All posts by Journey to the Cloud

BYOD, Featured, Mobile device management

BYOD: Quick Tips and Facts

By Francis Czekalski, Enterprise Consultant

There’s no doubt that BYOD is a top buzzword and priority for IT decision maker in 2013.  This is certainly a complex issue that requires a lot of planning and commitment if your organization expects positive results. Below are a couple quick points on BYOD that your organization should keep in mind when implementing and monitoring a policy.

  • BYOD programs have the effect of increasing the lifespan of devices because people tend to take care of items better since they are choosing the type of device.
  • Security is a HUGE issue around BYOD. BYOD programs can increase security, but, when not monitored correctly can actually lead to a whole new pathway for data leakage.
  • Offline computing still tends to be an issue so some hybrid model needs to be adopted.
  • It is often believed that with a BYOD program you no longer need to support the clients- this is simply not the case. User productivity will demand that some touch is done on the end user’s computer.

A couple interesting findings from a recent study from Dell (http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-research/2013/01/22/study-it-managers-must-embrace-byod-or-risk-being-left-behind)…

  • 70% of IT Decision makers believe BYOD helps boost employee productivity and customer response time.
  • 59% of IT Decision makers believe they would be at a competitive disadvantage if they did not embrace personally-owned devices
  • 56% of IT Decision makers believe that BYOD has completely changed their company’s culture

If you’d like some more information on BYOD and mobile device management, download this free webinar.

What’s your opinion on BYOD? Has your organization implemented a policy? If not, do you plan on implementing one? Why or why not?

 

 

Cloud computing

Guest Post: Why Midmarket Business Needs Cloud Services in 2013

Guest Post: Grant Davis

This is a guest post and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of GreenPages Technology Solutions.

The global market is becoming more and more competitive by the second, thus requiring businesses to operate very efficiently with regards to organizational structure. Businesses, specifically midmarket size, are faced with tall tasks in 2013. With a growing enterprise, information increases as the operations do. A growing company requires higher level data management, and this leads to more intricate demands when it comes to IT organization and communication.

If a midmarket is firing on all cylinders, acquiring new clients and consumers by the day, there is only so much that an unorganized or incapable operations model can withstand. The IT department can only cope with so many networks and so much data. A commonality among growing business in America throughout modern society is the implementation of cloud services. Cloud offers a way to outsource data and network management with the ability to focus resources and time on more intricate and fundamental aspects of the business.

Below I list the main ways that midmarket businesses can benefit from the utilization of cloud services in 2013, and the critical reasons for the argument.

1.       Cost.

Cloud services can be financially viable in the right situation. Using an outsourced data storage center can decrease the cost of real estate, software and employee payroll. For one, a midmarket that works with a cloud vendor does not have to physically house as much data. This is substantial benefit, mainly because of the physical space but also the operational costs of a larger company with high energy consumption.

Secondly, a cloud provider would be responsible for software agreements and also network operations. This is a huge burden off of a midmarket, as serious growth tends to take focus away from standard processing issues.  This responsibility being shifted to the cloud provider alleviates cost in the sense that a business can reduce or relocate IT staff for better efficiency. It can also benefit an enterprise to not have to worry about multiple SLAs with various software providers. It can save money to have the agreement consolidated and maintained by the cloud vendor.

Why this is crucial: Midmarket business can only reach maximum efficiency if all of the parts are in place. Part of this is allocating resources in a way that gets the most out of each aspect of the company. If a Data Modeler or System Admin can be utilized more effectively in this crucial phase of business development, maybe it’s better to outsource their daily role to a cloud vendor. It’s possible that their creativity and focus needs to be distributed in another area of the business different than process management. Innovation is key right now, and this is part of the process.

2.       Flexibility.

Cloud services may be a good idea for IT decision makers within a midmarket because employees are able to be more flexible. For instance, a cloud vendor allows for immediate access to business information from various portals, including mobile devices. In 2013 a typical cloud vendor seamlessly supplies business leadership and operations teams with the ability to access information from all angles of daily routines. This is a huge benefit in modern society where nearly everything is immediate and in constant real-time.

Also, because midmarket business is often trying to compete and outreach in a competitive market, traveling off location will be much less detrimental to work efficiency. If the company CIO is going to a tradeshow in Phoenix, they should still be able to access any processes being maintained by the cloud vendor.

Why this is crucial: Midmarket business in 2013 requires collaboration to be successful. With information being stored in a cloud storage center, information can be accessed from diverse locations. This increases both internal and external business collaboration. Modern society is far too demanding to have anything that is inefficient, and flexibility is directly related to efficiency when it comes to a growing business and data management.

3.       Scalability.

IT is the backbone of most business operations.  Modern information is too complex to handle manually, and we rely on computers and networks to transport and maintain data. An additional advantage of a midmarket acquiring cloud services is that the business can upscale or downscale IT services based on specific need. For instance, if the midmarket has stagnant growth over the holiday season, they can scale back their service agreement with the vendor to save money during that time. Similarly, if business continues to grow, the cloud service can easily expand and accommodate the new volume of data management that it performs for the business. This is not as viable with internal data management, as new software and hardware will need to be purchased with each major alteration in IT requirements. This can lead to wasted money and lost resources.

