Pure lashes out at EMC's 'aggressive' FUD campaign
Startup launches video series in reply to what it claims is EMC's efforts to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about it among buyers
Pure Storage has launched a David and Goliath-themed video series aimed at undermining what it claims is arch rival EMC's campaign to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about its products among partners and customers.
Pure claims to have heard numerous reports of EMC badmouthing its wares to buyers and said "[the] FUD has gotten so aggressive that we felt it necessary to respond".
In a blog post named "EMC's FUD war against Pure Storage: Is Goliath afraid of David?", the fast-growing storage startup unveiled a series of videos picking apart what it claims EMC is saying about it to customers.
The warring duo are no stranger to public slanging matches: they are currently locked in a legal battle and yesterday Pure shouted about its plans to gatecrash EMC's partner bash in Las Vegas next month.
On the blog, Pure's vice president for product Matt Kixmoeller said EMC's actions are detracting from both vendors' technology.
"Unfortunately, we are getting word daily from current and prospective customers that EMC is aggressively ramping up the FUD assault in the market," he said. "We understand that as customers, receiving vendor FUD can be both confusing and annoying.
"At Pure we aim to focus on selling our own product and succeeding in the market on the strength of our technology and company, but the FUD has gotten so aggressive that we felt it necessary to respond to a few points to clear up the market confusion, and hopefully turn the conversation back to what matters."
When speaking to CRN at the end of last year, Pure's chief executive Scott Dietzen said its public battle with EMC has been good for business as it has raised its profile, and Kixmoeller agreed.
"As we have said before, competition is good – it drives innovation, customer value, market growth, and makes us better companies. We are frankly grateful to be getting so much competitive attention from EMC. It's an inevitable byproduct of our success."
EMC was unavailable to comment on Pure's claims, but its vice president for global systems engineering Chad Sakac wrote a lengthy blog entitled "Observation: the power of simple (but sometimes ignorant) arguments" referencing Pure's claims.