Greeley, Windsor and
Weld County under
severe thunderstorm watch until 9 p.m.
It was late at night last
week when the house shook violently. After stepping out on to our patio deck,
another round of lightning bolts crossed the sky and again, the shock waves
reverberated for some time. Close calls? For those who like to time the
interval between flash and thunder, it was almost instantaneous. We have
entered fall, but still summer conditions prevail with daily temperatures
climbing to 90F followed by an evening of unsettled weather bringing with it
short-lived storm fronts.
Photo above appeared in the
nearby Greeley Times and was captured around the same time as I was standing on
the patio deck. Unfortunately, I still haven’t mastered the settings on my
iPhone that will enable me to snap a photo quite like that, although I tried
several times. Entering fall after a period best defined as tempestuous and
unlike any summer previously experienced, can we expect conditions to continue
or is the soft, pleasant, first snowfall of the season about to descend upon us
all.
As this was unfolding, I
couldn’t help but think about the season for NonStop this year. By season, I
mean the conferences and events season. Two events are still to occur – VNUG
(Scandinavia) in September and the annual gathering for the Little SIG (British
Isles) in December. If I had my way, I would have worked out a way to attend
both, but the dates clashed with other commitments.
Yet, when it’s all said and
done, the NonStop community was able to participate in NonStop conferences and
events almost every month of the year. What did we learn? Did you have the
chance to read my previous posting to this blog - NonStop
TBC 2023 – lasting impressions? If as yet you haven’t been
able to do so, then just follow the hyperlink above.
The significance of this
post is that it does set the tone for what follows here. For those that might
not remember the closing comments, this was what was posted:
Looking
ahead, what would we like to see at the NonStop TBC 2024 Conference in
Monterey? That is something I would like to explore with the HPE NonStop team
and with those who read this post.
But
for now, as much as I would really like to continue to explore all three in
this post, I am going to leave it to where your comments would be greatly
appreciated.
My critique of the NonStop
TBC 2023 Conference included observations on the central theme, Digital
Resilience (too narrow a focus?), NonStop SQL (a design challenge that didn’t
resonate with the community?) and Clouds more specifically, meeting the CIOs
need to deploy NonStop in Clouds (very mixed reactions apart from being able to
respond with a yes, we can do that!).
Although the energy expended
by the HPE NonStop team on getting the balance of content right was
considerable, the proverbial need to pivot to industry worthy topics came about
at a time where many in the NonStop community are looking for clarity. What was
missing was clarity on product lines, product roadmaps and yes, clarity on the
support being provided by corporate HPE.
I have to say that on these
points, I was a participant in the planning for the event and contributed as
best as I could to what I thought would be of value to the community. To that
extent, when it comes to the comments above, I have to hold up a mirror to
myself and in so doing deflect some of the attention I may otherwise have
directed at others.
From the time Tandem and
subsequently NonStop became a part of HP and then HPE, there are numerous times
when I have rolled my eyes when I see HPE unable to get out of its own way.
Want to buy ten NonStop systems for a new application? Great; wouldn’t Linux be
the better option? I think many a member of the NonStop community has heard
similar remarks being made at sites where major investments have already been
made in the deployment of NonStop.
We all think that lightning
struck rather ominously at the time Compaq bought NonStop, but are we about to
see lightning strike again? Or is it simply a prairie breeze that I feel? From
all the discussions I had with the NonStop community there is still the nagging
question of modernization. Of being able to take anyone, even graduates fresh
from university, and cater to their needs for specific tools and services as
they are let lose to maintain and even develop NonStop applications?
Major strides have been
taken of late. Being able to access a cloud services provider and then access
the HPE NonStop Development Environment (NSDevEnv) is a great start. It is
already in AWS and Azure and will soon be available in Google Cloud, too.
Modernization might mean many things to many of us, but being able to access an
environment that allows me to easily develop new solutions simply by accessing it
in an as-a-Service model om the
ubiquitous public cloud, represents a great jumping-off point for all of us.
