Chuck's Blog

Baby (Private) Clouds

I'm having a lot of fun using the concept of a "private cloud" to explain how IT infrastructure is likely to evolve in the near future.

So far, it's causing some interesting discussion -- not only with the customers I meet, but in the broader blogosphere.

And, once in a while, I get a wonderful surprise.

Information Logistics

By now, I've had to explain COS (cloud optimized storage) and Atmos many, many times.

On this one, though, it's important to come up with a pretty clear and insightful explanation.  When it comes to COS, you either really need it (and have very few alternatives!), or you wonder what the fuss is all about.

And I've come up with an explanation that's working pretty well -- let me know what you think?

Efficient Thinking

2009 has started with earnest, and -- by now -- I've had enough of a chance to visit with customers and prospects to get a sense of what people are thinking about.

Efficiency. 

It's always been a popular topic in IT infrastructure.  Now it's entirely dominating the discussion, almost like Y2K did back in 1999.

I wanted to share with you my observations of how people are thinking about the topic, and what they're doing.  And, no, I'm not going to use this as another opportunity to flog any particular product. 

Well, maybe just a little .. :-)

Congratulations To NetApp

Today, they were awarded a prestigious distinction, making #1 in FORTUNE's "100 Best Places To Work".

Now, I'm not going to make a snarky comment, or degrade their achievement in any way. 

They done good, and deserve all due credit.  On other topics, though, it's still open season ... :-)

Now EMC has something good to shoot for!

More On Private Clouds

Well, I seem to have entered an ongoing active discussion in the Cloud World with my recent post on "The Emergence of Private Clouds".  Even got a pickup from the press, which is always nice.

During the last few days, I've been discussing this with all sorts of people, and collecting the questions that are popping up.

I thought that it'd be helpful to recap the key questions -- and hopeful answers -- for everyone's benefit.

More Odds and Ends

No big ideas in this post ...

No, this one is just various odds and ends I've been meaning to write about, but just haven't gotten around to it.

Sorry for the bouncy nature of the post ...

The Emergence Of Private Clouds

A few of us have come to a general agreement around how we'll probably see the next phase of clouds evolve in corporate computing environments.

Most of us think it won't be the current uber-clouds being proposed by Microsoft and Amazon.

More likely, it'll be private clouds that run today's applications, using both internal and external resources, yet allows IT to retain security and control.

And these private clouds might be closer than you think.

The Information Protection Wheel

In my travels and discussions, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to create more complete views of challenges we all face.  Sometimes, I stumble on a useful graphic or picture that explains the concept in an interesting way.

My good friend Brian Fitzgerald (VP Marketing at EMC's RSA division) shared just such a graphic with me the other day, and I wanted to share it with you.   

No earth-shattering insights here, just an easier way to explain multiple topics in a single motion.

It's EMC World Time Again!

The doors are open on the reg site for the 2009 EMC World -- Orlando May 18 -21.

My guess is that EMC World will be one of the few IT events in 2009 that will grow and thive.  I think the same can be said for the VMware and RSA equivalents.

No last-minute cancellations here! 

Now's the time to start making the case to your boss that you really need to be there -- to learn the latest ways to accelerate IT value using EMC technology.

As I take a look at the product roadmap, there's also ample opportunity for some pretty cool technology announcements, in addition to all the other fascinating stuff that goes on at EMC World. 

Hope you can make it!

GRC Thinking From An IT Perspective

Over the last few weeks, I've been fortunate enough to spend some serious time digging into the current state of affairs regarding GRC -- the emerging topic of governance, risk and compliance.

Sure, the topic is hazy, poorly defined and all over the map.  That's probably one of the reasons I'm so interested.

That being said, I've seen a few patterns emerge that might make things a bit easier for all concerned.

Also, for those of you who don't like the long-ish posts that result when I dive into a new and complex topic, maybe you'd better skip this one!