Chuck's Blog

Helping To Avoid A Really Bad Day

If you follow the storage blogosphere, you're probably aware of a story that Beth Pariseau covered about an email service provider who recently had a very bad day -- and, to make matters even worse -- they were using an EMC storage array.

And then the "blame" commentary started -- whose fault was it, the vendor or the service provider?

Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about the details of the situation, other than what Beth shared.  And, for the purposes of this post, I'm speaking entirely as myself, and not an Official EMC Representative.

My initial thought: playing the blame game is counterproductive, we're all at fault to some degree. 
Which brings up the discussion -- what do we collectively need to do to avoid this sort of thing happening in the future?

Bringing Oracle To The Private Cloud

Another announcement from EMC (and, indirectly, VMware) that deserves some elaboration.

The press release details new EMC Proven Solutions for Oracle / VMware environments

One that shows how to use FAST to run faster, cheaper and simple. Another one that details how to use a Celerra NS-960 to create a business continuity environment.One that shows how Data Domain integrates with Oracle's RMAN capabilities.

And finally, enhanced verification and support for joint EMC / VMware customers running Oracle in production environments.

I'd encourage you to follow the links -- there's some meaty goodness to be had if this interests you.

But I think there's more to the story ...

Backup Isn't Dead, It's Just Evolving

The blogosphere can be a crowded, noisy place -- especially when it comes to storage-related topics.  Sometimes I think people say outrageous things intentionally. 

I suppose if your goal is to draw attention to yourself, the tactic might make sense.

But if your goal is to help others, saying outrageous things just adds to the noise and confusion -- especially around a relatively important topics such as backup -- and really doesn't help anyone.

One of the best examples of this phenomenon in storage land is the recently popular "backup Is dead" meme.

On the face of it, it's simply another attention-getting claim.  But upon deeper consideration, there's a bit of merit to the thought.

Certainly, backup -- as we've historically known it -- is undergoing substantial change, but that doesn't mean it's "dead". 

Caterpillars turn into butterflies -- but they don't die in the process.  

Forecast: Expect More Clouds

For those of you silently hoping that this whole "cloud" thing would just blow over, I'm afraid I've got some unpleasant news. 

If anything, the forecast clearly shows many more clouds in our future.

The latest piece of evidence comes from Forbes in the form of research sponsored by EMC, "Seeding The Cloud" which looks at cloud perceptions across a base of 235 IT executives from organizations with $500m revenue or more.

VCE: It's All About Accelerating Change

Great discussions this week in the blogosphere as a result of Gestalt IT's Tech Field Day: pros and cons of vBlocks, and -- if you listen carefully -- a fundamental set of questions as to where VCE -- the Virtual Computing Environment coalition -- belongs in the industry heirarchy.

Lots of people sending me messages with links and questions. 
Lots of back-and-forth discussion. 
Lots of clear differences of opinion.

All to be expected, since the core rationale behind VCE is accelerating change ...

Data Domain Gets Bigger

For those of us watching this corner of the industry, Data Domain appears to be the runaway favorite in the marketplace.  Take Data Domain's core competencies, place them in the context of the broader EMC, and you've got a market-winning formula that's hard to beat.

You'd think that the temptation would be to simply rest on past successes, and offer up only small tactical enhancements to the product. 

This apparently isn't the case -- today we saw an interesting product announcement that signals continued innovation with the core infrastructure behind the Data Domain product.  You can read the press releases here and here, or go see Brian Biles' take on Data Domain's blog here.

The 10 Big Ideas That Are Shaping IT Infrastructure Today

Hi everyone.  I had the pleasure of jumping over to Paris to deliver a short keynote this week. 

When I do this, sometimes I use material I've used before.  Other times, I try and mix it up a bit and try something different. 

Such is the case here.

I wanted to make this presentation all about the big ideas that are going on in our industry today, especially as it applies to IT infrastructure, since it directly and indirectly impacts all other aspects of IT. 

I wanted to make a point to try and stay away from individual technologies (and their associated product incarnations), and focus instead on how technology is being built, deployed and consumed.

See if you agree with my choices ...
 

NetApp Makes A Move ... Sort Of

The twittersphere was all abuzz this morning.  Netapp agreed to acquire Bycast, a 60-person startup.  The press release is here.

Part of me is fascinated with any acquisition in our industry.  Deals are complex things, and have so many angles to them.  And, being at EMC, we've seen more than our fair share over the last decade or so -- including getting an inside look at many we've passed on.

One of my friends in M&A has a clever saying -- "the best deal is the one you don't do".  

That being said, if you're expecting an unreasonably negative response from me, I'm going to disappoint you.  Like all deals, there's some good points and weak points.

Do You Have Corporate Secrets?

I really enjoy the thought leadership work that comes out of our RSA group.  Most of their material is thought provoking, to say the least.

This latest gem is no exception.  It's a survey piece conducted by Forrester on "The Value of Corporate Secrets".  In the spirit of disclosure, the work was sponsored by RSA and Microsoft.

It made me think.  Maybe it will make you think, too.

An Update On "The State of IT"

One of the newer EMC team members commented recently that EMC had an internal "information firehose".  He was right -- we all get access to a broad river of interesting content.

It's a good day when I can simply read it all -- let alone try and comment on some of it.

But this piece deserves some commentary and reflection.  One of my colleagues -- Gil Press -- assembles a composite picture regarding the current gestalt of IT -- sort of a survey of surveys.  Since he does this every year, we can glean some interesting year-over-year compares as a result.

And you might find some eye-openers in this ...