"It's just outrageous," added Oliver Fischer-Samano, IT director at Baerlocher Productions USA LLC in Cincinnati.

Laura Sanders, vice president of systems storage products and solutions at IBM, responded that users have long complained about such pricing issues, even as pricing models have evolved.

Sanders suggested that a key reason for such pricing complaints is that users have "never had a budget for storage management software. So I'm thrilled they are talking about [it], because they're thinking about it as a thing of value."

Storage hardware pricing, said Inches, is comparable to a "Turkish carpet bazaar." He said users must wheel and deal with vendors -- unless both sides agree to form a long-term relationship.

Fischer-Samano said he can slash the cost of storage hardware in half "just by going back and saying, 'Hey I have a better quote,' even if I didn't have it. They're willing to deal. Where they don't deal is with the service agreement, and that's where they get you."