Real Time View

  Sydney Harbor in leadup to Sydney to Hobart race of 2018 This time last year I wrote of how it will not be smooth sailing for all of us in IT. More specifically, for the Nonstop community, I ended that post by asking how you will respond to one more question; will you be setting a course that is true and away from treacherous currents that can be avoided? What I did reference though was how, for the coming year 2025, leverage the strength of the wind which, in the case of Nonstop, simply means leveraging the latest Nonstop systems. Recognizing, too, the strength of the partner ecosystem just as we have seen Nonstop executives begin to do this year. Sailing always comes to mind at this time of year as being a Sydney lad at heart, there was always an air of excitement on Sydney Harbor as the big, maxi sailing yachts gathered for a series of contests that ended on Boxing Day with the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Many years ago, back in 1998, Oracle’s Larry Ellis...

The view ahead often is only at its best following difficult times and for the NonStop community there is only upside ahead with views to match! With all the talk that followed the recent very severe and somewhat unusual “bomb cyclone” hitting the front ranges in the northern part of the state of Colorado, what is sometimes overlooked is the view you are given once the clouds lift and the sky turns blue. It is as if someone tipped out all the vanilla cream and draped it over the jagged mountain landscape. As chilly as this Saturday morning scene appears turned out to be rather pleasant, with almost no wind whirling through the trees. As for the view, it’s what you see once you crest Highway 36 on your way into Estes Park with views all the way round to Long’s Peak. Being this far back from the mountains and taking in the long view, it was breathtaking to say the least. The photo was captured by our guests for the weekend, Jan and Brian Kenny, who were driving the car behind us...

Australia is a big country offering many options – we need to talk to others before deciding where to go; isn’t this true also of how we deal with the new, bigger NonStop product offerings? With as much time as we have spent these past few weeks in and around Sydney it seems we are still only scratching the surface when it comes to all that the city has to offer. Ask anyone what place or event is worth attending and the responses vary as widely as the landscape itself. Australia is truly “the big country” and if there are any Texans curious about the relative size of the states making up Australia, at 1,021,478 square miles Western Australia could be home to three and a half Texas size states. Even the state of Queensland could house two and a half Texas size states (and seven Great Britains, not to forget, five Japans). Making sure you see the best of Australia quickly becomes a head-scratching exercise for many visitors to its shores unfamiliar with the size of Australia.  ...

Revisiting the topic of scalability reminds us about just how flexible NonStop systems continue to be and with enterprises preparing for ever increasing data volumes, having an out of the box system that readily scales will prove to be a big bonus ... After  two plus months on the road, meeting with many members of the NonStop community as we drove almost 6,000 miles in the company command center, it’s a good feeling to once again be able to say you have a permanent address. At least, as permanent as anything can be these days, given the nature of the business we are in – content generation can be done almost anywhere but even so, having a residence that best could only be considered temporary certainly came with many distractions. On the other hand, we did stop in at N2TUG as well as 2017 HPE Discover and we did get to meet with clients in southern California.  To directly answer questions I have received of late our new residence is just a little north of the N...

With the last post of 2016 we can look back at all the news surrounding NonStop systems and simply acknowledge just how quickly the world of NonStop is changing and yes, changing for the better … Struggling to exit the local shopping mall with packages in both hands, as Margo and I left it almost to the very last day to finish our Christmas shopping, I took the opportunity this gave me to have a good look around at both the shops and their customers. So much has changed since I went back to strolling malls worldwide a decade or so ago – yes, I had lived in Edmonton, Alberta, as plans were being drawn up to build the West Edmonton Mall, pictured above and still the largest mall in North America (sorry, Minneapolis) – but after the birth of my daughter, Lisa, I found a Saturday morning filled with exploration and yes, of course, fresh donuts, an affable escape from normal routines. The popularity of malls has ebbed and flowed through the years. Visitors to Silicon Valley who spent...

As we focus on transformation of our data centers and consider hybrid computers along with clouds, once we are passed implementation then are we needed any longer? Will the prospect of driverless cars lead to unattended data centers and is this necessarily a bad thing?   The turkey has been demolished along with all the trimmings and now it’s time to set about erecting the Christmas tree – or whatever it is that anchors your celebration at this time of year. Thanksgiving, Christmas and then the celebration of the New Year are always “cause for celebration” in our household. Over the past couple of years we have elected to escape the Colorado winter landscape in preference of something a little warmer but, with a growing tribe of grandchildren, all thoughts of escaping have been tabled for this year. However, as I take the time to shake a martini, there’s still much that occupies my mind following the 2015 NonStop Technical Boot Camp even as I post to other blog sites and giv...

As the price of gas at the pump continues to drop in the US, it’s hard to miss the flow-on effect to the community. Could we be getting value for our money at last? When the topic is increasing the sales reach of NonStop value too is important. Could we see the return of VARs? Have you all seen what’s been happening with the price of gas at the pumps here in America? Is the same thing happening everywhere? In the US we have seen the price of gas drop to $2.89 per US gallon (3.8 liters) as depicted above where I just filled up the Jeep. Remarkable! Considering our family has nothing but vehicles with large displacement engines, this is proving to be a blessing for us and it feels like getting an unexpected tax break. With the US now awash in sea of oil, thanks to the wonders of fracking, and the market laws of supply and demand kicking in, the price at the pump is likely to go down even further – the days of $2.00 per gallon gas may just be coming back. For now, $2.89 for gas? Re...

Have you been following comments posted to this blog? To discussions started on LinkedIn groups? One recent exchange caught my eye so I pulled it into this post and added my own observations … My day may end with reading a menu, as illustrated above, but when my day starts it is always with a review of papers and reports from well-known daily publications, including a selection from Europe and of course Australia. The scope varies significantly but includes business publications, sports commentaries, some scientific articles as well as headlines from the popular press. Over coffee, I manage to skim as many as a dozen sources and there is no real objective in mind when I begin – a story or commentary just has to have enough “special ingredients” to catch my attention. Following the early morning reading, I turn to skimming items on LinkedIn. While I check in with Facebook, I’m nowhere near as religious about my Facebook presence as I am about LinkedIn. Staying current with the...

Genetics play a big role in how we all develop and it’s not too hard to speculate that “good genes” also helps products prosper. When it comes to NonStop systems, they have participated in hybrid computing throughout their history so embracing hybrids today will not be a daunting challenge for NonStop … Ever since they first showed up on Los Angeles freeways, hybrid cars have aroused a strange mixture of curiosity as well as optimism. Rushing headlong down the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, or car-pool lanes as they are sometimes called, they generated considerable envy among the less fortunate still ensconced in vehicles with more conventional powertrains. Yet for many, these cars’ boxy, often-ugly appearance was a turn-off for many likely purchasers, including the likes of yours truly. Margo grew up in Poland where there were few options apart from the Trabant, so there was little opportunity to look forward to anything other than little boxes, leaving her with little a...