Why this is crucial: Business in general is too unpredictable in the current economy to assume anything, even when it comes to IT requirements. Cloud vendors allow for leeway with regards to data storage and this is important when a midmarket is concerned because often times these businesses don’t have the margin of error to make up for any inefficiency. They need the exact amount of storage they need, when they need it.

Conclusions

Midmarket business is important to the United States economy and affects the lives of many people. Usually these operations are on the cusp of doing something significant, and proper organization within IT can help allocate resources in the right areas for maximum production and business model maintenance. It’s time for IT and business leadership to make note of this and move to action in early 2013.

 

Grant Davis is a Data Modeler by day and a writer by night. His passion for computers started when he discovered instant messaging in junior high school. When Grant isn’t trying to climb through the computer screen he writes for BMC, a leading mainframe management provider.

Are you a midmarket organization looking to bring your IT environment to the next level? Click to learn more about how GreenPages can help!

 

cloud brokerage, Cloud computing

Guest Post: Who Controls the Cloud Market – Providers or Consumers?

Guest Post: Ilyas Iyoob, Director, Advanced Analytics and Sr. Research Scientist, PhD at Gravitant

We first went from reserving cloud capacity to securing capacity on-demand, and then we even started to bid for unused capacity in the spot market – all in an effort to decrease cost in the cloud.  Can we take this one step further?  Instead of us bidding for capacity, wouldn’t it be interesting if we can get providers to bid for our demand?

Retail Supply Chain Market Analogy

In fact, this is a common phenomena in the retail supply chain industry.  For example, Walmart has a large amount of freight that needs to be shipped between different cities over the course of the year.  So, every year an auction is conducted in which Walmart lists all their shipments, and carriers such as JB Hunt, Schneider, Yellow etc. bid for the opportunity to carry these shipments using their fleet of trucks.  The reason carriers are bidding for retailer demand is because in general, capacity exceeds demand in the retail industry.

Cloud Computing Market

Keeping this in mind, let us now take a look at the Cloud Computing Market.  Does capacity exceed demand or is it the other way around?  A quick way to find out is by observing spot prices in the cloud market.  In today’s market, Amazon’s Spot Instances are 86% cheaper than their on-demand instances, and Enomaly’s SpotCloud also shows lower spot prices across the board.  This leads us to believe that capacity exceeds demand in the cloud market as well.  A related indicator is the predominance of data center consolidation initiatives in both the commercial and government marketplaces.

Since capacity exceeds demand, consumers have an upper hand and are in control of the cloud market at the moment.  Moreover, they should be able to replicate what is being done in the retail supply chain industry.  In other words, cloud consumers should be able to auction off their demand to the best fit lowest price cloud provider.

So, …

Consumers should seize the opportunity and control the market while the odds are in their favor i.e. Demand < Capacity.  At the same time, Service Integrators and Value Added Resellers can help Enterprise IT consumers in this process by conducting Primary-Market auctions using Cloud Service Brokerage technology.

This post was originally published on Gravitant’s blog.

Cloud computing, CMaaS, Featured, Virtualization

Be Nimble, Be Quick: A CRN Interview with GreenPages’ CEO

CRN Senior Editor and industry veteran Steve Burke sat down with GreenPages’ CEO Ron Dupler to discuss shifts in ideology in the industry as well as GreenPages new Cloud Management as a Service (CMaaS) offering. The interview, which was originally posted on CRN.com, is below. What are your thoughts on Ron’s views of the changing dynamics of IT?

 

CRN:Talk about your new cloud offering.

Dupler:It is available today. We can support physical, virtual and cloud-based infrastructure through a single pane of glass today. We are actually using the technology internally as well.

There is another part of CMaaS that goes into cloud governance and governance models in a cloud world and cloud services brokerage. That is what we are integrating and bringing to market very soon.

CRN:How big a game-changer is CMaaS?

Dupler:I think we are going to be well out in front of the market with this. I personally believe we can go have discussions right now and bring technologies to bear to support those discussions that no one else in the industry can right now.

That said, we know that the pace of innovation is rapid and we expect other organizations are trying to work on these types of initiatives as well. But we believe we’ll be out front certainly for this year.

CRN:How does the solution provider business model change from 2013 to 2018?

Dupler:The way we are looking at our job and the job of the solution provider channel over the next several years through 2018 is to provide IT plan, build, run and governance services for the cloud world.

The big change is that the solution provider channel for many years has made their money off the fact that infrastructure fundamentally doesn’t work very well. And it has been all about architecting and integrating physical technologies and software platforms to support the apps and data that really add value for the business.

When we move to the cloud world, this is now about integrating service platforms as opposed to physical technologies. So it is about architecting and integrating on-premise and cloud service platforms really to create IT-as-a-Service to support the apps and data for the platform. That is the transition that is under way.

CRN:Does the GreenPages brand become bigger than the vendor brand and how does that affect vendor relations in the CMaaS era?

Dupler:We continue to closely evaluate all our key partner relationships. That is managed very closely. What we try to do is make sure we are partnered with the right companies that are really leading this transformation. And our number one partner because they are driving this transformation is VMware. With this whole software-defined data center concept and initiative, VMware has really laid out a great vision for where this market is going.

NEXT: Does Size Matter?

