Have you read about the turn out this year for NonStop
user events? Have you had a chance to talk to colleagues who have been among
the attendees? Better still, did you avail yourself of an opportunity to be
among those who participated? No matter how you have kept yourself informed
about all that has been happening of late you must have noticed that there have
been more events than usual and that the number of attendees has been
significantly better than in past years.
It would be so easy to start of this blog recapping how
NonStop has been on a journey of late. The message “Data is created on NonStop”
appeared prior to the global pandemic as it was often repeated by HPE
executives closely associated with NonStop. As important as this remains, more
recently it’s been about freedom: Freedom of Choice and it’s not just HPE executives
who recognize this message. By this I
mean that the NonStop community now has a choice when it comes to a tech
refresh of their NonStop systems.
“The advantage of having options has
always been important
for the NonStop user and NTI is firmly in the camp of
more is better when it comes to what options
are available to NonStop users.”
Tim Dunne, NTI’s Global Director Worldwide Sales
Whether your next decision favors a continuation of
deploying NonStop Integrated Solutions or perhaps has more to do with
evaluating Virtual NonStop (vNS) that will free the software from any one
vendor’s hardware or even a closer examination of how best to leverage the
offerings of cloud services providers. After all, that initial attraction of
elasticity of provisioning still holds true today. Yes, the NonStop community
is enjoying a new lease on technology life that brings with it, as is apparent
today, freedom to deploy any way at any time to best meet the needs of the
enterprise.
Imagine for a moment how far NonStop has come in the time
that followed the start of the global pandemic. Margo and I have spent a decade
driving cars competitively on road courses, some of which are well known to car
enthusiasts around the world. The Nurburgring north loop, for starters, then
Road Atlanta, Sonoma and Laguna Seca, to name a few. These times on track saw
us dealing with weather that alternated between hot days with afternoon
temperatures climbing well past 100F and early morning outings that were barely
above freezing. Then there were the rainy days that had us holding our
collective breaths each time we drove onto a “hot” track.
Each and every outing was a learning exercise where those
participating in the on-track sessions were only too happy to share their experiences
once they had driven off the track. No driver ever starts at the top but needs
to work hard on their craft to progress through the ranks. It is easy now to
look back on how far our skills improved the more time we spent driving our
cars. No surprises here, whiteboard sessions only go so far but the experience
needed to progress can only be gained by stepping onto the track and driving
your chosen vehicle.
Much the same can be said today about understanding the
contribution NonStop systems can make to your organization. Presentations only
go so far. Shared experiences are simply that; the conversations that arise
over coffee or luncheon breaks can provide a glimpse of the possible but until
decisions are made, software deployed, testing and performance measurements
actively pursued can any enterprise turn experience into confidence and then to
innovation. Yes, “you just have to do it” applies equally to the decisions you
take for your NonStop system!
As we adjust to the changes taking place with NonStop,
knowing full well there is more to come, how do we go about choosing the right
solutions? This has always been the value proposition of the NonStop community
from the events and conferences that are put on jointly by Connect and HPE.
There’s a reason why so many of us show up for these gatherings of the NonStop
community, learning experiences of others can really help point us in the right
direction.
However, of late, unfortunate as it now turns out to be,
turning to your NonStop sales team has them paint only a limited selection of
product offerings. The freedom to choose that has been a characteristic of the
NonStop community ever since the first ITUG Summit’s were held has undergone
considerable shrinkage in the hands of NonStop sales. Against that background
there is now a growing number of NonStop vendors who are calling themselves the
NonStop independent vendors and to provide an overview of all that they
provide, a Global NS Partner Portal has been announced.
It was last year at the annual NonStop TBC 2022
Conference that partner ecosystems became a popular topic. This was the NonStop
vendors not represented by NonStop sales looking to find a way to level the
playing field to better compete with their products and to expand the options
available to the NonStop user community. Out of necessity it was first voices
that rather than complain about the situation NonStop sales created it would be
lot better to look at how better to compete and with that, how better to
communicate their own experiences working with the NonStop community.
“We
have invested in the partner portal in order to promote
a broader cross-section of the vendor
community that in turn
will contribute to a levelling of the product playing field …
presenting a complete landscape of application availability
for NonStop systems that may not otherwise be
common knowledge for all NonStop customers.”
Henry Fonseca, CSP General
Manager
Following presentations by NTI on their newly formed
partner ecosystem, it was CSP Security that picked up the ball to drive forward
the idea of creating a portal for the partners. The Global NS Partner Portal
that is now in the prototype phase and is being demonstrated at this year’s
NonStop user events, is the most tangible evidence of the desire by the NonStop
independent vendors to make their voice heard. This year’s NonStop TBC 2023
Conference in Denver isn’t all that far away and it will be here that invitations
will be extended to all NonStop vendors to participate.
Already there is a growing list of NonStop vendors. What
you can expect to find on this portal are a series of tiles, one for each
vendor that participates. CSP Security has worked with a web site vendor to
come up with a very attractive model that not only displays the tiles in ways
that can be readily searched but can then be supported by secondary pages
describing the full set of product offerings for each participating NonStop
vendor. From there it is an easy next step to include URLs that take you
directly to these vendors web sites.
Together, CSP and NTI understand that it will be valuable
to link to the Connect Community web site, particularly as there are now
numerous community publications that provide regular vendor and product
updates. Keeping the NonStop community informed is at the very heart of this
initiative. But there is one more aspect to the creation of this Global NS
Partner Portal. Just consider the freedom of choice that the NonStop community
enjoys today being extended to include the GreenLake program. How is the
GreenLake sales organization going to keep track of NonStop vendor offerings if
there isn’t a place for them to go to seek such information?
If you have been to recent NonStop events and have sat
through the presentations by NTI and CSP Security, you will be aware of this
latest development to ensure the NonStop user community is fully aware of all
their options. NonStop sales organization doesn’t hold an exclusive on product
offerings nor are the products being currently sold by NonStop sales force representative
of the best value in any given market segment. You might like the simplicity of
just dealing with NonStop sales, but it is all of our responsibilities to
ensure due diligence prevails. Know your options and yes, the best way to keep
track of NonStop vendors and products in order to do just that, is to attend
NonStop user events.
Expect to see an increased level of participation at the
upcoming NonStop TBC Conference 2023 to be held in Denver, September 12 – 14.
Margo and I will be there just as we know many of the NonStop independent
vendors will have a major presence. Will we see you there and will you be
looking to find out more about the Global NS Partner Portal? Take it from us it
will be an experience that leads to the confidence to innovate that we all need
to do this year and next. Yes, registration is open and hotel rooms remain
available and all you need to do to complete the process is to take the time to
visit https://www.nonstoptbc.com/
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