Outstanding business leader: John Benson, StorageTek.

• Position: ADVERTISING PROFILE - Storage Technology Corp.

It can be difficult to find StorageTek's Vice President and General Manager of Automated Tape Solutions Jon Benson at his desk. For the past several years, Benson has spent most of his time visiting customers, prospective customers, and partners around the globe, assessing their needs and concerns. "StorageTek's roots are in our technology, but we've evolved to much more of a market-driven company," said Benson.

In direct response to customer's challenges, StorageTek developed the StreamLine[TM] SL8500 modular library system, the new automated tape data storage solution that is a critical component of the company's information lifecycle management offerings. With the introduction of this product, StorageTek is uniquely positioned to offer customers an unmatched breadth of data storage solutions.

Benson began his career with StorageTek in engineering in 1987. As he managed different departments, he gained a deep understanding of the evolving nature of customers' challenges. This knowledge served Benson and his team well as they developed a product that plays a key role in the company's information lifecycle management strategy. That strategy is aimed squarely at how to best address the difficult customer challenge of handling ever-growing amounts of data within tight budget constraints.

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In an effort to provide the solutions that would meet the information management needs of its customers and partners, StorageTek implemented an approach that is all too rare in the world of technology. "Traditionally, solutions came from a technical root. If you look at what has transpired in our corporation in the last two years, with our new marketing and customer focus, we've completely changed the way we do business," said Benson.

Jon and his team conducted over a dozen blind focus groups in multiple geographies that included both customers of StorageTek and customers of competitors. Another 700+ customers were polled for thorough quantitative analysis. "What comes back from that scares your engineers to death," Benson said, as the customer requirements appear to be impossible...