CRN:There is a prevailing view that solution providers need to go big or go home, with many solution providers selling their businesses. Do you see scale becoming more important — that you need to scale?

Dupler:No. People have been saying that for years. It is all about customer value and the talent of your team, if you are adding value for clients. You need to be able to service the client community. And they care about quality of service and the ability of your team. Not necessarily that you are huge. I have been down the M&A road and, as you know, we do M&A here on a smaller scale. And I will tell you there are pros and cons to it. You aggregate talent, but you also have got the inertia of pulling companies together and integrating companies and people and executive teams and getting through that.

I absolutely do not subscribe and never have subscribed to the fact that size in itself gives competitive advantage. There are some advantages, but there are also costs to doing that.

CRN:What is the ultimate measure for success in this new world?

Dupler:It is a combination of three things: technology, and I will firmly say it doesn’t have to be homegrown. It could be homegrown or it could be commercial off-the-shelf. It is the way the technology is leveraged and having the technologies with the ability to drive the services you are trying to provide. What we are trying to do with CMaaS is single pane of glass management for the physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure, which I have mentioned, as well as cloud service brokerage and cloud governance services. You can either develop those on your own or integrate partner technologies or both, but you need the supporting technology base and you need people and you need process.

CRN:How big a transition is this and what percentage of VARs do you think will make it to 2018?

Dupler:The companies that I think are going to have a huge challenge are the big product-centric organizations right now. The DMR [direct marketer] community. They have some big challenges ahead of them over time. All these guys are trying to come up with cloud strategies as well.

Right now there is a premium on being nimble. That is the word of the day for me in 2013. Nimble. You need nimble people and you need a nimble business organization because things are moving faster than they ever have. You just have to have a culture and people that can change quickly.

Going back to is it good just to be big? Sometimes it is hard to maintain [that agility] as you get really big. The magnitude of the change that is required to succeed over the next five years is extremely significant. And people that aren’t already under way with that change have a big challenge ahead of them.

CRN:What is the pace of change like managing in this business as a CEO vs. five years ago?

Dupler:It is exponential.

CRN:Is it tougher to manage in an environment like this?

Dupler:You say it is tougher, but there is more opportunity than ever because of the pace of change to really differentiate yourself. So it can be challenging but it is also very stimulating and exciting.

CRN:Give me five tips you need to thrive in 2018.

Dupler:First of all, you need hybrid cloud management capabilities.

Number two, you need cloud services brokerage capabilities. It is ultimately an ability to provide a platform for clients to acquire as-a-service technologies from GreenPages. To be able to sell the various forms of infrastructure, platform and software as a service.

Number three is cloud architecture and integration capabilities.

Fourth is product revenue and profit streams are not central to supporting the business. The service model needs to become a profitable, thriving stand-alone entity without the product revenue streams.

The fifth thing and it is the biggest challenge. One thing is migrating your technology organization. Then the next thing you need to do is create a services-based sales culture.

CRN:Talk about how big a change that is.

Dupler:It is a huge change. Again, if people are not already under way with this change they have a huge challenge ahead of them. Everybody I speak with in the industry — whether it is at [UBM Tech Channel’s] BoB conference or at partner advisory councils — everybody is challenged with this right now. The sales force in the solution provider industry has been old paradigm physical-technology-based and needs to move into a world where it is leading with professional and managed services. And that game is very different. So I think there are two ways to address that: one is hiring new types of talent or helping the talent we all have transform. It is going to be a combination of both that gets us ultimately where we need to be.

CRN:What do you think is the biggest mistake being made right now by competitors or vendors?

Dupler:What I see is people that are afraid to embrace the change that is under way and are really hanging on to the past. The biggest mistake I see right now is people continuing to evangelize solutions to customers that aren’t necessarily right by the customer, but conform to what they know and drive the most profit for their organizations.

Short-term gain isn’t going to drive long-term customer value. And we need to lead the customers forward through this transformation as opposed to perpetuating the past. The market needs leadership right now. The biggest challenge for people is not moving fast enough to transform their businesses.

This interview was originally posted on CRN.com

To learn more about GreenPages’ CMaaS offering click here!

CIO, Miscellaneous IT, Twitter

Top CIOs on Twitter

By Ben Stephenson, Journey to the Cloud

Vala Afshar (@valaafshar) of Enterasys Networks recently posted a list of the 50 most social CIOs on Twitter, along with 20 rising stars. If you’re on Twitter and looking to connect with peers and gain useful information, these CIOs are worth checking out. Vala’s list is below…What do you think? Did he leave anyone off that you think was worthy of making the list?

