Manufacturers frequently struggle in getting covered / recognized online, defaulting to either putting their head in the sand or bitterly complaining to their co-workers about how life is unfair.

Here's an example of an excellent manufacturer comment and a template for others to emulate.

An integrator asked about VMS Software Running On Virtual Servers?

It's been a good conversation. A manufacturer employee chimed in, from Vicon, with an excellent comment. I've copied it in full so others can use this as a template:

"Disclosure: written by a Vicon VMS manufacturer employee.

From the manufacturers point of view, the issue we typically deal with is not the actual running on a virtual machine to which (as said above) the application is indifferent.

The main concerns we see are three:

    1. Most VMs built by IT tend to be around the typical database / web server type machine and tend to be under the spec we require to handle the massive throughput video requires
    2. Considering no 1. The number of VMs you can carve out of a physical server is lower for video intensive applications than other (which increases the $ per VM expense)
    3. The sharing nature of VMs (drives and network cards) is not a friend of intense video systems

What we do is offer a guideline for those who consider VM as must:

    • Emphasizes that the VM must be built according to the standard minimum requirements
    • Specifically asks that the drives for recording will be dedicated ones and not shared with many other VMs (so I/O is maximal)
    • Asks for a physical NIC in place of a virtual one so all bandwidth is available

In many cases where a VM is considered a must, this guidelines puts everyone on the same playing field and eliminates technical issues."

It's informative and it shows that he knows what he is doing. And the disclosure up front plays a dual role - one, people know that he is a vendor but, two, they also know where he is from, so he can get credit.

Vicon is not a company that generally gets good press or marketing. Yet here is a 6 paragraph post that gets people thinking positively about Vicon

Even though he never mentions any Vicon products at all, it is not needed, because the goal is to build credibility, then later people will be more likely to consider your product or reach out to you.

If you are a manufacturer, ask yourself, how can I do something similar?