Real Time View

It was a wild ride into New Orleans but we had to continue driving – there wasn’t any alternative as commitments had been made. How often do we make plans even today without fully exploring back-up options? I have covered a lot of distance over the past couple of weeks and with February already drawing to a close these trips have included visits to Las Vegas and New Orleans. What we observed and how we handled the travel have been covered in previous posts, but it’s fair to say, both towns share a couple of things in common. They are entertainment capitals certainly, but they are also living on the edge – gambling is in evidence everywhere you turn. A history steeped in riverboat gamblers is hard to hide in New Orleans even as the crime bosses inventiveness in Las Vegas too seems to still permeate its streets and yet, there’s a constant stream of visitors to both locations who seem focused on doing nothing other than gambling. And with risk come rewards, but only to a select few an...

A chance forced detour out on the highway reminded me of just how important good service is - for the NonStop community there are many options when it comes to service and I suspect there will be even greater demand for services in the future. Think for a moment about Hybrids and NonStop as Software!   Driving the many miles we do, attending one conference or another, we probably spend more time in car service bays than most. Throw into the mix the need to accommodate extreme temperature changes that living next to the continental divide creates, and the expenses climb steadily through any given year. Seeking the assistance of service managers isn’t restricted to where we live either, as we have been forced, on occasion, to pull into garages all across the western states of America. Service, particularly when it comes to cars, is something Margo and I know a lot about. As much as it really hurts to own up to such familiarity with car service centers across the country, it’s ou...

With road trips about to kick off in earnest, it’s good to be getting out and about among the NonStop community. And the good news is that NonStop is still here, still funded even as it remains highly visible to senior executives within HPE! Calendars are being reviewed and with a flourish of highlighting pens the first half of 2016 is beginning to take shape. Who says that the NonStop community isn’t active or that there’s little support for user events? Clearly, the first half of the year will be bookended with 2016 HP Discover , but there will be other events including MRTUG (Chicago) and possibly GTUG (Berlin) that are really must-attend occasions. I would have liked to have penciled in SunTUG , as the folks out at Tampa are always fun to be with, but already we have to deal with conflicting dates. There are also plans firming up for Margo and me to participate in industry association events as well, with the ATMIA event in New Orleans scheduled for later this month now...

Piecing together comments made at number of recent conferences confirms just how big a role NonStop will play in HPE’s plans. Centered on transformation to a hybrid infrastructure HPE inclusion of NonStop bodes well for all who continue to invest in NonStop systems.  It’s been a vicious winter so far for many of us living in the U.S. Watching the evening news has become an exasperating exercise – home shows highlighting the value of island life in the tropics continue to tempt many into chucking it all in to go native. Yes, it’s very cold and the eastern states are still shoveling out from one of the bitterest blizzard conditions many can recall. Here in Boulder, it’s been chilly for an extended period, with heavy snowfalls across the continental divide whereas in the west, the effects of El Niño storms are finally making their presence felt, particularly on the Golden State. To say there’s little heat coming out of California is only telling part of the story! Wh...

When it comes to cooking it’s important to have the right ingredients and for the NonStop community, HPE has all the right ingredients are at hand. And not just for one tasty treat but for many – NonStop is factoring into many more plans of HPE … I continue to be approached about my ongoing interest in NonStop systems, with my contemporaries asking me to give it a break! Surely, the industry has moved on and what once made NonStop so unique has little going for it today – industry standard solutions are so reliable, why would you pay any premium for fault tolerance, and isn’t fault tolerance essentially a waste of hardware? Redundant processors, duplicated controllers, limited application software offerings – isn’t the time of fault tolerant over? In today’s highly mobile world, where everything is low cost, why preserve with NonStop? And truly, are these ingredients still important for today’s fast-moving enterprise? At this time of year, with much cooler temperatures and snow ...

Familiar territory for the NonStop community – with NonStop X we have speed as well as scale – and with transformation under way together with the emphasis on hybrids, there’s much to cheer for when it comes to HPE NonStop systems! Last year, around this time, Margo and I spent several weeks on the road, attending numerous industry events held across the western states of the U.S. On one such trip we found ourselves driving through southern Arizona where we  came across the ruins of Casa Grande. We stopped to visit the ancient ruins and despite what we were told, I am not all that sure anyone knows precisely what was going on millennia ago, nor whatever  happened next. I touched on this briefly in the post to this blog of February 6, 2015,  Of hubs and spokes; of niches, clouds and beyond the horizon; it all looks good for NonStop X! , where I referenced another post, this time to our social blog of February 3, 2015,  In truth, we are but travelers …  This ...

“You are what you read,” so read a headline of a column in Fortune magazine – but to many in the NonStop community, what we read about NonStop may not be all that appealing to us. But should we be fearful?  At this time of year you more or less have to prepare yourself for gifts family  will give you even if past experiences suggest not to be too surprised by what finds its way under the tree. However, this year, one of the more imaginative gifts I received was an apron to wear while I grill. Or pull corks from a bottle. The message was hard to miss, “Bites, Bytes & Blogs. I deliver.” Yes, I’m very much into bites, bytes and blogs. Two years ago Margo and I made the trip to Denver and we repeated the journey once again. Even stayed overnight in the same quirky hotel and took time to walk the city streets to check out the changes – none bigger than the completion of the fully refurbished Denver Union Station. While more complete observations on the transformation of...