Top 50 CIOs on Twitter: [Name — Company, Twitter Alias]

  1. Oliver      Bussmann — SAP, @sapcio
  2. Jason      Smylie — Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, @capriottisjason
  3. Jonathan      Reichental — City of Palo Alto, CA, @Reichental
  4. Peter      Yared — CBS Interactive, @peteryared
  5. Mike Kail      — Netflix, @mdkail
  6. Brenda      Cooper — City of Kirkland, WA, @brendacooper
  7. Ben Grey      — Oak Lawn-Hometown District 123, IL, @bengrey
  8. John      Halamka — Beth Isreal Deaconess, @jhalamka
  9. Susan      Bearden — Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, @s_bearden
  10. Kelly      Walsh — College of Westchester, @EmergingEdTech
  11. Casey      Coleman — General Services Administration, @caseycoleman
  12. Victor      Fetter — LPL Financial, @vpfetter
  13. Joe Palmer      — Jefferson County, CO, @CIOJoe
  14. Phil      Komarny — Seton Hill University, @PhilKomarny
  15. Brett      Bobley — National Endowment for the Humanities, @brettbobley
  16. Rachel      Wente–Chaney — High Desert Education Service District, OR, @rwentechaney
  17. Ben Haines      — Pabst Brewing Co., @bhaines0
  18. Steven      VanRoekel — Executive Office of the President, @stevenvDC
  19. Aaron      Batalion — Livingsocial.com, @abatalion
  20. Dan Webber      — Prime Holdings BV, @SocialDanWebber
  21. Stephen      diFilipo — Cecil College, @S_dF
  22. Paul Slot      — KPN Corporate Market, @Tri4Ever
  23. Vivek      Kundra — Salesforce.com , @VivekKundra
  24. Sonny      Hashmi — Deputy Chief Information Officer, GSA, @sonny_h
  25. Michael      Skaff — LesConcierges, @mskaff
  26. Adam      Gerrard — LateRooms group, @CIO_Adam
  27. Linda      Cureton — NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, @curetonl
  28. Mark      Brewer — Seagate Technology, @brewerma
  29. Jos Creese      — Hampshire, @JosCreese
  30. Will      Weider — Ministry Health Care, @CandidCIO
  31. John David      Son — Naperville 203 School District, IL, @JDSCIO
  32. Kim      Stevenson — Intel Corporation, @Kimsstevenson
  33. Brian      Miller — Davenport University, @suydam
  34. Paul Coby      — CIO and Head of BA Services at British Airways, @PaulCoby
  35. Drex      DeFord — Steward Health Care, @drexdeford
  36. David      Sullivan — City of Norfolk, VA, @ciophoto
  37. Glenn      Lanteigne — South West LHIN, @GlennLanteigne
  38. Stephen      Lamb — British Columbia Institute of Technology, @SEE_EYE_OH
  39. Laurent      Maumet — SOITEC, @lmau
  40. Steve      Huffman — Memorial Health System of South Bend, @SteveHuffmanCIO
  41. Brian      Nettles — Sigma Solutions, Inc, @7bn
  42. Ganesan      Ravishanker — Wellesley University, @ravishan
  43. Jon Walton      — City of San Francisco, CA, @SFCityCIO
  44. Paul Dale      — ITV, @paulcdale
  45. Bruce Maas      — University of Wisconsin, @uwmadisonCIO
  46. Sean      O’Donoghue — DreamWorks Animation, @seanwod
  47. Susan      Kellogg — Kenan-Flagler Businss School, UNC, @susankellogg
  48. Thabo      Ndlela — Sun International, @ThaboNdlela
  49. Steve Spot      — Alarm New England , @SteveSpott
  50. Kelly      Flanagan — BYU, @kelflanagan

20 Rising Star CIOs on Twitter (Name — Company, Twitter Alias)

  1. Baz      Abouelenein — Kansas City Kansas Community College, @CIO_Baz
  2. A. Michael      Berman — California State University, Channel Islands, @amichaelberman
  3. Raechelle      Clemmons — St. Norbert University, @rclemmons
  4. Sabine      Everaet — Coca-Cola- Europe, @S_Everaet
  5. Scott      Fenton — Wind River Systems, @sdfenton
  6. Bill      Greeves — County of Roanoke, VA, @bgreeves
  7. David      Hinson — Hendrix College, @davidjhinson
  8. Rick      Holgate — Bureau of the ATF, @rickholgate
  9. Jeanette      Horan — IBM, @jeanettehoran
  10. Roxane      Reynolds-Lair — Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, @IBMiCiO
  11. Tom      LaPlante — Top Golf, @tomlap
  12. Ernest      Lehmann — Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Hospital, @ernestlehmann
  13. John D.      McMillen — Graves County Schools, Kentucky, @ujdmc
  14. Brian      Nettles — Sigma Solutions, Inc, @7bn
  15. Dan Petlon      — Enterasys, @DanPetlon
  16. Sukumar      Rajagopal — Cognizant Technology Solutions, @rsukumar
  17. Bill      Schrier — (former)City of Seattle, WA, @billschrier
  18. Wayne      Shurts — Sysco, @wayneshurts
  19. Trad      Robinson — SC School for the Deaf and Blind, @TradRobinson
  20. Joanna      Young — University of New Hampshire, @unhcio

 

Enjoy!

Cloud computing

Guest Post: A Wrinkle in the IT Universe

By Kai Gray, VP of Operations at Carbonite

I feel like tectonic plates are shifting beneath the IT world. I’ve been struggling to put my finger on what it is that is making me feel this way, but slowly things have started to come into focus. These are my thoughts on how cloud computing has forever changed the economics of IT by shifting the balance of power.

