Did someone say party time ?

 

The trappings of the festive season are now all around us. Inescapable, it would seem. Choosing gifts, cards and the right wrapping paper. It’s all happening and for many of us, it’s not only the season of joy but a time to reflect. Where were we this time last year? A decade ago? And then there are the numerous business gatherings held at this time of year. Reluctant to throw around the word party and yet, for many enterprises, this is exactly how best to describe the occasion. Paper hats? Streamers? The clink of glasses? Perhaps not but regardless, there is no escaping what the season means for each of us.

 For Margo and I there was our return from our sojourn in the South Pacific. Spending the last weeks of November in Sydney, Australia, watching as we did the weather turn from mildly warm to very warm, even as we kept an eye on the weather back home in Colorado. It seems an anachronism to view Santas in Sydney decked out in full Northern Hemisphere winter kit. Ringing bells and fondly wishing us all a Merry Christmas, some things you can depend upon as never changing. However, our return to Colorado was short lived as we jumped a plane to Columbus, Ohio, to join colleagues at NTI for their annual gathering for this Holiday season.

 Looking back over the calendar of 2023, it seemed as though the end of the year saw a flourish of NonStop user events. Whether you made it to Norway for VNUG, to London for the BITUG Little SIG meeting or even to Sydney for drinks with the folks from OzTUG it seemed as though the echoes of NonStop TBC 2023 were still resonating loudly while we simply moved on to the next event. What was comforting through all of this was how the very biggest of NonStop users were still actively supporting NonStop communities wherever they gathered. The plan ride back from Sydney is a long one and a journey I rarely look forward to, but now that we have turned the page to 2024, I can already see dates blocked out where it is back to the planes once again.

The photo above as well as at the top of this post was taken at the recent NTI Holiday party. It would be stating the obvious to point out just how visible NTI was throughout events of 2023. Time spent around the table at this time of year always proves rewarding for those looking for soundbites conveying the highlights of the year and with NTI, this year created even more soundbites than I can remember from similar occasions in previous years. When you are solely focused on NonStop, as is the case with NTI, then the level of buzz is always one test of how a year went and for 2023, there was plenty of buzz being generated.

 We often talk about modernization and of the journey NonStop has undertaken in the pursuit of modernization. Without mincing words, given that, in 2024 we will all be celebrating fifty years of NonStop, we are witnessing something quite unique. Who would have guessed, those 50 years ago, that little would be said today about Prime, Wang, Digital, Data General, Four Phase and more, given their exit from the marketplace while at with the same breath be talking about NonStop? And yet, NonStop is still delivering on the promise of fault tolerance and true 24 x 7 availability! What more can we say about the genius of those founders of the original Tandem Computers that over the course of a relatively brief period of time, designed the first systems and programmed the operating system that today, half a century later, is recognizable as being compatible with those early ambitions.

If anyone is to say it’s time to party then there is probably no better time to say that than shortly as we all join in on the golden anniversary of NonStop. Yes, we made it and yes, there is still much to be accomplished. When we talk about modernization, the transition to open standards, including support of the Intel x86 architecture, the even more impressive transformation from traditional system packaging to fully virtualized, it almost seems magical. Then again, it was Arthur C. Clark that said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Perhaps then it is fitting to talk about celebrations, parties and yes, magic. A lesser-known quote by Clark that I particularly like was when he said, “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”  The impossible has always been the quiet attribute of NonStop and one that, likewise, may be lesser-known among IT professionals, and yet it has always been present. The one that comes to mind is when SNAX/CDF was first announced as it was the IBM comms folks who had always told me that implementing PU4 functionality was impossible for anyone other than IBM, it could not be achieved. And yet, here we are!

A NonStop SQL where all functions could be performed without ever taking the supporting relational database off line well, that too was impossible, right? Returning to the topic of comms, what about implementing DLSw and HPR / EE protocols inboard on NonStop? That too, next to impossible, but then again, when statements like these all proved false and products became available, it was a magical time for NonStop! Each of them proving yet again the nay-sayers hopelessly wrong.

So when conversations turn to modernization and the NonStop team says that the tools, utilities and services your developers turn to for development on open systems, including the likes of Linux and Windows, can now be leveraged to develop new solutions for NonStop, then who would dare to doubt that this is indeed true? If you missed reading the series of posts to the HPE Community blog, then you will have missed hearing how effective the NonStop development team has been of late in bringing modern development and deployment capabilities to NonStop. 

Check out these links for more on that subject and if as yet you have not read either of them, consider these, too, cause for celebration as 2023 comes to an end:

First for development, follow this hyperlink -

HPE NonStop makes IT modernization easy

Then for deployment, follow this hyperlink -

What comes after development? Simplified deployment for HPE NonStop applications

The significance of these posts is that they turn the tables on those who continue to discount the TCO of NonStop, bundling in to the cost, as it were, a perceived cost to hire and train specialist staff. Nothing could be further from the truth and at a time when NonStop is looking to add more applications to its solutions portfolio, this comes as good news indeed and well worth celebrating. Party time? Yes, I reckon so!

As I joined in the celebration in Columbus with the NTI team, I couldn’t help but feel the buzz that was created. The excitement that comes with success and yes, the big win against all comers that led to today’s modern DRNet®/Unified replacing a legacy implementation of GoldenGate has led to a new initiative within NTI that is focused on further migration opportunities. This is definitely one initiative worth paying close attention to; think of a new product package carrying the branding of DRNet®/Unified for GoldenGate Conversions. Perhaps branding that extends to support the payments industry leaving open the opportunity to customize offerings for other verticals where many years ago GoldenGate established a footing with NonStop customers. For good reason then, is it time to rethink continuing to pay Oracle for anything related to NonStop as no, there’s no magic there. Can Oracle be trusted to keep supporting HPE and the NonStop product line forever?

Shortly, we will be heading back out on the road for the Christmas break to celebrate our own time together. There may not be all the trimmings we associate with this time of year but it will be party time for the both of us. Someone may have indeed said its time for the NonStop community to celebrate all that is magic about NonStop and having no regrets of any kind, Margo and my commitment to NonStop will continue throughout 2024. Look for us at your favorite user group gathering next year as we will likely be there. We may not be looking for party caps or streamers, but for sure, with a golden anniversary on the horizon, who wouldn’t be excited about the future of NonStop? Onwards to 2024 and further success – yes, we too will be doing everything in our power to make it so!