Chuck's Blog

Is XAM Finally Here?

Well, no, not really, but if you're at SNW, you can see it being demonstrated at the EMC booth.

Why do I think the XAM standard is so cool? 

It's an important standard as we go beyond simplistic file system semantics, and start thinking about broader mechanisms to embed metadata alongside content.

And if we ever hope to tame the information flood, we're going to need something like XAM in the very near future.

Now it's up to vendors (and their users) to decide whether it's going to succeed, or not.

Integration -- The New Killer App?

So, many of us have been asked the same question about a bazillion times ...

"So, EMC has acquired all this technology .. what are you doing to integrate it?"

And the answer is -- a lot -- but it comes out in ways that are not always obvious, but I would argue are certainly useful and attractive.

And today's example is a rather obscure product announcement that illustrates a broader theme.

EMC's Secret Sales Force

I try to read everything that's written about EMC.  It's getting a lot harder to do this these days, but I try.

One of the themes that seems to come up in articles is EMC's crack sales force.  And it's true -- we've got a direct sales force that's legendary in bringing EMC's value proposition to customers and making them successful with it.

But today, I'd like to use this post to talk a bit about EMC's "secret" sales force -- our Technical Consultants, or TC's.

EMC Moves Into The IMSP Market?

You probably saw the recent announcement regarding EMC's acquisition of Berkeley Data Systems, and their very popular offering, Mozy.

So what's going on here?

You could look at it tactically (which many people do), or strategically (a bit less common).

I'd like to offer a few thoughts from a strategic perspective.

Information Philosophy Day

Two quick things I wanted to share with you.

First, there's now a cool downloadable widget -- the Information Clock -- provided by IDC and EMC.  It estimates the amount of information we're generating every second of every day. 

Feel free to use it in your next IT budget request.

Second, they shot some video of me being interviewed around broader societal issues associated with our rapid transformation to an information society.  The interview went on a lot longer, but they got a few nice bits on tape that you might find interesting (QuickTime format, 100MB, about 9 min).

Creating The Virtual Runbook

Discussions move fast in this industry, especially with customers.

Yes, server/desktop virtualization is cool.  We're in, they say.

Yes, we get that the supporting infrastructure may have to change -- servers, storage, backup, replication, management, security, etc.  We're evaluating that one.

But what about the most important part of IT -- the people and process?