We made history with our shipment of the 1,000th IBM XIV Storage System to Fidelity Investments as part of a recent 3Q win. Congratulations to Sean McNulty and Craig Hibbert on the account team for helping make IBM XIV history -- without even realizing it!

It's encouraging to reach this significant milestone almost one year after the first Gen1 XIV shipped. We have collectively seized the opportunity to take this innovative, game-changing solution aggressively to market, and the results speak for themselves. In an uncertain global economic environment, we continue to take share from competitors such as EMC and build IBM XIV into a brand with global recognition and fierce customer loyalty.

But make no mistake -- 1,000 systems shipped is just the beginning. The opportunity in front of us has never been better, and our competitors continue to stumble. In fact, more than 70 percent of our 3Q XIV wins was in new accounts -- wreaking havoc on our competitors.

We are delivering an enterprise-class storage solution that breaks down the old ways of thinking and presents a simple but compelling value proposition: don't mask complexity, eliminate it. We believe it, and more importantly, our clients believe it. And they're voting with their wallets.

We have a world-class team, a world-class product and a huge opportunity in front of us. Take a moment to celebrate this major milestone and share this accomplishment with clients worldwide. Then set your sights on the future of enterprise storage and ask yourself ... who wants to sell the 5,000th XIV system? Good luck and good selling!

Jeff Barber
Director, Worldwide System Storage Sales
IBM Systems & Technology Group