Sequel Data Trucks In Demo Lab To HP Partner Conference

This year, however, they will see a third, smaller truck parked between them, if all goes according to the plan of an HP solution provider that has invested in its own demo truck.

The truck, a diesel-engine 2001 Freightliner FL-70, is the brain child of Don Richie, CEO of Sequel Data Systems, an Austin, Texas-based solution provider. Richie said he's so committed to his HP relationship that he invested nearly a half-million dollars in getting it ready for the partner conference and for bringing the HP message to his corporate customers.

"It not only shows HP our value above and beyond the typical VAR, but also our value to our customers," Richie said. "We don't want to just send a demo in a box."

Instead, the box that Sequel will send on the back of its six-wheel Freightliner is actually a complete demo room stocked with more than $250,000 of HP equipment, including an Alpha-based VMS server, an Integrity server, a ProLiant Unix server, three ProLiant blade servers and three small workstations with 21-inch CRT monitors, all from HP.

Connected to the servers are an HP EVA 5000 array, an EVA 3000 array, a MSA 1500 array and a DLT tape autoloader.

The only IT gear not from HP are a couple of Dell servers. Richie said he will take the servers to customer sites to tear them down and compare their quality against that of HP.

To complete the demo room, Sequel also has two 42-inch plasma displays. Unlike the rest of the room, the plasmas carry the Sony brand. "We had ordered HP displays, but they were late," Richie said. "So we had to run out and buy the Sony displays locally."

Richie said he had been planning to do a demo truck for the past two years. He finally decided to make the investment late last year, when a doubling of Sequel's sales year over year gave him the funds to invest. The project actually started in September, when Richie bought the truck in Phoenix for $59,000. He budgeted $250,000 for the project.

"We were way over," he said. "For the demo equipment alone, we had over $225,000 worth of HP products." Building the demo room took another chunk of cash because of the engineering requirements. For instance, Richie found he had to add shock protection for all of the racks to make sure nothing came loose while the truck was being driven.

He also had to run 220VAC and 110VAC from the rear of the truck to the front. Since the walls of the truck were too thin, he ended up running the power cables through a custom raceway under the truck.

Cooling was also a major issue because of the heat generated by the HP equipment and the two plasmas, Richie said. He also added mirrors on the ceiling and walls to give an illusion of size.

Then there was the customization: stone floor (no linoleum), two plasmas (when one was adequate), a home theater system for the sound, custom upholstery and chrome wheels. "It's one of those things like a home hot rod," Richie said. "The more you do, the more you want to do. The thing had to look good. It's part of the overall image."

The total cost of the truck in the end hit nearly $500,000, including the cost of the vehicle, about $100,000 in engineering and conversion costs, $225,000 to $250,000 in HP equipment, and some investment by HP and Agilysys in financing and technical support.

Sequel will use the truck to take HP demos directly to customer sites, and it also will make it available for use by HP sales reps, Richie said.

He said he could use HP's "SAN Vans," but HP only brings them to major metropolitan areas for demonstrations to multiple potential customers. "Our customer base is successful outside the metros," he said. "A lot of these customers in the past felt a lot of manufacturers abandoned them. We put the resources there because that's where we generate the revenue."

Richie said he would advise anyone with the resources to consider building a mobile demo lab. "But don't do it halfway," he said. "Put a lot of resources into it. And whatever you budget, expect it to be double."

In the end, Richie said he has no regrets. "I'm glad I did it," he said. "My partner wouldn't let me have a hot rod, so this is it. This is my hot rod."