Real Time View

  When this saying of Mark Twain popped up in my LinkedIn feed, I took it as a sign that this month’s post should feature commentary on the journey I took this month. It involved many miles, a conference, and opportunities to talk to well-placed industry experts. Time on the road is also an opportunity to escape routine and in so doing, provides ample time to simply observe what transpires around us – an important element even for the most jaded of IT professionals. From Florida, drive to Colorado to then fly to Dublin, London and Paris before an extended weekend in the Bordeaux idly drifting on rivers while passing wineries, musing all the time on what is happening today with NonStop. Or should I correct myself and say, with HPE Nonstop Compute. Yes, I am missing HPE Discover this year as I extended my stay in Europe. Put this down as yet one more case where I cannot acquire things ‘by vegetating in one little corner of the earth.’ Not even for a week or two. The desire to thi...

On a sunny and oftentimes breezy Boxing Day in Sydney a gathered fleet of yachts makes a dash to the headlands of Sydney Harbor where, with just the right conditions (and from this photo and the set of the sails, that looks to be the situation), they will turn south and for as long as they can, these yachts will be on a reach, the wind coming from the north east. Navigators will be pouring over displays to determine the likely conditions for the passage across Bass Straight hoping for smooth sailing all the way to Hobart. It was the summer of 1973 when I had the opportunity to be among the spectator fleet onboard Theme, the yacht I raced on for four seasons. Looking back on the day, we were witness to one of the favored yachts, Bumble Bee III, destined to compete in the upcoming Admiral’s Cup regatta out of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, ran aground on the rocky Sow and Pigs reef. Amidst the great expectations held for this yacht when it makes its appearance at Cowes, there was shock. S...