Predictions! Vision! Schedules! All have been subject to change; impacted by the spread of COVID-19. Read how HPE investments in NonStop have helped NonStop to better pivot into support of core and edge initiatives …
I have to say I am not sure whether we have seen our eleventh snow storm of the season or whether it’s a continuation of the ninth. For the past couple of weeks snow has been falling on most days but perhaps more disturbing for someone who grew up close by to the beaches of Sydney, Australia, was the bitter cold that draped its arms across it all. Living in Colorado you would think we are used to the cold, but not really. We have our days, of course, but watching the thermometer drop below -20 Fahrenheit is always cause for alarm.
There were no concerns over whether we had enough food
and drink at hand as COVID-19 has made us cautious about our supply chain –
trips to the grocery store were all to do with ensuring we always have a month
plus of everything we needed. We had always had plans to add to our basement’s
storage area so that we didn’t have to make as many trips to the store, but had
been slow to embrace.
With COVID-19, our plans were accelerated such that now
we make fewer trips to the store to ensure we continue practicing social
distancing. On the other hand, we realize we are on a ride unlike anything we
have experienced before and as such, we are hanging on and making the best of our
time together, at home.
Our online activity has remained high and the delivery
trucks continue to make regular visits to our front porch. Nevertheless,
Colorado was among the lucky states this time around as news broke of the
horrific situation to the south of us in places like Texas and Louisiana. Pity
those poor birds that flew south for the winter! In Texas, the surrounding gulf
waters have turned so cold that even sea turtles had to be rescued and brought
in from the unexpected cold – five thousand of them, apparently, with a little
help from the human friends have found temporary homes on South Padre Island.
A new fulfilment center has appeared nearby our house
in Windsor and nothing has stopped them sending the trucks out into the cold for
which we have become highly appreciative. Then again, we haven’t really tried
to go anywhere and as a result, we are spending more time at home than we have
ever done in the past. We may be grudgingly enjoying the ride but it hasn’t
translated into drives across the country.
What caught my attention this time was the December 16,
2020, blog post by HPE CTO Kumar Sreekanti, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise 2021 predictions. Having been written by
HPE’s CTO certainly warranted my time and the time spent was rewarded when I
came across the following:
“While
no one could have predicted the disruption brought on by COVID-19 this year,
early on we did foresee the way it would impact the world of technology. In
fact, HPE’s CEO Antonio Neri has said that the vision of the future everyone
talked about before the pandemic is here now, ahead of schedule. Other
tech leaders have echoed this sentiment; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said
we saw two years of change in two months.”
I know you have been an IT professional for many years
just as I suspect you have found that you have more time on your hands to visit
web sites and to read commentaries and opinions from many IT executives. A little jaded from all that reading?
Underwhelmed by much of the messaging you come across? Perhaps then you have
missed the sparks that are flying as industry leaders take a more serious look
at the rides they have committed taking in 2021 and beyond.
Even as this past year has let us spend more time in
front of our screens, HPE has continued to push ahead with its pursuit of being
a world leading core to edge platform as a service company. So when you see
references to predictions – in this case, predicting the disruption brought by
COVID-19 – your first reaction might have been to wonder whether deliverables
were going to come later than expected.
However, not in this case, as HPE not only acknowledges
that there was no way to predict the arrival of a global pandemic, HPE notes too
that they did come to terms with the impact it was going to have on the world
of technology and have responded accordingly. Predicting the future is not
without risks. Likewise, ignoring what was happening around you and its
potential to alter your plans could be viewed as being even more risky.
You could say that the future did arrive a little
faster than anyone had planned and in so doing, drew the spotlight on how best
the world of technology handled change. When it comes to HPE and NonStop
systems, what we have seen is the volume of transactions climb astronomically
and the value within the transactions becoming much greater. Data creation was
happening at an unprecedented rate and with it, a greater need to ensure data
created on NonStop could be put to good use. In real time!
Predictions are easy to make and to change as
circumstances change but when it comes to promoting a vision, particularly when
it’s all about a vision of the future, there is less flexibility in terms of
modifying or enhancing on-the-fly as it were. Visions are for the long term and
when HPE then adds how the COVID-19 has shrunk the industry’s vision of the
future which is here now, ahead of schedule, then it’s placing renewed
emphasis on decisions taken more than a year or two ago.
Who could have imagined that NonStop initiatives like
support of x86, going virtual and now, NS SQL Server and NS SQL Cloud Edition
becoming a reality would be timely changes to the vision for NonStop that meets
current market conditions. Yes, it’s all about the data and yes, it’s all about
the cloud experience.
When it comes to predictions and visions and the impact
COVID-19 is having on both of them then it comes as no surprise to read of
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella telling us that at Microsoft, “we saw two years of change in two months.” What HPE has funded for
NonStop over the past decade is now proving to be pivotal for the future of
NonStop. Where HPE is taking NonStop, consolidating its role in support of data
at the core while testing the waters for a role where transactions are created,
out at the edge, is now turning out to be an enlightened strategy.
Did you read how IBM is considering selling its Watson
Health business unit? As the old adage goes, you can only sell what someone
else wants even as it follows news that IBM is also planning on a spin-off of
its managed infrastructure services unit. In case you missed it, on January 22,
2021, IBM Corp stock price slumped 10% and was the top drag on the Dow Jones
industrial index. What does this mean? IBM too is pivoting and, for now its
focus will be on hybrid cloud business.
Coming many years after HPE pursued a similar action,
industry analysts are now wondering whether IBM will be able to catch up to the
rest of the industry. COVID-19 has accelerated major shifts in the industry. It
has compressed timelines unlike anything we have seen before. As IT
professionals, we expect change even as we anticipate relearning new ways to
support business.
eCommerce is changing the face of global business even
as working from home is effecting how our homes are being constructed – will
that be one or two offices in this home we are building for you? However, even
as we adapt to change and relearning the way we build, test and deploy
solutions there remains an element of cynicism in what we witness. There are
still many of us holding out for a return to the old normal but as we can see
from the remarks of industry leaders, don’t hold your breath.
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