-scenes look into the way the Fibre Channel community goes about its business.
So, as Jerry Springer would say:
What did we learn here today?
Well, children, we learned that Ed thinks my opinions are "a pack of s**t." (Thankfully, he didn't modify it with "steaming." That would have been childish.)
But what’s truly important to Fibre Channel customers is:
Should you happen to have questions about the merits of FC-versus-IP, will he treat your opinions with the same respect?
— Stephen Saunders, Founding Rager, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com
As always, your column was, to say the very least, entertaining. I am not part of the fiber channel industry, nor am I optically inclined, but I am involved in networking and therefore enjoy 'Light Reading'.
I think that the portion of your column that was actually newsworthy was buried behind your own name calling and bruised ego. The real interesting information is your discussion of the coopetition (collusion) amongst a group of competitors.
Unfortunately I had to wade through a thicket of your ego being hurt to find the real interesting point.
Mr. Grivna's letter stands on its own, and is quite incriminating. Unfortunately you let your own ego stand in the way. Obviously you are an entrepreneur (as a founding editor of Light Reading), and it probably hurts to have your publication ranted against, but Mr. Grivna discredits himself through his letter.
You don't have discredit yourself by name calling - rise above the fray Mr Saunders!