Call it the new normal, the not normal or
even the new abnormal, our world as we knew it when we celebrated the new year
is long gone; on the other hand, for IT and NonStop things are becoming
clearer, with a meaning …
One of the more enjoyable aspects of spending my days
writing is that it is a legitimate excuse to leave the family and go hole up in
my office. In so doing, I can switch off and put the rigors of daily life
behind me. I can escape into a world of my own making, right? Well, not
exactly! More like only after I have helped clean up after breakfast, assisted
in making our bed and even taking out the trash.
Yet, it goes without saying, the escape is real even as
the opportunity to lose myself in my work overrides all else. For the record –
my wife’s view on all this is totally different to mine – Margo claims I use my
writing as an excuse to retreat to my office leaving the breakfast mess for her
to clean up. Statistically she is probably right, but those 4 times this year
when I cleaned up after breakfast just stuck with me!
It was while I
was looking at stories for ideas about possible themes for new stories that I came
across an article that stated unequivocally that we were in transition to the
new abnormal. This was the title of a vinyl LP released by the American group,
The Strokes. Unfamiliar as I am with the group this led me to look at the
lyrics of the songs hoping that indeed there was a title track of the same
name. But no, while their lyrics wondered all over the place, this short but
sweet title was the only reference to the new abnormal.
It was only a short time ago that I posted to Margo and
my social blog, Buckle-Up, a post with the heading, The
new normal; are you ready? But the thought that perhaps it isn’t the new
normal that we are anticipating but rather, the new abnormal! Of course while
carrying out my chores before heading to the office I also had to dress for the
office – something I am sure you are pleased to read – and while pulling on my
Clarke loafers, I realized that no matter how disciplined we happen to be and
despite the routines we follow by rote, there is nothing normal whatsoever
about where our journey is taking us. The global pandemic, apparently in
retreat according to pundits and politicians, will not see a return to anything
remotely associated with normalcy but rather to the beginning of a new era.
This isn’t something to be said in jest or taken lightly. No, if you haven’t read about this as yet then take it from me that you are reading about it here first; the past is in the past and to some extent, it was best left to Nelson Mandela when he said, “Forget the past.” On the other hand, it was a more forceful statement by former Chicago Bears football coach, Mike Ditka (and probably spoken following an embarrassing loss on the field) to say it in a style only his fans could appreciate, “I don’t believe in living in the past. Living in the past is for cowards. If you live in the past, you die in the past.”
This isn’t something to be said in jest or taken lightly. No, if you haven’t read about this as yet then take it from me that you are reading about it here first; the past is in the past and to some extent, it was best left to Nelson Mandela when he said, “Forget the past.” On the other hand, it was a more forceful statement by former Chicago Bears football coach, Mike Ditka (and probably spoken following an embarrassing loss on the field) to say it in a style only his fans could appreciate, “I don’t believe in living in the past. Living in the past is for cowards. If you live in the past, you die in the past.”
Then there are these lyrics by the Moody Blues many of
us will recall:
Do
you understand
That all over this land
There's a feeling
In minds far and near
Things are becoming clear
With a meaning
That all over this land
There's a feeling
In minds far and near
Things are becoming clear
With a meaning
For the NonStop community after so many decades of
relevance and for so long the premier fault tolerant offering at the very heart
of some of the biggest names on the Fortune 500, things are becoming clear;
with a meaning. Have you found time to read the post of May 14, 2020 How
easy it is to NonStop! ? In the closing comments of this post you will read
of how business continuity in these times is of paramount importance. Having
proven business continuity plans in reach at all times is a necessity.
Deploying NonStop simplifies it further.
The connection? The significance? It’s all about
continuity in times where it’s not just about business or indeed product but about
all that we view as being important to us. Clearly, in talking to many within
the NonStop community we had few plans in place to better support live
continuity but then again, we didn’t have a feeling that we would be facing a
global pandemic. Then again, Margo and I happily stepped about the Emerald
Princess for a cruise deep into the south Pacific in February with only a passing
concern about this new flu strain that seemed to be affecting some folks.
NonStop has carved its niche in the marketplace by
accommodating what’s thrown at us. Availability isn’t just an attribute it’s an
attitude. NonStop doesn’t stop is not a catch phrase; it’s what NonStop does.
And yes, there is a marketplace for permanent availability – something the
NonStop community was reluctant to embrace for so long and yet, there are other
vendors now stepping up to say exactly this when all along, permanent
availability has been the hallmark of NonStop for decades.
Anchoring a business continuity plan on NonStop systems
separated and isolated to better ensure permanent availability goes beyond
simply accommodating planned and unplanned downtime to include disasters
natural or otherwise, is a necessity of business today. For the price tag,
nothing comes as close to the savings that can be achieved in running mission
critical applications on NonStop.
Perhaps this hasn’t yet occurred to IT management. In minds
far and near it is recognized that the complexity of IT today has only led to
fragile infrastructure and greater risk being born by IT Managers. If you are
into Big Data, Analytics and access to clever routines and code stubs then by
all means, lean-in on cloud opportunities. However, as has happened many times
in the past, when there is strong advocacy for one solution or technology to
become the be-all and end-all then be very wary about the level of your
commitment to such a solution or technology.
Let’s be very clear, cloud computing has its place but
when it comes to supporting mission critical applications, no level of
permanency can be assured. Every cloud computing service provider ensures they
have language in their SLAs that protect them on every occasion (there’s a
glitch). Like many in the industry, when I am being told that everything will
go to the cloud my antenna goes up – I have heard this too often in the past to
simply assume that such a proclamation is absolute. The silver lining that
comes with clouds is that it has triggered conversations about whether we have
the optimal solution deployed in support of our business.
NonStop has a true sleeper in its arsenal and it’s not
virtualization or the NonStop X NS2, but rather the NonStop X NS3. Viewed by
some as suitable for development and test or perhaps participation in a
distributed environment and a system best suited to emerging markets the NS3
has the same Zeon x86 based ProLiant servers underpinning the system as are found
in the more powerful NonStop X NS7 systems. Lacking the expansiveness of the
NS7 and limited to just four CPUs with only an option for one or two cores,
nevertheless licensed with the NonStop OS stack and NonStop SQL/MX, it
represents a potent offering that shades many similar Linux systems
particularly when equipped with legacy database offerings like Oracle.
It may be overlooked when developing migration plans,
but other than those NonStop users with multiple sixteen CPU systems where the
NS7 is the logical next step, many businesses will find that their IT expenses are
significantly reduced in going to the NS3. Even more importantly, when you run
the numbers the NS3 truly does destroy the myth that any Massively Parallel
Processing (MPP) system is more expensive when compared to SMP-based systems.
It’s simply not true. The new abnormal may in fact be referencing the true cost
of availability with NS3 – arguments that cannot and should not be ignored.
The new normal
or the not normal or even the new abnormal will take some getting used to, but
change is happening and there’s little evidence that there will be any
returning to a working and social lifestyle previously enjoyed. Is that
necessarily a bad thing? I don’t happen to think so. Any change that has us
rethinking processes is a good thing. The manner in which we have been brought
to this point is tragic and cannot be understated with the loss of life
staggering. However, in the coming weeks as restrictions begin to lift, let’s
not forget that what was once normal is in the past. After all, Things are
becoming clear; with a meaning … and the new abnormal will soon by our own
normal.
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