Where
do we really learn about what’s new with NonStop? Who do we turn to for the
real skinny on all things NonStop? It’s when the NonStop community comes
together at RUG meetings where it all happens!
Many of the miles Margo and I accumulate on our cars,
in any one year, have to do with driving to Regional User Group (RUG) meetings.
For us both, it’s an integral part of the culture that is NonStop. We wouldn’t
miss an event held anywhere in North America if we can attend and oftentimes
memories of past meetings are only triggered when we remember which car we
drove to the event. There were even times where we elected to drive our former
Company Command Center clear across country. Maneuvering the RV in and around
Virginia proved a daunting task I have to admit!
But then again, we like to drive. This past month it’s
been all about the drive, once again. If you come up short on the specifics of
those recent trips, you may want to just check back through recent posts to
this blog as well as to the January post to our social blog, Buckle-Up. All up,
driving is a time to decompress and to simply take solace from a little
downtime. How many times have we started our day looking forward to pursuing a
task only to have the day’s plans turned upside down with an email or a phone
call? For the NonStop community, particularly the NonStop user community, so
much is taking place within our companies that simply staying atop of change is
proving particularly challenging.
Long gone are the days sitting in a classroom setting
listening to knowledgeable instructors talking about how best to leverage our
investment in NonStop. It is perhaps a sad commentary on the times when we no
longer have budget approval to upgrade our skills – remember those times when
we would happily participate in a three-week course on data base, especially
when the fundamentals of a relational data base management system (and SQL) were being
covered? Or when there was an in-depth tutorial on how best to capitalize on
the features of a transaction monitor like Pathway? Point is, if we cannot find
a Youtube clip walking us through a process then we are left bereft of
knowledge and that’s never good in our world of IT.
Fortunately, the NonStop community has RUG events. For
as long as I can recall, there has always been some form of education involved,
whether directly through an optional half-day session or indirectly, where a
NonStop engineer or product manager is presenting. When it comes to the bigger
events that are held annually either here in the US or in Europe, there are
frequently front-ended by full days’ worth of education and the value that
participants derive from the guidance and information provided is well,
priceless. It cannot be underestimated or downplayed in any way – gathering of
the NonStop community always communicate something beneficial to the
participants no matter the focus of the event or the agendas of the presenters.
Shortly, we will see SunTUG kick-off its much
anticipated RUG event in Tampa, Florida. Anticipated, that is, by all those who
continue to be knee-deep in snow. Any opportunity to embrace the “snowbird
lifestyle” is welcome at this time of year. I have attended several SunTUG
events through the years and the team that puts the program together always
makes sure that there is a social day immediately following the formalities.
Once again, it will be the SunTUG Golf Tournament. Living alongside a golf
course in Northern Colorado these days is no substitute for being on a course
in Florida and I am expecting a goodly crowd to show up for both the formal and
social portions of the event.
Successful RUG events have traditionally been associated with opportunities to socialize. And this is an important aspect of RUG events as it’s always a time for informal discussions on matters raised at the event. Strategies can be fine-tuned and complex infrastructure options all sorted out. In days when there’s an absence of meaningful user case studies oftentimes, it is over networking opportunities where we jet the skinny on what really works and what’s still very much slideware. Who else should you be turning to other than to a colleague that is already a couple of steps further along the product deployment path than you are?
Successful RUG events have traditionally been associated with opportunities to socialize. And this is an important aspect of RUG events as it’s always a time for informal discussions on matters raised at the event. Strategies can be fine-tuned and complex infrastructure options all sorted out. In days when there’s an absence of meaningful user case studies oftentimes, it is over networking opportunities where we jet the skinny on what really works and what’s still very much slideware. Who else should you be turning to other than to a colleague that is already a couple of steps further along the product deployment path than you are?
When it comes to NonStop RUG events in 2020 what may
very well top the list of topics being covered will be virtualization. This is
very much a topic near and dear to my heart having first tested the
virtualization waters five decades ago (yes, I was a child prodigy as I keep
reminding myself). Replacing traditional converged NonStop systems with virtual
machines is well, different. After being inundated for decades with the message
that Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) computing models were the way to go
and that having many touchpoints to the metal was important, it’s as if we have
left dry land and are all at sea – the seabed now hundreds if not thousands of
feet beneath us.
The novelty of Virtualized NonStop is beginning to wear
off, fortunately. And yet that feeling of being out of our depth, with no
lifeboat, to be seen is a reoccurring thought many of us are having – will
NonStop lose its identity, for instance? If NonStop is out there, running atop
hypervisors as a collection of virtual machines, does it even exist? Of course,
any existential musings we may experience may only alleviate part of our angst
that is, until we catch up with the experts at the very next RUG event! Want to
know about lifeboats when all at sea? Just talk to a NonStop solutions
architect or someone from product management as they pretty much have the
seabed all mapped out for us.
This time last year I was all at sea, literally. On the
Majestic Princess – a monstrously large vessel that is a city more than a mode
of transportation. One of its features was a glass walkway that curved away
from the ship all the better to view the sea below and yes, the lifeboats still
in their derricks just a few decks above the waterline. Several times, late at
night when it was all quiet on deck, I would walk out onto this glass deck just
to watch the waters rushing by – for a big ship, the Majestic could ease any
concerns you may have for your safety. It was a modern ship and as such, its
propulsion system ensured that at that late hour, it could cut through the
waters at a high rate of knots.
When it comes to RUG events, it’s unrealistic to view them as our life rafts. Yes, NonStop is moving forward very rapidly and yes, we no longer have our feet on dry land. And yet, knowing we can turn to life rafts should situations develop is comforting. There is so much to be learnt from RUG events: Isn’t it good to know that, with the speed of change taking place with today’s modern NonStop, there’s no reason at all why we need to lack knowledge on any NonStop related topic. It’s all out there and it’s all accessible.
When it comes to RUG events, it’s unrealistic to view them as our life rafts. Yes, NonStop is moving forward very rapidly and yes, we no longer have our feet on dry land. And yet, knowing we can turn to life rafts should situations develop is comforting. There is so much to be learnt from RUG events: Isn’t it good to know that, with the speed of change taking place with today’s modern NonStop, there’s no reason at all why we need to lack knowledge on any NonStop related topic. It’s all out there and it’s all accessible.
Comments