The cloud has fundamentally changed business models; it has shifted time-to-market, entry points and who can do what. These byproducts of massive elasticity are wrapped up in an even greater evolutionary change that is occurring right now: The cloud is having a pronounced impact on the supply chain, which will amount to a tidal wave of changes in the near-term that will cause huge pain for some and spawn incredible innovation and wealth for others. As I see it, the cloud has started a chain of events that will change our industry forever:

1) Big IT used to rule the datacenter. Not long ago, large infrastructure companies were at the heart of IT. The EMCs, Dells, Ciscos, HPs and IBMs were responsible for designing, sourcing, supplying and configuring the hardware that was behind nearly all of the computing and storage power in the world. Every server closest was packed full of name-brand equipment and the datacenter was no different. A quick tour of any datacenter would – and still will – showcase the wares of these behemoths of the IT world. These companies developed sophisticated supply and sales channels that produced great margins businesses built on some very good product. This included the OEMs and ODMs that produced bent metal to the VARs and distributors who then sold their finish products. Think of DeBeers, the diamond mine owner and distributor. What are the differences between a company like HP and DeBeers? Not very much, but the cloud began to change all that.

2) Cloud Computing. Slowly we got introduced to the notion of cloud computing. We started using products that put the resource away from us, and (slowly) we became comfortable with not needing to touch the hardware. Our email “lived” somewhere else, our backups “lived” somewhere else and our computing cycles “lived” somewhere else. With each incremental step, our comfort levels rose until it stopped being a question and turned into an expectation. This process set off a dramatic shift in supply chain economics.

3) Supply Chain Economics. The confluence of massive demand coupled with near-free products (driven by a need to expand customer acquisition) changed how people had to think about infrastructure. All of a sudden, cloud providers had to think about infrastructure in terms of true scalability. This meant acquiring and managing massive amounts of infrastructure at the lowest possible cost. This was/is fundamentally different from the way the HPs and Dells and Ciscos thought about the world. All of a sudden, those providers were unable to address the needs of this new market in an effective way. This isn’t to say that the big IT companies can’t, just that it’s hard for them. It’s hard to accept shrinking margin and “openness.”  The people brave enough to promote such wild ideas are branded as heretics and accused of rocking the boat (even as the boat is sinking). Eventually the economic and scale requirements forced cloud providers to tackle the supply chain and go direct.

4) Going Direct. As cloud providers begin to develop strong supply chain relationships and build up their competencies around hardware engineering and logistics, they begin to become more ingrained with the ODMs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_design_manufacturer) and other primary suppliers. Huge initiatives came into existence from the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook that are focused on driving down the cost of everything. For example, Google began working directly with Intel and AMD to develop custom chipsets that allow them to run at efficiency levels never before seen, and Facebook started the Open Compute Project that seeks to open-source design schematics that were once locked in vaults.

In short, the supply chain envelope gets pushed by anyone focused on cost and large-scale.

…and here it gets interesting.

Cloud providers now account for more supplier revenue than the Big IT companies. Or, maybe better stated — cloud providers account for more hope of revenue (HoR) than Big IT. So, what does that mean? That means that the Big IT companies no longer receive the biggest discounts available from the suppliers. The biggest discounts are going to the end users and the low-margin companies built solely on servicing the infrastructure needs of cloud providers. This means that Big IT is at even more of a competitive disadvantage than they already were. The cycle is now in full swing. If you think this isn’t what is happening, just look at HP and Dell right now. They don’t know how to interact with a huge set of end users without caving in their margins and cannibalizing their existing businesses. Some will choose to amputate while others will go down kicking, but margin declines and openness of information will take their toll with excruciating pain.

What comes of all this? I don’t know. But here are my observations:

1) Access to the commodity providers (ODMs and suppliers) is relatively closed. To be at all interesting to ODMs and suppliers you have to be doing things at enough volume that it is worthwhile for them to engage with you. That will change. The commodity suppliers will learn how to work in different markets but there will be huge opportunity for companies that help them get there. When access to ODMs and direct suppliers gets opened up to traditional Enterprise companies so they can truly and easily take advantage of commodity hardware through direct access to suppliers then, as they say, goodnight.

2) Companies that provide some basic interfaces between the suppliers and the small(er) consumers will do extremely well. For me, this means configuration management of some sort, but it could be anything that helps accelerate the linkage between supplier and end-user . The day will come when small IT shops have direct access to suppliers and are able to custom-build hardware in same way that huge cloud providers do today. Some might argue that there is no need for small shops to do this — that they can use other cloud providers, that it’s too time consuming to do it on their own, and that their needs are not unique enough to support such a relationship. Yes, yes, and yes… for right now. Make it easy for companies to realize the cost and management efficiencies of direct supplier access and I don’t know of anyone that wouldn’t take you up on that. Maybe this is the evolution of the “private cloud” concept but all I know is that, right now, the “private cloud” talk is being dominated by the Big IT folks so the conflict of interest is too great.

3) It’s all about the network. I don’t think the network is being addressed in the same way as other infrastructure components. I almost never hear about commodity “networks,” yet I constantly hear about commodity “hardware.” I’m not sure why. Maybe Cisco and Juniper and the other network providers are good at deflecting or maybe it’s too hard of a problem to be solved or maybe the cost isn’t a focal point (yet). Whatever the reason, I think this is a huge problem/opportunity. Without the network, everything else can just go away. Period. The entire conversation driving commodity-whatever is predicated around delivering lots of data to people at very low-cost. The same rules that drive commoditization need to be applied to the network and right now I only know of 1 or 2 huge companies that are even thinking in these terms.

