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NonStop community pursues virtual networking; reality sets in!

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Travel provides considerable insight. It never ceases to amaze me how many unexpected events occur on any given trip out into the wild blue yonder. Travel has provided the stimulus for many posts to this blog and to other blogs I support, but in reality, the connection between travel and inspiration is not only tangible, it is something every blogger simply has to do. Forget looking at the tea leaves, take the time to find the best tea house and absorb everything around you.

Fair enough; travel is pretty much off the table for now. Not surprisingly, the concerns over the continuing presence of highly contagious strains of COVID have made it almost certain that this global pandemic is going to be with us for some time. And yet for many Americans, depending on which state you live in, there is a growing sense that almost normal has returned.

Last night Margo and I were kept awake by a thunderstorm that lit up the sky. Rain finally fell closer to midnight but what it reminded us both of is just how unsettling this global pandemic has become. For technologists, it is a constant reminder that planning for two to three years out may not be the wisest move. Horizons this distant may never be reached. If you cannot implement a solution in a couple of months who’s to say it would hold any relevance a year or so later? Big projects are on hold for many enterprises and it’s not just an issue of the supply chain. Parts aren’t the gating factor, but accessing experienced staff has become the bigger concern.

When it comes to the NonStop community we are fast approaching a tipping point. Keep mission critical applications running on-prem and along traditional lines, participate in a cloud experience even as applications stick to being on-prem or go full-tilt into cloud deployments? Is mission critical still sacrosanct to the point where yes, it would be sacrilegious to throw caution to the wind and abandon all further thoughts of retaining an IT organization? Sure seems like the popular move right now, but there it is; could you even plan on doing that in say three to six months?

Where we see a lot of discussion taking place is yet again how best to make such a transformation in an organized, cautious fashion. What baby-steps could be taken that might mitigate the obvious risks that surely would arise from throwing caution to the wind? When you google HPE to read of its vision and mission statement together with the strategy it is pursuing, you come across this:

“Our purpose is to advance the way people live and work: From being a leader in sustainability to driving the ethical adoption of AI, HPE is committed to be a force for good and an agent of positive change in our communities around the world.”

“President and CEO Antonio Neri has set out a very clear strategy for HPE to be the global edge-to-cloud platform-as-a-service company. In order to achieve this, all of the portfolio will be made available as a service by 2022. Our focus will be on the execution of that strategy.”

As far as vision, mission and strategy goes, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s also recognition of the significant impact the cloud has made on IT and of how many within IT would like to have the cloud experience as an option within their data centers. Even as the upcoming NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC) 2021 has gone virtual, once again, it’s clear from a perusal of the agenda that cloud and with cloud, GreenLake – the cornerstone supporting the strategy – makes its presence felt. For the NonStop community this is not such a bad thing as it is of itself a clear baby-step the NonStop team is making to better support the strategy of HPE being the edge-to-cloud platform-as-a-service company.

A quick and very informal poll of the NonStop community, particularly the NonStop vendor community suggests that virtual events don’t provide them with the kind of networking exposure that they crave. Loosing that line of sight between themselves and those using their products has always been a concern for any party prepared to spend money on such events. But the reality is that virtual events are here to stay and as much as Margo and I like to travel, the story lines will require a little extra digging on our side before the content we are looking for is unearthed.

Truthfully, I miss the drama of the big-tent marketing events. All the amazing light shows that precede the commencement of keynote sessions along with a growing sense of excitement that perhaps this time, something really special will take place. Perhaps not quite the thunderstorm of last night but pretty close! You cannot match any of that with a virtual event and perhaps I am of that age group that does want to be entertained. I need to be able to read an audience to better determine whether HPE is connecting with its audience.

But again, the reality is that we have to make do with ZOOM, TEAMs, whatever. More important still is the reality that NonStop is evolving. There will be conversations featuring Swarm Learning, Containers and yes, Kubernetes, GreenLake enablement and much more. NonStop is as modern today as any other platform and the surprise here is not so much about how this has all come about as it is a story of our own collective abdication of promoting these capabilities more broadly within our own enterprise. Let’s not forget too just how much is going on with NonStop SQL these days – like many of you I have always thought of NonStop SQL as being the biggest of the crown jewels within NonStop and it now seems these jewels are getting to shine more brightly than ever before.

Virtual networking in the real world? It has its downside but let’s not forget that this is essentially the way forward for the foreseeable future. If you view events as the best opportunity to network then yes, you will be disappointed to see how much the world has changed as a consequence of the global pandemic. But don’t give up just yet. Maybe invest in a better home office with bigger screens and better audio. Whatever moves you make it’s worth remembering, it’s not just projects that are subject to shorter timeframes, but the time we need to spend on a virtual event. After all (and in all seriousness) who wants to travel these days? With that, I will head to the coffee station I have nearby even as I look forward to participating with you all at the virtual TBC 2021.


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