Data Center Dialog

Framehawk and UBS: my New Thing gets a name...and a big customer

2011-11-29T08:02:00.000-08:00

For those who followed my chair-building exploits and my new unnamed stealthy cloud and mobility software start-up, sorry this has taken so long. I’ve been a bit busy. Mainly, it's because there's some pretty interesting stuff we’re working on at my New Thing.We’re still officially in stealth mode, but today UBS Wealth Management Americas announced they are jumping into mobility with both feet.

In honor of Cloud Expo, 5 cloud computing predictions for 2012

2011-11-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Geelan of Sys-Con asked me to pull out my cloud computing crystal ball a few months early this year. He had me join a bunch of other folks working in the cloud space to look ahead at what 2012 has in store.Jeremy posted the 2012 cloud predictions article in the lead-up to Cloud Expo in Santa Clara (flashback: here’s my take on last year’s Silicon Valley event, timed well with a certain Bay

The cloud is falling, says Gartner: tablets and mobility should top IT's list instead

2011-10-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought cloud computing was receiving an unending supply of positive hype, the Gartner Group pulls a fast one on us. Gartner rolled out their list of strategic technology trends for IT to pay attention to for 2012 at their annual Symposium this week in Orlando. And, instead of Gartner piling on with more publicity for cloud, it seems they pulled a bit of a switcheroo.Cloud

Steve Jobs' not-so-accidental role in the consumerization of enterprise IT

2011-10-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

There was a wistful feeling that hit me (and from the sounds of it, many of us in Silicon Valley) last Wednesday when I heard about the loss of Steve Jobs.After pausing for a moment or two to take in his career as a whole, that melancholy quickly turned to something close to amazement. It is hard not to be amazed at all Steve had been able to accomplish. He somehow brought a simple beauty

Bridging the mobility (and fashion) divide: can enterprise IT think more like the consumer world?

2011-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

GigaOm’s Mobilize 2011 conference last week seemed to be a tale of two worlds – the enterprise world and the consumer world – and how they can effectively incorporate mobility into their day-to-day business. And in some cases, how they are failing to do that.I could feel that some of the speakers (like Steve Herrod of VMware and Tom Gillis of Cisco) were approaching some of the mobility issues on

Nagging questions from VMworld 2011: balancing bias versus cloud vision

2011-09-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

For those of us who attend VMworld each year that don’t work for VMware, it’s always a bit of a spectator sport. What will they announce, what will they say-but-not-really-say, what ends up being the synthesis that the audience (and the pundits) take away at the end of the whole thing?VMworld 2011 was no exception. Now that it has been a couple weeks and the news has sunken in a bit, there are

File under 'inspiration': a collection of Steve Jobs stories

2011-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sure, I spent some time mulling over my own resignation letter over the past few weeks, but someone else had one around the same time that was much more impactful and far-reaching (and, honestly, was much better written). Timing is about the only thing that connects my workplace good-bye with the one that had the most impact on high tech in 2011: the resignation of Steve Jobs.In the days

For me, it's that time again: start-up life -- and chair building -- beckon

2011-09-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

After over 2 years at CA Technologies and almost 6 years with a vendor focused on what is (or would become) the cloud computing space, it’s “that time” for me again.It’s time for me to jump back into a start-up.CA has been a welcome change of pace and a rich set of experiences for me. I came into CA from the Cassatt acquisition back in the summer of 2009 -- shifting from Cassatt’s 50-person

Why cloud computing hype isn't bad for IT after all

2011-08-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

A week or two back, ReadWriteWeb ran and published the results of a reader poll of the “most over-hyped cloud technologies.” Amusingly, the results (aside from a NoSQL mention) read like the basic NIST definition of the key components of cloud computing. Software as a Service, private clouds, Infrastructure as a Service, and Platform as a Service all made the top 5. Wow, I thought. That barely

Wallace and Bird Hosting soar: how they save on hardware while delivering more complex apps

2011-08-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Many of the cloud service providers that we are working with here at CA Technologies are small, but aggressive. These are the guys that know their business really, really well and are the ones who are targeting their niches pretty successfully. The ability to focus and be nimble are some of the key indicators of success in the service provider space. We’ve been calling folks like these “Cloud

Boy, my new iPad and I are demanding a lot from IT -- and we're not alone

2011-08-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

I caved and joined the revolution this weekend. I bought an iPad.And while it was very fun to do all the things that a newly minted Apple fan boy does (like downloading the app that turns the iPad into ones like they had on Star Trek: The Next Generation), that was just the beginning. I had yet to try to torment my internal IT department with my demands.First and foremost: I wanted to use my iPad

A service provider ecosystem gaining steam in the cloud is good news for enterprises

2011-07-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

If you’re in enterprise IT, you (or that guy who sits next to you) are very likely looking to figure out how to start using cloud computing. You’ve probably done a fair bit of sleuthing around the industry to see what’s out there. Stats from a number of different analyst firms point overwhelmingly to the fact that enterprises are first and foremost trying to explore private cloud, an approach

Why it pays to be early -- especially with this much cloud choice

2011-07-27T04:49:00.000-07:00

It pays to be early.Take my flight today, for example. I’ve done this flying-to-New York thing a few times. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s a good idea to reserve your seat early. I know when to head toward the line at the gate to minimize time spent standing around and maximize the chance that there’s still overhead bin space onboard. And, if it looks like this particular flight is headed

Looking forward or backward? Cloud makes you decide what IT wants to be known for

2011-06-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

Cloud computing is all about choice. I’ve heard that a lot. What most people mean when they say this is that there are suddenly a whole bunch of places to run your IT workloads. At Amazon using EC2 or at Rackspace? At ScaleMatrix or Layered Tech? Or inside your own data center on a private cloud you’ve created yourself?But there are some more fundamental choices that cloud seems to present as

Hurford of DNS Europe: service providers and SaaS developers are showing enterprises how cloud is done

2011-05-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

The antidote to cloud computing hype is, well, reality. For example: talking to people who are in the middle of working on cloud computing right now. We’ve started a whole new section of the ca.com website that provide profiles, videos, and other details of people doing exactly that.One of the people highlighted on this list of Cloud Luminaries and Cloud Accelerators is Stephen Hurford of DNS

Uptime: Eeyore forever, or can cloud computing help the facilities-IT gap?

2011-05-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

I dropped by the Uptime Institute Symposium in Santa Clara last week. It was a chance to step outside of my IT-focused world for a moment and hear the discussions from the other side of the fence: the facilities folks. And, I have to say, the view was a bit different.In general, I think it's safe to say that facilities is not yet comfortable with where the cloud computing conversation is taking

Is a revolutionary, greenfield approach to cloud The Ultimate Answer? (Or is it still 42?)

2011-05-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

If you were looking for the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, chances are cloud computing is not high on your list of things to worry about. You’re probably more interested in downing your Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster and getting on with things.However, my CA Technologies colleague Andi Mann (@AndiMann on Twitter) and I used our recent Cloud Slam presentation to try to provide

More than 7 deadly sins of cloud computing

2011-04-25T20:16:00.000-07:00