There are always multiple themes in play at any given time that, when looking back, we summarize as change. People say that the Internet changed everything. And, before that, the PC changed everything. What we’re actually describing is a series of changes that happened over a period of time that have the cumulative effect of making us say, “How did we ever do X without Y?” I believe that the commoditization of infrastructure is just one theme among the change that will be described as Cloud Computing. I contend, however, the day is almost upon us when everybody, from giant companies to the SMB, will say, “Why did we ever buy anything but custom hardware directly from the manufacturer?”

This post originally appeared on kaigray.com.  It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of GreenPages Technology Solutions.

To Learn more about GreenPages Cloud Computing Practice click here.

Cloud computing

IT Multi-Tasking: I Was Told There’d Be No Math

By Ben Sawyer, Solutions Engineer

 

The term “multi-tasking” basically means doing more than one thing at once.  I am writing this blog while playing Legos w/ my son & helping my daughter find New Hampshire on the map.  But I am by no means doing more than one thing at once; I’m just quickly switching back & forth between the three which is referred to ask “context switching.”  Context switching in most cases is very costly.  There is a toll to be paid in terms of productivity when ramping up on a task before you can actually tackle that task. In an ideal world (where I also have a 2 handicap) one has the luxury to do a task from start to finish before starting a new task.  My son just refuses to let me have 15 minutes to write this blog because apparently building a steam roller right now is extremely important.  There is a sense of inertia when you work on a task after a short while because you begin to really concentrate on the task at hand.  Since we know it’s nearly impossible to put ourselves in a vacuum & work on one thing only, the best we can hope for is to do “similar” things (i.e., in the same context) at the same time.  Let’s pretend I have to email my co-worker that I’m late writing a blog, shovel my driveway, buy more Legos at Amazon.com, & get the mail (okay, I’m not pretending).  Since emailing & buying stuff online both require me to be in-front of my laptop and shoveling & going to my mailbox require me to be outside my house (my physical location), it would be far more efficient to do the tasks in the same “context” at the same time.  Think of the time it takes to get all bundled up & the time it takes to power on your laptop to get online.  Doing a few things at once usually means that you will not do that task as well (its quality) as you would have had you done it uninterrupted.  The more closely, time-wise, you can do a task usually means the better you will do that task since it will be “fresher” in your mind.  So…

  • Entire Task A + Entire Task B = Great Task A & Great Task B.
  • 1/2 Task A + Entire Task B + 1/2 Task A = Okay Task A & Excellent Task B.
  • 1/2 Task A + 1/2 Task B + 1/2 Task A + 1/2 Task B = Good Task A & Good Task B

Why does this matter?  Well, because the same exact concept applies to computers & the software we write.  A single processor can do one thing at a time only (let’s forget threads), but it can context switch extremely fast which gives the illusion of multi-tasking.  But, like a human, context switching has a cost for a computer.  So, when you write code try to do many “similar” things at the same time.  If you have a bunch of SQL queries to execute then you should open a connection to the database first, execute them, & close the connection.  If you need to call some VMware APIs then you should connect to vCenter first, do them, & close the connection.  Opening & closing connections to any system is often slow so group your actions by context which, in this case, are systems.  This also makes the code easier to read.  Speaking of reading, here’s a great example of the cost of context switching.  The author Tom Clancy loves to switch characters & plot lines every chapter.  This makes following the story very hard & whenever you put the book down & start reading again it’s nearly impossible to remember where you left off b/c there’s never, ever a good stopping point.  Tom Clancy’s writing is one of the best examples of how costly context switching is.

So, what does this have to do with cloud computing?  Well, it ties in directly with automation & orchestration.  Automation is doing the work & orchestration is determining the order in which work is done.  Things can get complicated quickly when numerous tasks need to be executed & it’s not immediately apparent which need to run first & which are dependent on other tasks.  And, once that is all figured out, what happens when a task fails?  While software executes linearly, an orchestration engine provides the ability to run multiple pieces of software concurrently.  And that’s where things get complicated real fast.  Sometimes it may make sense to execute things serially (one at a time) vs. in parallel (more than one at a time) simply b/c it becomes very hand to manage more than one task at the same time.

We live in a world in which there are 10 different devices from which we can check our email and, if we want, we can talk to our smartphone & ask it to read our email to us.  Technology has made it easy for us to get information virtually any time & in any format we want.  However, it is because of this information overload that our brains have trouble separating all the useful information from the white noise.  So we try to be more productive and we multi-task but that usually means we’re becoming more busy than productive.  In blogs to follow, I will provide some best practices for determining when it makes sense to run more than one task at a time.  Now, if you don’t mind, I need to help my daughter find Maine…

 

Miscellaneous IT, Project management

Project Managing Like Bill Belichick

By Jamey Beland, Project Manager, PMP

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that being a project manager leading a virtualization or IT project is identical to coaching a professional team the way Bill Belichick coaches the Patriots (sorry New Yorkites).  Hear me out on this.   A project manager and a coach each have the responsibility of delivering on the objectives of the stakeholder and owner. Each plans their strategy and objectives prior to starting the game.  Each has to make adjustments to the plan and strategy depending on circumstances and how the project or game progress (sorry Eagles fans).  Each has to work with some unique personnel in the project; (Divas don’t just exist in sports.)  Each has to lead a multifaceted and talented team to achieve a goal.  Ultimately each game is a basic project or at a minimum, a phase in a larger project which is to win the Lombardi trophy.

