Test 000-117: Distributed Systems High Volume Sales v1

1. Solution Needs Analysis and Development

1. Identify the customer’s business challenges as they relate to storage and describe how IBM System Storage solutions help customers achieve an on demand environment

Identify customer pain points
2. Understand customer environment (i.e., resource, budget, risk-exposure, organizational issues, ease of use, etc.)
3. Obtain strategic enterprise I/T plan and storage requirements (for example, identify links between customer’s future growth plan, I/T plans, and storage plans to insure a match) and work with the customer to develop a storage plan
4. Determine the customer's hardware, software, and service requirements
5. Identify DAS, SAN or NAS
6. Identify various interface and drive technology capabilities
7. Utilize the Storage Manager/Simulator to show the manageability and functionality of the storage manager

2. Sales Process, Tools, and Resources

1. Position the enterprise storage solution to meet the customer’s storage needs
2. Prepare sales proposals and presentations tailored to the customer’s business requirements (TCO/ROI)
3. Understand the value and leverage System Storage Executive Briefing Center, System Storage Interoperability +Center or System Storage Solution Center or Business Partner Innovation Center (BPIC)
4. Identify key extended IBM team resources to help design solution
5. Identify and locate the appropriate tools to demonstrate the advantages of DS4000, DS3000 functions(e.g., +Storage Manager, Simulator, eLearnings, technical documents)
6. Locate and use appropriate sales tools and resources to create and design storage solutions that meet customer Information Infrastructure needs

3. Entry and Midrange Storage Portfolio

1. Describe the IBM System Storage strategy and build a storage strategy with the customer
2. Describe the storage hierarchy as it relates to price, performance, and business requirements
3. Understand the implications of different IBM and non-IBM host hardware and operating system platforms for storage solutions
4. Identify key differences of storage subsystems (e.g., capacity, relative performance, type (i.e. disk vs. tape), disk types (SAS, SATA, FC), etc)
5. Given the System x storage technologies, select the correct storage solution based upon the customer's requirements
6. Identify basic hardware features and functions of the DS4000 series products
7. Identify software features and functions of Storage Manage.
8. Describe how FlashCopy, Volume Copy and Enhanced Remote Mirroring can help solve a customers business problems

4. Solution, Design, and Implementation

1. Given the breadth of the system x product line distinguish the key architectural and component differences of the Storage subsystem models.
2. Given customer's requirements, select the product that best utilizes the advantages of IBM System x technology.
3. Determine and assess appropriate RAID level(s) (e.g., RAID-0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 1E, 5E, 00, 50, 1E0) taking price/performance into consideration. Compare and contrast RAID levels and be able to defend you selection for a given customer requirement.
4. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Disaster Recovery, Risk Assessment and Business Continuance
5. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Disaster Recovery tiers
6. "Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Disaster Recovery - High availability - geographically dispersed systems
7. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need
8. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Data sharing
9. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Performance
10. Identify how IBM System Storage solutions meet the following storage-related business need: Environmental planning

5. Competitive Positioning

1. Describe the current primary competitors of the IBM System Storage portfolio
2. Determine the competitive features and benefits of: EMC, HDS, Sun, HP Dell/EqualLogic.
3. Identify key corporate strengths and weaknesses of the competition
4. Classify the current storage offerings and features from the major competitors EMC, HDS, HP, NetApp, +Dell/EqualLogic and LeftHand Networks
5. Position the IBM Storage Solutions against the competition