sad initial impressions of LairdShare

At NAB, I spent a lot of time looking at low cost SAN systems. One of these systems was the new LairdShare. It looked teriffic, and I deal with Markertek on an almost daily basis ordering parts, so having an affiliation with one of their products (they own Laird), I figured this might be teriffic.

On another forum (I think it was FCP-L), the designer of Lairdshare -DVDAN23 or DANDV23 - posted some comments on LairdShare. I thought this would be a cool thing to look into, and emailed him some questions. They were never responded to. Laird has a user group, with only 2 comments or questions, so I tried to join the Laird user group. I was never granted "approval" to join the user group to ask questions.

I am writing this right now 5/23/08, because I received a call from Colin at Laird today, wanting to know if I needed more information on LairdShare (we met at NAB). So I have been on the phone on hold for the last 30 minutes with Laird, trying to call Colin back at
800 898 0759, x7316. But no one answers.

SO what happens when you buy LairdShare - and have a problem ? I am trying to get some preliminary sales information, about basic configuration questions, and I can't email anyone, I can't speak to anyone.

I feel validated about "bitching" about LairdShare (before I even get started), since I give Markertek my business on EVERY FACILITY INSTALLATION that I have done since I moved to Florida in 1999. Markertek (and TecNec) are truly great companies, but if they ever expect for LairdShare to be a real product, maybe they should have some way of contacting them, to ask some basic questions.

I only hope that someone from Laird replies back, with some sort of answer to this.

Bob Zelin