Real Time View

Camped outside Lincoln, Nebraska, as I head to the MATUG event outside Washington D.C., I realize that there’s much to be learnt from being on the road. Not the least being the time to be able to think of what future NonStop systems might look like and to catch up with innovative companies that may yet impact NonStop. Much of my summer months I’ve spent on the road. With the better weather conditions for driving it’s an opportunity to mix with the NonStop community – vendors and users equally, and the insight that this provides is always valuable. It’s a very simple equation really, to write one needs to first listen and then just as importantly, read and comprehend. The basics, right! However, it still comes as a surprise when I encounter something unexpected and so it’s never about the destination, as the saying goes, but the journey. Or to put it another way, information is out there.  It exists. You just have to want it. Even if you are in the middle of the road attentive ...

Mobility is bringing with it advantages that benefit us all but in our quest to be constantly informed about what’s going on – in the business world at large, as well as  within our company – it’s mandating changes to how we deliver content. It seems more than sensible to spend time in America’s southwest at this time of year. Polar Vortexes, snow storms swinging down from the Pacific Northwest, and any number of frigid ice-bound days is enough to have any sane person pulling out roadmaps and checking upcoming conference schedules to see if any might be in a warmer location. Fortunately, I received press passes to two important industry events – one in Las Vegas, Nevada,  organized by ATMIA (the ATM Industry Association) with the other in Phoenix, Arizona, organized by BAI (which stands for Bank Administration Institute, but is better known as the organizers of the annual Retail Delivery show). No matter how you describe the benefits that come through participation the f...

HP grabbed more than its normal share of headlines this past week and it was all good! To see as many references to Superdome and NonStop in the same sentence has set a precedent – on equal footing, attracting equal time in the spotlight, is a harbinger of good days to come! I maintain two distinct office spaces complete with walls, windows and most importantly, doors, so that when it comes time to talk on the phone, I take myself away from my PC. I need to maintain this separation as I am prone to excessive multitasking, so much so that it becomes a distraction. Just by walking across a corridor I am in a new, considerably less stimulating place than where I spend most of my time. In a business environment dominated by the ubiquitous cubicle, one side effect from having a separate business work space in the home is that I have a real office where my daily routine doesn’t disrupt anyone else! These past couple of weeks, distractions have been on a whole different plane. Readin...

With another week to chew on all I saw at HP Discover, the more things change the more they stay the same. And that’s encouraging news for all Pathway fans I suspect … but there’s even more that’s positive for NonStop! Even HP! If my immediate consideration following 2014 HP Discover was to let my mind shuffle around all that I had seen and heard, today I can honestly admit that I have developed strong opinions about what looks to have staying power. If your interests include mobility, security, clouds and big data, then there was plenty of material on hand and the Discover Zone (a.k.a. the exhibition hall) had it all; from kiosks, to demonstration booths, to specialty mini-theaters! Beneath overhead banners supporting the big messages from HP you could find out all you ever wanted to know about a particular theme or focus area with someone knowledgeable always at hand. On more than one occasion I was rewarded with insight and perspective in an unambiguous manner, so much so th...

“How I wish that there were more than the twenty-four hours in the day 'Cause even if there were forty more I wouldn't sleep a minute away … Viva Las Vegas!” So go the lines in a verse from Viva Las Vegas and it pretty much sums up the frenetic pace of networking that takes place each year during the three-day mega-event, HP Discover. It was only a few days ago that the registration was finalized and I can assure everyone that I will be there – and yes, bright and early each morning. I will be providing commentary on a routine basis to the LinkedIn group, Real Time View, as I have done on all previous occasions, so look for the new posts each day. The all too familiar signs of too little sleep and too many cocktail receptions are hard to miss, but each year there’s a couple of places where the NonStop community heads – the inside The Venetian hotel always the most popular. Not forgetting the Morels Steakhouse & Bistro or TAOs, both proving to be popular. Walk thro...

I have been following InkaBinka since the beginning of this year and now there are folks within HP, too, that see plenty of opportunities as we all become newscasters. “Capturing your world!” could involve us all and NonStop may very well be involved …   To the dismay of many, Margo and I drove from Boulder, Colorado, to Orlando, Florida. What were we thinking? After road trips for business to Atlanta, Georgia, to Mississauga, Canada, and then the extended travel we did while in Australia, you would have thought a 2,000 plus mile trip to sunny Florida would be a bit much – but we love the travel. The picture above was taken of Margo and me after making a detour to Daytona Beach for lunch, Sunday.  We have checked in to one of Disney’s kingdoms specifically, Magic Kingdom; looking down on this fantasy world from high atop Disney’s Contemporary Resort. When you enter Disney, the “wonderful world of meetings” that is, there’s a tag line displayed on their folios – “the se...

At first, it just seemed like a good idea. On second thought, how would I find enough to write about? Seven years on, and some 500 plus posts to multiple blogs, when it comes to NonStop there’s still so much more to write about …      It actually crept up on me but in the end, it came as a surprise. Readers who check out older posts to this blog may have noticed as well, and I believe I gave out a few clues over the past months. Yes, with my first blogs appearing in August, 2007, six years have passed and I am now starting my seventh year of blogging to Real Time View - continuing to generate what I like to think is further “Ink on NonStop”! To be fair, I am not sure how many posts I have written for industry, vendor and community blogs I support, but a back of the envelope calculation suggests somewhere north of 500 posts, not including the features and updates I provide to both, The Connection and Tandemworld. Along the way, I have been well supported by the vend...

I first introduced the inventor Kevin to this readership several years ago – from my coffee shop days while visiting Simi Valley. Little did I know then that he would deliver technology that would change the way we think of internet access! I may have avoided the cold and snow of Boulder for a couple of weeks, but it was only temporary and Margo and I have returned to find the temperatures dropping much lower than we have seen in quite a while. The cold, or flu bug, we picked up 16 days ago, despite the steps we took to be vaccinated, still has us in its grip and for much of the time we have been back home, we have felt miserable. From emails we have received from colleagues it seems we aren’t alone in our misery as much of North America is suffering, but at least, it has given us both an opportunity to catch up on work we put to one side as the holidays arrived. As a writer, commentator, and more often these days, an analyst, getting to the latest headlines of publications I f...