Chuck's Blog

Virtual IT: The Next Five Years

Every so often, I get into the mood to take out my paintbrush and offer up a relatively sweeping canvas for your consideration.

I did this about six months ago with my "The Changing Face Of Information" series, and it ended up sparking all sorts of interesting discussions.

Now I'd like to attempt to do so again with a goal that's no less ambitious: charting the shape of future-state IT a short five years from now.

As before, this will take the form of a series of rather lengthy posts that hopefully tie together in a relatively integrated picture of the landscape we're all heading for, and -- perhaps -- some surprising implications.

So let's get started, shall we?

More Lefthanded Opinion On The HP Acquisition

Well, I've read most of the industry's take on this, and most of it is decidedly different than mine. 

I guess that's a good thing?

But, in addition to the VMware rationale from yesterday, I think there's another angle that many folks might be overlooking -- and, going forward, I think we're going to be hearing more about it.

HP To Acquire LeftHand Networks

I was wondering who was going to snap these guys up.  Now it's clear -- it's HP.

A while back, I dug into all of this with a vengeance, trying to understand what was going on in this corner of the market.

While I think the technology is a good fit with HP's business going forward, I'm rather stunned at the purchase price -- $360m -- which seems to have an extra zero in it, from my perspective. 

Good for the LHN guys for getting an exceptional valuation.

But, rather than quibble over a few hundred million dollars, let's take a look at what these guys do, and why HP might have wanted to pay so much for them.