I can rationalize the desire for chest-thumping via Bench-Marketing as explained below, but “Imagineering” an IT Benchmark is truly sinister. Ironically the best way to explain it starts with a polar opposite introduction of a much more wholesome nature.
Intro to “Imagineering”
As any parent who’s been to one of the many Disney Parks around the world knows, Disney offers a top-notch experience not only for kids, but also the parents. Part of the “magic” involves some very appealing, pleasant and sometimes original rides of both a physical and virtual (reality) nature. Disney cleverly refers to the creators of these rides as Imagineers – combining a limitless childlike imagination with engineering savvy for the necessary safety and efficiency which enables Disney to pull the full illusion off.
So how can “Imagineering” be evil?
In the competitive world of IT infrastructure sales, quite easily. Pretend for a minute that you’re an incumbent vendor with high marketshare. So far so good. Now add some tension and inject a looming competitor with strong momentum in the same market. In addition to defending via “Bench-Marketing”, you may also choose to react by improving your product and/or lowering your price to better compete. That’s an ethical and moral response to the situation.
But if you’re not bound by strong corporate morals and ethics, you may ultimately choose to concoct and openly publish an internal benchmark report against them. Following Machiavellian best-practices, you would hire one of your competitor’s engineers (in product development or in the field) and use that inside knowledge to imagine an artificial workload that casts the worst possible light on your competitor’s product. No need to be bound by practical considerations of whether this workload is common or obscure, or that the competitor’s system has been properly configured. Just make sure the report looks good by accrediting it with a designation such as engineering whitepaper or technical note. And get your friends to spread the bile.
That combination of Machiavellian ruthlessness and sinister imagination wrapped up in a slick report format helps create the desired illusion. However to earn the truly notorious mark of an “Imagineered Benchmark” you also have to ensure it is run deep within the bowels of your own competitive labs, avoiding any objective 3rd party audit or review whatsoever. And you have to possess the gall to market it as credible. Your target audience for this is the set of champions you may have in your existing accounts, or uninformed / distracted storage consultants, analysts, resellers and customers who haven’t had direct exposure to the competitor’s compelling products. The more you can tear down your competitor’s products with an Imagineered Benchmark, the better your chances of keeping your customers and partners blissfully ignorant of superior alternatives.
Think of it as having those consultants, analysts, resellers and customers take The Blue Pill in the Matrix.
Having just finished watching his inspirational yet humble victory speech, it's clear to me Nov 4th, 2008 will go down in history as a transformational date not only for the United States, but for the world as a whole.
