We are in the middle of yet another road trip, driving
across the United States. This time, it’s a trip that will take us to the east
coast to visit with former colleagues and good friends and as it’s been “in the
works” for some time, actually pulling out from our driveway allowed us to let
go and to breath. Our carriage of choice for this trip is our Jaguar F Type – a
first expansive road trip for the small sports car but it’s the all-wheel-drive
version shod in all-season tires (with the Mud and Snow rating) so we are
hopeful that the snow that fell on us just a few days ago proves to be an
isolated instance.
“There's real life for you, embodied in that little cart,” said Toad to Mole and Rat in the book, Wind in the Willows. “The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling downs! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!” Fair enough; we may not be in Toad’s prized cart but the sentiment expressed is understandable. Revisiting this quote, it was the “horizon that’s always changing” that caught my attention as when it comes to HPE and NonStop, it’s as if the horizon is simply mist that appears every now and then before vanishing mysteriously into thin air!
This begs the question, naturally enough, as to whether there is a visible horizon for NonStop. So much change has taken place – the management, the teams, the products, the partnerships and much more. Could we say, paraphrasing Toad, “There's real life for you, embodied in that NonStop system!” As the premier offering for mission critical transaction processing, it may not be real life, per se, but doesn’t it strike you that without NonStop, real life may not have progressed to where it is today? It’s no secret that the world’s financial institutions all have connections to at least one mission critical application somewhere in the world where a NonStop system is actively involved.
“There's real life for you, embodied in that little cart,” said Toad to Mole and Rat in the book, Wind in the Willows. “The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling downs! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!” Fair enough; we may not be in Toad’s prized cart but the sentiment expressed is understandable. Revisiting this quote, it was the “horizon that’s always changing” that caught my attention as when it comes to HPE and NonStop, it’s as if the horizon is simply mist that appears every now and then before vanishing mysteriously into thin air!
This begs the question, naturally enough, as to whether there is a visible horizon for NonStop. So much change has taken place – the management, the teams, the products, the partnerships and much more. Could we say, paraphrasing Toad, “There's real life for you, embodied in that NonStop system!” As the premier offering for mission critical transaction processing, it may not be real life, per se, but doesn’t it strike you that without NonStop, real life may not have progressed to where it is today? It’s no secret that the world’s financial institutions all have connections to at least one mission critical application somewhere in the world where a NonStop system is actively involved.
Recently, I had an OpEd column returned to me for
reworking because it contained too many references to NonStop systems and their
support of payments solutions. The publication was aimed at banks and fintechs
and yet the editorial team was totally blindsided by my observations concerning
the pervasiveness of NonStop within the financial services industry. With
hindsight, I don’t think that these journalists fully understood the payments
switching aspect of payments nor were they aware of just how many ATMs are
connected to NonStop systems.
You rent a car from Hertz and it’s my understanding that a NonStop system is involved. You stop by a MacDonalds and yes, again, unless I am corrected at some point, there is a NonStop system that’s also involved. I rent a Mercedes Benz or a Porsche in the full knowledge that a NonStop system helped with the assembling of the vehicle. I use my Visa debit card and yet again, a NonStop system plays a big part in making sure he transaction completes to my satisfaction. When you are driving towards that horizon that’s always changing, there is plenty of time to reflect on just how engaged NonStop systems are in nearly every aspect of our daily lives.
Several years ago I wrote an opinion paper for HPE that highlighted the many use-cases for NonStop systems that weren’t deployed by financial institutions or telcos. The paper, HP NonStop systems as you haven’t seen them before is still available on HPE’s web site and you can easily download the PDF. Yes, it’s now five years old and I haven’t had an opportunity to revisit the specifics but I know many of the users continue to run NonStop today.
You rent a car from Hertz and it’s my understanding that a NonStop system is involved. You stop by a MacDonalds and yes, again, unless I am corrected at some point, there is a NonStop system that’s also involved. I rent a Mercedes Benz or a Porsche in the full knowledge that a NonStop system helped with the assembling of the vehicle. I use my Visa debit card and yet again, a NonStop system plays a big part in making sure he transaction completes to my satisfaction. When you are driving towards that horizon that’s always changing, there is plenty of time to reflect on just how engaged NonStop systems are in nearly every aspect of our daily lives.
