The many times that Margo and I have driven across the
Great Divide there have been occasions when the rules of the road needed to be
stretched. On a number of occasions it was late winter - early spring and
Mother Nature hadn’t relinquished her hold on the environment. Yes, when the
snow falls you cannot argue with it; water may always win but snow comes a
close second. Say what you may but oftentimes the prudent move to make is to
turn around.
In the April 24, 2022 post No
risk! No win! With many other chances taken! to our social
blog, Buckle-Up, we recalled how you can never count on favors from Mother
Nature. As it so happened she began showing her indifference to our plans the
moment dawn broke over our Cedar City Utah hotel with just the mountain
crossing to cover before reaching home in Colorado. No sooner had we begun the
climb to Vail Pass then all lanes of traffic came to a halt.
Between the concrete separation-barriers there were
small openings so first responders could break into the oncoming lanes but
state troopers were making U-turns problematic. However, once these troopers
left and before another moment passed we whipped around through the barriers
and headed back to Vail.
More than a decade earlier we had executed exactly the
same escape, that time it was in the Sierras as we passed Truckee, California.
In the April 8, 2011 post, Follow
or spin! By the time we had reached the summit, we were in the
middle of a full-scale blizzard that had caught the weather forecasters, as
well as the California Highway Patrol, by surprise. Even with its very capable
AWD system, the Skyline was still shod with summer tires and the conditions
created some very tense moments.
The lanes were blocked as tractor-trailer rigs had spun
passing each other leaving us no other option than to capitalize on the break
in barriers (created as it turned out so that California Highway Patrol
vehicles could turn into their station), and execute another U-turn.
With as much discussion as is taking place within IT
about changes in direction, pivoting and yes, transforming and transitioning,
even as there are no rules per se it would seem that IT professionals are
caught in a dilemma. Where to turn? Who to turn to? And yes, will it even work
for us?
On the other hand it was Henry Ford who was reputed to
have said, “If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you
always got.” Or as Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing
over and over and expecting different results”. But if there aren’t any rules
governing changes and pivots, are there at least some guidelines?
For the HPE NonStop community there is no getting away
from the almost constant bombardment of recommendations to move on from
NonStop. The prospect of heading down a path of modernization and application
transformation with NonStop is perceived as a daunting task.
An almost no-win situation for IT! Let it go, or so the
pundits suggest. NonStop has seen its day and looking ahead, the potential
value of NonStop is narrowing by the day. The core attributes of NonStop are no
longer as important as they once were for IT and for the enterprise as other
manufacturers of computer systems and the creators of software achieved a high
level of availability.
As the old shell game trick has taught us the pea is never where you think it should be as the sleight-of-hand trickster has moved the pea as he shuffles the shells. For NonStop it isn’t so much a case that we have lost sight of what the value proposition is today as it is a case of taking our eye off the product roadmaps and the engineering deliverables that result.
For many IT professionals in a leadership capacity, there never was the
equivalent of that pea within a NonStop system. Almost five decades on, these
IT professionals continue to claim that they just don’t get it; NonStop is just
another system after all.
Talk to almost any marketer who has more than passing
knowledge of NonStop and you will hear of suggestions for NonStop to reinvent
itself: To make that U-turn and to become a specialty processor. An appliance,
perhaps, focused solely on the potential of its market-leading SQL
implementation. To these advocates, such a U-turn could be done without any
negativity with regards to dilution of function and lessening of relevance.
However, such discussions miss the point entirely.
NonStop has put aside the box some time ago; that integrated software stack has
been released into the open world and can run almost anywhere. There are still
documented requirements to make this happen should IT wish to run on another
vendors servers or even within a private cloud, but for many knowledgeable
NonStop watchers, this is likely to be just the opening shots with much more
yet to be announced.
So no, NonStop doesn’t need to do a U-turn as the
challenge driving such a change in direction has already been accomplished with
little fanfare and with very few industry analysts even being aware of the
pivot to a software solution. Consider it rather as a change in direction and
possibly as a course correction. To be clear, I am not advocating a return to
when NonStop was an intimidating package of components targeting data centers;
the era of the VLX and Cyclone systems.
For quite some time you will continue to be able to
purchase the entire hardware and software offering outright but, increasingly,
it is all about the software and where you can deploy your NonStop solutions.
GreenLake happens to be only part of the story as the need for NonStop to
support mission critical applications will see responses take many forms.
Payments-as-a-Service featuring NonStop. Manufacturing-as-a-Service on NonStop. These are just the opening shots as NonStop reveals its true capabilities. For all practical purposes, it will the unlimited scalability of NonStop that is likely to be as welcomed by IT as has been the world-class availability everyone takes for granted.
If you listen to the
whispers taking place behind closed doors, it will only take the arrival of three
maybe four additional application as-a-Service offerings to see the spotlight
once again being directed towards NonStop.
For Margo and me the execution of those unseen U-turns
were necessary actions to be taken to better ensure our safety. But here’s the
thing; if you missed it, NonStop has already made its move and it’s beginning
to flourish as a result. Small gains are being reported. A couple of new logos
have begun to appear.
The NonStop sales teams are becoming more aware of
their winning hand and are beginning to be energized in ways we haven’t seen
for quite some time. Organizationally, HPE seems to be bringing fresh eyes to
the operation and that in itself is good news.
NonStop isn’t going along with a continuation of what
it has always done. It has changed. And if you missed the signs then take this
as a prompt to go take another look at NonStop and to re-engage with the
NonStop sales team.
When it comes to guidelines, while we were dealing with
the abnormal of the global pandemic, NonStop didn’t stand still and while no
laws were infringed upon, while many of us weren’t looking, NonStop didn’t just
evolve as much as it shed its skin. With that, IT professionals have been put
on notice; yes, you can have it all and yes, today’s NonStop will show up
everywhere you turn without so much as a pivot or a reinvention. It’s happened!
Have you ever wondered why NonStop has enjoyed the longevity it has surpassing the presence of all but one computer architecture and that here it is, 2022, and we continue to write about NonStop? Could it be that with almost five decades of experience, NonStop got it all right after all and is becoming the solution for the ages? And with that, Margo and I will be heading back out onto the highways again this fall to join you to hear the news directly from HPE itself.
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