No lengthy procedures and
hence no waiting period to procure a development environment. Now this is an
immediate advantage. As for the code developed it is real NonStop code in the
sense that access is provided to cross-compilers even as there is support for
NonStop SQL.
“With HPE NSDevEnv, HPE
NonStop customers are being provided with a virtual machine (VM) based Software-as-a-Service
model that has been pre-installed and configured by the HPE NonStop team,” said
Sridhar Neelakantan, NonStop Product Manager responsible for Middleware,
Languages and Tools. “And is ready to go whenever accessed, and is designed to
leverage the public cloud’s reach and flexibility.”
While
some may suggest this is going far enough and that there is a lot more involved
in providing a true NonStop development environment as-a-Service but I see this
as a great start. A jumping-off point that for me suggests a sustained
investment is being made in ensuring new applications can be readily created
for NonStop. This has been a long-term goal of the NonStop community for as
long as I have been attending conferences and events.
For
as long as I can remember, vendors have always faced prioritizing what is
important for the market. Stray too far from that goal and orphan products
appear that are unlikely to attract the attention initially projected for the
program. Simplify and roll-out basic functions as straying beyond a reasonable
delivery timeframe and again, as good as the program ultimately might become,
it will be passed over in favor of newer offerings.
Prioritizing
on simplifying the development and deployment cycle is a priority that the
NonStop team must embrace. Attracting new solutions to NonStop will be the
legitimate driver of such prioritization.
Ransomeware
may be the buzzword of the month just as AI begins to grab more cycles from all
of us. This is not to say that with partnerships between vendors greater
protection will be provided but rather, a whole ecosystem of NonStop vendors
needs to come together in pursuit of Ransomeware protection even as we come to
understand where the real risks lie.
Post
conference, however, I am encouraged by the energy NonStop vendors are pouring
into addressing NonStop users growing concerns about Ransomware. Perhaps by the
time Euro GTUG comes around early April, 2024, there will be substantial
movement in meeting these concerns coming from a number of vendors. The vendor
to watch addressing the basics? Look no further than ETI-NET who continue to
impress.
“Through
integration, ETI-NET is breaking down the barriers to deliver modernization
value to the NonStop market. It’s not just about the presentation, it’s
about listing to customer’s requirements and incorporating a holistic view of
the solution utilizing a broad product portfolio,” said Mike Mitsch ETI-NET,
Business Development Director Management and Storage. “The integration of
QoreStor with BackBox, and the monitoring of Backup and Storage products
through Sentinel are examples of what places ETI-NET as a thought leader in
terms of NonStop modernization.”
NonStop
SQL, whether MP or MX, still struggles for a wider audience but where it makes
sense for an application, having the depth of Oracle compatibility is
encouraging. Again, and perhaps not a surprise to read, when it comes to NS SQL
in the mix with Oracle and aiding migrations the vendor to watch here and
enjoying success in doing so has to be NTI.
“Coming
away from yet another successful event where the profile of NTI continues to be
elevated to prominence within the NonStop community,” said Tim Dunne, NTI’s
Global Director Worldwide Sales. “Our sights are set on winning even more
business in 2024”
Clouds?
If they underpin our modernization journey then that’s a major win for NonStop
and a deliverable from the HPE NonStop team that will be hard to ignore. It is
also a diversion from the many conversations about running NonStop applications
in the cloud – let’s get over this; yes, you can but it’s still a case as to
why and can you seriously afford paying a premium in order to satisfy the whims
of the CIO of the day? Vendor to watch here and that has made a sizable
investment in building out its expertise just has to be Scotland’s TCM.
“When
NonStop went virtual and we heard about NonStop users validating and eventually
going live in production with virtual NonStop (vNS), TCM recognized that
investing in virtualization would assure we maintained a leadership role,” said
Daniel Craig Managing Director, TCM Solutions.
Lightning
is supposed to never strike the same place twice. Around our township of
Windsor and from where I stood the other night, I don’t think that is the case.
Will HPE get out of the way of a successful NonStop? That is still to be
determined but where clarity has been provided this year is that there is a
path forward for developers on NonStop. And it doesn’t take yet another flash
of lightning to shine a light above that path!
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