Several years ago I wrote an opinion paper for HPE that highlighted the many use-cases for NonStop systems that weren’t deployed by financial institutions or telcos. The paper, HP NonStop systems as you haven’t seen them before is still available on HPE’s web site and you can easily download the PDF. Yes, it’s now five years old and I haven’t had an opportunity to revisit the specifics but I know many of the users continue to run NonStop today.
If you
have trouble with the hyperlink above you can cut and paste this link into your
browser - https://techlibrary.hpe.com/docs/enterprise/servers/nonstop/Beyond-Finance-and-Telco.pdf
Whenever we talk about NonStop on trips like this, it’s
not uncommon to hear responses such as “Does business still run on NonStop?”
Or, even more to the point, “Hasn’t NonStop been replaced – doesn’t everyone
run Linux?” As for my personal favorite, it continues to be “NonStop, eh? Do
they even make them anymore?” I have to admit that of late HPE is doing a much
better job of including NonStop references in presentations by executives and
whenever presentations featuring Mission Critical Systems are given there is
NonStop clearly visible in the PowerPoint slides.
HPE’s enthusiasm for NonStop was a topic I touched on
in my latest article just published in the October issue of NonStop Insider, Opinion – Is the NonStop
community growing? In that article you
will read that:
It’s a known fact that HPE doesn’t break down the numbers by
product line, but even so, it’s not too difficult to extrapolate and come up
with numbers. As for supporting evidence all you have to look at is the uptick
in numbers of NonStop customers attending regional and major user group
meetings
Enterprises are being given options unlike anything
previously coming from HPE. You want out of IT and want to run everything
virtualized, cloud-like, but secured, supported and operated by HPE? You got it
[with vNonStop and Greenlake]! You want your new NonStop X delivered dockside
of your data center? You got that as well [with traditional NonStop]!
And then there is the new mantra concerning embedded
technology – in an always connected, always communicating world, technology
will be embedded in new products, many of which are still on the drawing
boards.
Again, should you have trouble with the hyperlink above
and would like to read the article in full, you can cut and paste this link
into your browser -
Transaction Processing today has exploded and the
transaction volumes being bandied about are mind blowing. And yet, as you
travel the “open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common” and much more,
you quickly come to appreciate that everyone is initiating a transaction almost
everywhere you turn. Having said this, we have also seen those signs that
inform customers that they are only accepting cash as their systems and
networks are down. Cards, not being accepted at the gas pump, is the worst as
it forces you inside to join a line only to be told that yes, the pumps are
being upgraded but no, they don’t know when the upgrade will be completed.
It is as if we all know NonStop is the answer but have we become reticent of late to be seen promoting NonStop to our executives and management? We shouldn’t be defensive any longer and that is the overriding sentiment we have been experiencing while on the road – the silence in meeting rooms is totally unnecessary. NonStop really does have the answers to every question that arises over transaction processing. Yes, you can cluster and yes, you distribute but at what cost? Layering more and more software in order to perform even the most simplest of transaction processing doesn’t make the system more reliable. Quite the contrary – it only adds to complexity and complexity is the enemy of reliability.
It is as if we all know NonStop is the answer but have we become reticent of late to be seen promoting NonStop to our executives and management? We shouldn’t be defensive any longer and that is the overriding sentiment we have been experiencing while on the road – the silence in meeting rooms is totally unnecessary. NonStop really does have the answers to every question that arises over transaction processing. Yes, you can cluster and yes, you distribute but at what cost? Layering more and more software in order to perform even the most simplest of transaction processing doesn’t make the system more reliable. Quite the contrary – it only adds to complexity and complexity is the enemy of reliability.
HPE IT knows this. HPE executives know this too and for
the majority of the NonStop vendor community NonStop remains their primary
supported platform. Isn’t it about time we tell the story of NonStop, “seven
nines,” and yes, of how NonStop continues to provide so many options for
enterprises looking at how best to keep up with processing transactions today?
Tell stories from the road? No kidding – and this is what it really is all
about. We see it in our daily lives so yes, leave it to Toad to sum it up best.
“Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon
that’s always changing!”
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