In coaching and in Project Managing, the key basic principles are the same; setting expectations, having the players or project team provide input, and facilitating communication.  My colleague Craig Mullen hit on this in a previous posts: Active Project Management; Facilitate, Don’t Dictate.   Think about it, if someone does not know what is expected from him or her, how can they realistically do their job? You can’t win a game if you don’t know the rules.  This applies to the coaches knowing their role, just as much as the players knowing their role.  A PM’s role is to ensure that the each player clearly understands the expectations of the stakeholders and sponsors, just as a coach must be in sync with the owner and GMs. Furthermore, the PM or coach is responsible for ensuring the players and project members clearly understand their roles and responsibilities; this is done through project charters, project plans, scope objectives, and thorough communication prior to any project execution.  This is a key reason the Krafts have done so well owning the Patriots.  Each player on the Patriots knows what is expected out of them; as the Pat’s saying goes, “Just Do Your Job.”  The ones that get out of line a bit too much, might as well pack their bags (i.e. Randy Moss not playing the Patriot Way)!

Whether football team owners or project owners, the good ones seem to clearly understand the need for good project management and not let a player run the team  or an engineer run the project.  Just as in the early years of football and professional sports, it was not uncommon to have a player / coach running the team.  Similarly, in the earlier and debatably less complicated days of IT projects, it was not uncommon to have a Sr. Engineer double up and also be the project manager.

Just because someone is a great owner/director or engineer/player, it does not make them suitable or capable of coaching a team or managing a project.  Robert Kraft is a great football team owner with deep understanding of how the game is played, however, he looks at the bigger picture: the stadium, personnel, marketing and ultimately the bottom line.  Thus he has Belichick actually run the team. And it’s why Tom Brady is not put in a player/coach position. Tom may be good at QBing, however, can he realistically coordinate and ensure all positions on offense are focusing on what they need to do as well as his responsibilities?  Never mind the Defense,  Just as a CIO or Director of IT certainly has an overarching knowledge of the game being played in IT, but to actually direct it would take their eye off of the proverbial ball of the other aspects of the business that needs to be overseen.  As any professional knows, focus on your job and do it well; that’s the Patriot’s way.

In a football game the 1st possession and maybe the 2nd possession plays are already predetermined, however, as the game progresses the strategy adjusts based on previous success as well as what the other team is giving you.  Just as in a project, you initially setup the work breakdown structure, risk management plan, communication plan, etc. but as the project moves forward there typically needs to be some adjustments made based on progress, issues, new information etc. This is where agile project management is best: being able to plan, execute and monitor and control iterations in a typical waterfall project are key..  If Belichick realizes that the opponent is taking out Wes Welker, Gronk, and the other receivers before they really get off the line and the passing game isn’t there, he and Josh McDaniels (Offensive Coord) will look at moving the ball maybe by running a bit more, or doing screen passes.  As in virtualization projects, if there are roadblocks in the initial plan, alternatives need to be determined on how to move that project “ball.”  Basically, just as in football, there needs to be flexibility in an IT project.

Each project is a game with a beginning and end.  It’s crucial to have someone that not only specializes in working with different players’ needs, but who can also incorporate their input into the game and ensures all players understand their roles and responsibilities.  Add to that clear communication, it just becomes a matter of execution to win each game, I mean IT project, and have a successful season.

And though coaching the Patriots and Managing an IT infrastructure project is ALMOST the same, we do need to figure out how to get a project manager paid like Belichick…oh, and maybe some cheerleaders for the project?

Want to learn more about GreenPages Project Management? Email us at projects@greenpages.com

EPP, Miscellaneous IT, VMware

You Down with VMware’s EPP? Yeah You Know Me

By: Rob O’Shaughnessy

Remember the last time you were at Chuck E. Cheese, whether you were there with your kids or by yourself (maybe you like Jasper T. Jowls rhythm guitar or you just like the pizza) and you wanted to play skee-ball or whack-a-mole.  To pay for those and the other arcade games, you didn’t just shove a dollar bill into the machine, but rather, you had to use the Chuck E. Cheese tokens.  Remember those? They were brass coins with Sir Chuck’s face on it.  You probably still have some in your change drawer next to that Canadian dollar you’ll never use.  For Chuck E. Cheese it was their own currency that you could use to purchase Chuck E. Cheese products and the more tokens you purchased the better discount you received on Chuck E. Cheese goods.  It’s a simple concept and I guess VMware must have talked to Nolan Bushnell because VMware has started their own token-based purchase program that can be used to buy VMware licensing just like a kid would use a 1000 tokens to purchase a fuzzy head troll.

VMware has always offered two licensing purchase programs that were on opposite sides of the spectrum.  There is the VPP (Volume Pricing Program) which is geared towards small to medium sized end users that requires a minimum purchase of $25K MSRP.  On the other side, VMware offers their ELA (Enterprise License Agreement) for large organizations looking to spend upwards to a million dollars or more on VMware licenses.  But what about the middle class customers who didn’t have a licensing program that provided discounts to fit their needs.  Now for those types of end users looking to spend between $250K to $1M and didn’t want to jump into an ELA and are too big for VPP, well VMware now has you covered.  Introducing the new EPP (Enterprise Purchase Program!!!).  I just rambled on about Chuck E. Cheese tokens.  Can you guess what VMware is doing?

