With the change in weather across North America more
cars are heading out onto the freeways. The US Interstate system remains a
marvel even all these years after it first appeared guaranteeing as it were
that given the opportunity everyone can drive everywhere.. It matter little,
apart from time constraints, the distance to be travelled as there is always a
road that will take you there with a minimal fuss. Looking ahead to the big
event and by this I mean the upcoming HPE Discover 2022 event in Las Vegas, it
will be just another opportunity to hit the freeway.
When it comes to big events there is no location where
the tag fits any better than Las Vegas and perhaps there is no other showcase
for all that is the best of HPE than what you find on display at the Venetian
and Palazzo hotels. Did we mention that the Venetian canals there complete with
the Rialto Bridge? Situated between both hotels you will find the Venetian Expo
(formerly referred to as the Sands Expo), a cavernous venue where all things
HPE will be on display in the exhibition hall even as escalators move attendees
between the many floors where presentations take place.
As yet we haven’t decided which car we will be driving
as even with a late June date you never know what you will encounter as you
cross the Rockies. If you missed reading about our most recent bizcation that
took us to the west coast, then you missed reading of our mid–spring encounter
with the snow that blocked our passage at the most inconvenient time. Look for
the post to our social blog, Buckle-Up, No
risk! No win! With many other chances taken! This time we aren’t expecting anywhere near
the same level of drama even as we are anticipating experiencing drama of an
entirely different variety on arrival to Las Vegas.
For many years there was scant reference to NonStop at
HPE Discover. While not a dramatic uptick in actual presence on the floor of
the exhibition hall, nevertheless for 2022 there will be a lot more NonStop
covered than I have experienced previously. Of course, we will have to see how
it all pans out but early indications are that with the help of Connect, there
will be at least two days of presentations, intimate theatre style, in the
exhibition hall itself. For those planning on attending make sure you
familiarize yourself with the venue as time will always be at a premium and the
exhibition hall covers a lot of territory.
What’s really exciting me about participating in this
year’s HPE Discover? As it so happens in the weeks that have just passed and
with what’s looming ahead of us before HPE Discover 2022 kicks off it has been
the content of local and regional events where the messaging of some of my
clients has undergone yet further evolutionary transition. You might think of
this as being along the lines of a funny thing happening to me on the way to
the show, but it is more meaningful than that. We continue to hear about
gaining insights and of data being the currency of business even as more
recently we heard HPE CEO Antonio Neri talk of how “Enterprises need to be more
data-first in all that they do; but data is a wasted asset if you cannot get
insight from it.”
In other words, data that is freshly created on NonStop
can see its value deteriorate over time unless it is moved to where it’s needed
most. And the best way to move the data out of NonStop and to integrate with
data created in other places within the enterprise is to look for an
asynchronous messaging technology. This has been a theme of mine for some time
but what is evolving before our eyes is a technology that is both popular as it
is open and this is where Apache Kafka comes into play.
“If you're unfamiliar with Kafka,” posted Christian
Posta, Principal Middleware Architect/Specialist, Red Hat, to TechBeacon.com, What
is Apache Kafka? Why is it so popular? Should you use it? “It's
a scalable, fault-tolerant, publish-subscribe messaging system that enables you
to build distributed applications.” Attributes that should appeal to all
NonStop users looking to ensure data created on NonStop can be tapped to better
support the creation of business insight.
“My colleagues in the enterprise and I are starting to
see a common trend across companies of all backgrounds,” said Posta. “They are
starting to realize that to build the digital services that will disrupt and
innovate, they need access to a wide stream of data, and that data must be
integrated.” This said, what really hit home in my travels of late is how the
NonStop community needs to know a lot more about the options available to them
as there are now a couple of paths that they can choose.
Where HPE Discover 2022 is being held struck me as
perhaps more relevant than it otherwise might appear: The Venetian and the
Palazzo. Nothing could shout more loudly about Italy and its historic past than
names like this. There are Marco Polo ballrooms as well suitable for a range of
general sessions. Across the street, there is another reference to a much
earlier aspect of Roman society as you will find The Forum and a great place to
visit in between sessions.
However, it will be inside HPE Discover exhibition hall
where the NonStop community will witness a new forum enjoying its hard launch as
Connects newest Tech Forum, Business Integration and Analysis. With a focus on
getting data out of NonStop while it is fresh, integrating and distributing
data to where it’s needed for analysis and for creating the insights business
needs, support of Kafka will be among the highlights covered in the launch
presentation.. And if you joined virtual GTUG recently and caught the
presentation by NTI’s Craig Lawrance, you will have seen how big a role
Kafka is playing within NTI’s DRNet®
“It became an understandable goal for all of us here at
NTI,” said Tim Dunne, NTI’s Global Director Worldwide Sales, “to look at
providing a comprehensive solution that would allow data created on NonStop to
be integrated with other data and processing products.” DRNet®/Unified
for Business Integration represents the latest product package from NTI and
as such, takes advantage of the Change Data Capture (CDC) methodologies
inherent within DRNet®
“One
way to view how we are leveraging the internals of DRNet®,” said Dunne is to view the solution as having “a backend
focused on CDC pulling data out of NonStop with a choice of multiple frontends
that can deliver to another instance of DRNet® or to pretty much anything else
that the NonStop user needs their data to be delivered to, be that a data
warehouse or a solution such as Kafka, Splunk>, ELK and more.” The message
should be very clear; we are modernizing NonStop in that we are helping strip
away any possible association with silos of the past.
DRNet® does Kafka! A message that is
beginning to resonate across the NonStop community. As one of my NonStop
sources told me, “solutions that bring value to a NonStop customer that
otherwise cannot be filled (by solutions we already offer) than we would be
foolish not to entertain them.”
But here’s the
thing about messages and deliverables. What came out of the GTUG event was the
apparent disconnect with what was being discussed about Kafka and the
availability of product today. For some time now, Dunne has been telling
NonStop audiences that you can run with Kafka right now. And not just talking,
but successfully wrapping up PoCs for NTI customers where support for Kafka is
part of the DRNet® product they
already are licensed to use.
To be sure, I will be highlighting this reality in my
own presentations at user events in North America. And with the launch of the
Tech Forum Business Integration and Analysis at HPE Discover 2022 I will be on
stage providing even more information on this capability of NTI together with
insights I have about other vendors committed to providing additional support
for Kafka. It will be one of the highlights of the Connect sessions from the
exhibition floor I have to believe, as there really is something very positive
about providing the NonStop community with a forum that is tailored to their
needs for data integration. Look for the presentation Value your data! Move your data!
Analyze your data! Currently scheduled to be held on Tuesday June 28 at
3:30pm.
For many years in London and New York there was a very
popular musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Satirical in
format to the point where it was as much vaudeville as it was classical taking
its cue from much earlier works by Roman playwrights. Yet, as HPE Discover 2022
draws near, as farcical as this musical was, I cannot help but recognize that
there can be no mistaken identity where NonStop is concerned. NonStop remains
the premier solution for mission critical applications where its transactional
data is the freshest in the enterprise. Surely, providing that data to where
it’s most needed is a priority and that’s no laughing matter when all is said
and done.
And if you happen to be attending the upcoming MATUG or BITUG events then you will get to see a sneak preview of what I will be covering in June. Make sure you register for HPE Discover 2022 and see you all in a month’s time!
Comments