Real Time View

  If there is one overused word in the world of technology it has to be change. Yes, I have changed a tire or two in my time just as I have changed houses and even countries. I have been forced to change travel itineraries more than once even as I have had to change because of inclement weather. And I am known to change my mind at the very last moment when ordering a meal off a restaurant’s lengthy menu. From our earliest days we are informed, politely or otherwise, that our attitude is poor and we need to change. At school we have changed our course preferences even as we changed allegiances. And when it comes to sporting teams, there are those among us that just like to back winners and so change their support to match. When it comes to technology, standing still has never been an option. As a storyteller this is fine by me, but then being able to pick up on new storylines every week has its benefits. For the business world where investments in technology are heavily weighed to e...

Pouring a good measure of any adult drink over ice cubes is a common enough practice. Mixologists will tell you that for some drinks it’s better to pour from a chilled bottle to lessen the impact of a warm fluid on the ice. Then again, for most of us who from time to time imbibe on such concoctions, such a dilution process is welcome. In our household, an evening cocktail has become part of our routine. Disclaimer: it is neither an encouragement to do the same nor a suggestion that it is required. Eventually, the understanding of the humble martini comes down to simple chemistry where the eventual solution proves to be to our liking. And with that, comes the chemist’s clarity that “you prepare a solution by dissolving a known mass of solute (often a solid) into a specific amount of a solvent.  For the NonStop community, its successful history is liberally littered with solutions of every kind. These are solutions of a different nature, obviously, and yet, to succeed they h...

  Attending one event in person and then catching content from a second held virtually proved challenging - First day - ATMIA US Conference 2021, Las Vegas Greetings from the road, once again! Last week we drove to Las Vegas where it all seemed so strange to be participating in an industry event that wasn’t associated with HPE. Up until 2020 we had always scheduled time to be in Las Vegas for HPE events so it was good to get back to the place. Whether they were the HP Technical Forum (HPTF) events – the events that replaced the ITUG Summits of years passed – or HPE Discover simply being with the community was always an experience in itself. However, on this occasion, Margo and I turned up for the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) US Conference. While our primary focus was on the ATMIA event where I was attending in person and yes, it was held in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (and Conference Center), we also had to interact with our colleagues who were participating in this year...

I am all about choice and having options but sometimes, I balk at having to throw anything away. When it comes to NonStop, there’s a rich choice of solutions and almost all of them are providing simple methods that help to ease-in to production …   Imagine my surprise when the email arrived promoting a fun day in a Las Vegas sand box. Literally; it was a real sand box, full of sand and not a reference to some exotic new middleware. A sandbox, too, liberally populated with tractors and scrapers – as the promotion for such an experience proudly advertised. “You know you've always wanted to play on the huge equipment you see on construction sites,” said the lead in on the web site, Dig this Vegas . “Meet at a giant sandbox in Las Vegas and receive a brief safety instruction and equipment orientation,” was how another promotional brochure started. “You'll be given a hard hat, vest, and 2-way radio before climbing aboard a real-life excavator or bulldozer for a unique and...

Leaving the beaten path to visit a small village north of San Francisco gave me an opportunity to have coffee with the chief executive of yet another payments vendor setting up shop in here in the States and it proved to be time well spent … One of the first things visitors to northern California want to do is to visit the wine country surrounding Napa and Sonoma. For the more adventurous, the trip down the Russian River to the coast is also a journey not to be missed. During the years I lived in Cupertino, whenever there was a free weekend I would head north on Highway One and take in the sights of a coastline. Driving though is not for the faint of heart as the road is full of blind crests and numerous hidden turns. Approaching each corner can be cause for doubt; knowing what’s ahead, or even what’s around the corner, was a challenge. Having made this journey numerous times over three decades I thought I knew the place fairly well but when I was invited to meet a vendor ...

Changes in direction at a familiar road course, as well as in the executive team at HP together with how markets are approached all called for taking a different approach. And yet, changes are what we must do if we are to compete effectively. This past weekend saw Margo and me at the track, a road circuit outside the village of Buttonwillow, California, all weekend, firstly as mechanic for Margo on Saturday as she participated in four sessions, and then as driver on Sunday for another four sessions. This was our last outing of the year, and it will be another five months before the Vette gets to “stretch its wheels” once again. The photo above is of “Team Pyalla” setting up camp, trackside, as light was fading Friday afternoon. The circuit was created to support various configurations to keep everyone on their toes, but it featured a number of corners from famous circuits and for years has proved to be a popular location for testing and even magazine car reviews. However, for t...

While I am sitting at my desk putting this post together, my thoughts are many miles away. This morning I received a reminder that EBUG is starting in just 2 weeks – by the time you read this, it may be as soon as next week – and it will only be the second time in more than a decade that I have missed this annual event. The picture at the top of this page is from last year’s event, the closing evening’s fun-filled outing in Prague – what a different atmosphere from that of the conference and exhibition! And good to see Keith enjoying himself! For more years than I care to recount I have participated in user events. My first memories of any user event go back to March 1976, when I drove from Edmonton, Alberta, all the way down to Dallas, Texas, to participate in one of the earliest gatherings of the user event sponsored by Insyte Datacom Corporation (IDC), the company behind the Datacom/DB product. In 1979 I made the even longer trip from Sydney to Richmond, Virginia to attend the ...

There are conversions and then there are conversions! Barely a day passes when I don’t see a car or motorcycle that has been extensively modified. Perhaps the most extreme cross-over, or “hybrid”, motorcycle I had ever read about was the Chrysler Tomahawk where the V10 engine of a Dodge Viper was mounted in a futuristic motorcycle frame. Conversions on this scale were never meant for use on the public road, however, that didn’t stop the adventurous from pushing the limits. The picture above is of a pair of road-going motorcycles converted for a Midwest customer and clearly sporting the very same Dodge Viper V10 engines! The existence of such extreme machines was brought to my attention by my good friend Aldo Adriaan who, being somewhat more conservative, owns a Boss Hoss motorcycle, another manufactured custom but this time, sporting only a V8 as its power-plant. Aldo manages education and training for the NonStop Enterprise Division, and is well known to many of us. A quick check...

It’s been a month since I posted a story to this blog that opened with a car example, so perhaps it’s fitting to revisit this theme as I return to the subject of Tandem’s 35th anniversary, as all previous postings on this subject started with a car example. This weekend saw the just-created Pyalla Technologies’ car roll out onto the circuit at Willow Springs International Raceway (Big Willow) for the first track sessions of 2010, the start of the third year of our participation in the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) program, High Performance Driver Education (HPDE). For those who may have missed the point of the graphics in the Pyalla Technologies, LLC company logo, there’s a distinct red square representing the red-center of Australia, together with a stylized set of black-and-white squares overlaying one corner – a combination of the love of Australia that I still harbor, together with the most recognized icon from car events worldwide, the checkered flag! As part of the...