VMware just announced their new EPP which is a purchasing program designed for mid-level end-users that offer discounts and greater flexibility without the complexity that sometimes comes with an ELA.  It’s a vehicle that allows end users to buy tokens that are redeemable online for a broad range of VMware product licenses and associated production support and subscription (SnS) during a three-year period and is suited for those looking to make a strategic and long term investment with VMware.  Basically, it’s a program designed to fit a customer who may be too big for a VPP program and too small to sign up for an ELA—the middle guy/gal.

EPP is a token-based program where end users purchase a set of tokens which can be redeemed for most VMware software licensing products.  SnS is automatically added where applicable.  The token to dollar ratio is frozen on a per deal basis and the MSRP is $100 per token.  So we’re talking about a minimum order of 2,500 tokens to get into EPP which is $250,000. The tokens last for 3 years and there is no refund for unused tokens.  End users can distribute their tokens among their projects or departments giving them flexibility to choose their own products whenever they want.

Basically an end user would purchases a bunch of tokens and these tokens go on the MyVMware portal allowing one to redeem these tokens to pick and choose whatever licensing products they need.  The end user doesn’t have to go to their reseller to get a quote and place a licensing order.  With EPP, it’s prepaid and one just redeems the licensing they need off their portal.  Just like a kid at Chuck E. Cheese can run around using his or her tokens to pay for arcade games until he or she runs out or throws up and is forced to go home.  I suppose that since Chuck E. Cheese sells beer, this could also happen to an adult.  Here’s a little caveat though, tokens can’t be used for PSO, renewals or anything else besides software and SnS.  Customers can add tokens to an active contract at any time (minimum of $50K worth for additional tokens).

Features:

An end user would purchase tokens from a VMware partner (like us) as a sku and a quote would be created depending on how many tokens are needed.  There are different skus for different discount levels.  The more tokens one buys, the better discount they get on the token ranging between $250K – $600K.  The end user can then redeem their tokens on their MyVMware portal for VMware licensing products.  The SnS starts when the end user redeems a license and is co-termed to the end of the program term.  EPP grants access to future products ensuring one gets the “latest and greatest.” The license is immediately delivered.  When end users redeem their tokens the license keys are delivered to the MyVMware account.  Once an EPP is started, the end user has 3 years to use their tokens.

So what are the benefits to you, the end user?

For one it’s the Discounts.

EPP offers significant discounts specifically designed for mid-tier enterprise customers. The more tokens purchased the better discounts received on the tokens.

Mix & Matching Anytime. EPP provides the flexibility to mix and match VMware products.  It allows one to purchase any combination of SW licenses within the 3 year term of the EPP.   The flexibility to purchase any time gives you the ability to adapt to fluctuating business and project needs.  If more licenses are required and the tokens have run out, additional tokens can be purchase at the original discounted price.

Easy Management allows the tokens to be redeemed by anyone in the company designated by the customer’s “Fund Owner” (who is an individual in the company who enrolls in EPP and has the authority to purchase, receive and redeem EPP tokens in the MyVMware portal…basically the Nucky Thompson of the company.)  Say the desktop group needs more View licenses. The Fund Owner can set them up to have their own set of tokens to make a purchase. EPP provides access to Future VMware products.

Last, Quick Processing because since EPP is a sku, it can be processed as quickly as VPP and doesn’t require processes required to purchase an ELA.

How EPP Works:  3 Steps

1.)    An end user enrolls in the VPP online enrollment portal at www.vmware.com/go/purchasenow  New customers are required to enroll in either VPP, VPP & EPP, or EPP Only.  EPP Only option is for customers previously enrolled in VPP.  When enrolled, the end user will receive a VPP membership number and approved company name.

2.)    The end user receives a proposed purchase order from their reseller.  The proposal includes the: A.) Estimated amount of tokens that the end user would use over a 3 year term, B) the EPP discount, and C.) EPP Sku.  The end user then communicates the approval of the purchase order to their reseller.

3.)    After the EPP order is processed, tokens will be available on the end user’s MyVMware portal.  End Users can redeem the tokens for SW products receiving the licensing immediately.  When redeeming the tokens the Fund Owner must name a reseller who helped them with the redemption.

The EPP on MyVMware Site:

All the information to redeem tokens after the purchase has been made is on the end user’s MyVMware site.  The site includes an interactive GUI tool that allows the Fund Owner to manage and redeem the tokens.  The Fund Owner(s) will purchase VMware licensing products with their tokens.  The price of the product is on the site and will automatically include the SnS.  The Fund Owner can also create sub funds for different departments to use.  For instance they can create a bucket of funds for the desktop group or the server group and provide access to the site so those users can redeem their bucket of tokens for their own products.  The Fund Owner can transfer tokens between sub funds if a group happens to run out or a group has a surplus they’re not using.   The portal includes charts that detail how many tokens are left and a countdown on how much time is remaining on their EPP.

This is definitely a new and unique way of purchasing VMware.  If you’re interested in learning more about EPP please contact us.