Chuck's Blog

Securing The Foundations Of The Private Cloud

Lots of activity at VMworld this week, plus the predictable flurry of vendor announcements.

Most people would agree that virtualization is *the* key enabling technology for most cloud models.  Make virutalization (e.g. VMware and associated infrastructure) provably secure and compliant, and you've gone a long way to securing the the clouds built on virtualization.

That's what RSA has announced -- an end-to-end GRC (governance, risk and compliance) solution that takes security in the virtual world to entirely new levels.

And if you see yourself living in a fully virtualized world, it's probably worth just a moment of your time ...

Meet The Prince of Dataness

Just wanted to share the most recent (and the funniest!) EMC 20% Guarantee video, this one starring Oggie -- The Prince of Dataness.

Charting The Intel Effect

Two bits of news, oddly correlated.

First, there's EMC's recent SPEC benchmark posting, where a single Intel-based Celerra data mover absolutely *smokes* every other NAS device out there.

Second, there's Timothy Prickett Morgan's take on the IDC server numbers, where -- once again -- the market bought more Intel-compatible servers and fewer of the other kind.

I think I've seen this movie before, and I know how it ends :-)

The Real Story At Pfizer

A while back, I wrote a rather skeptical post reacting to a press article about Pfizer's use of Amazon.
 
There are some lessons to be learned from this experience:
 
#1 -- Don't always believe what you read online from an industry reporter, and
 
#2 -- Before being critical, do your homework.
 
I made both mistakes.  But, wonderfully, I recently had a chance to talk to the principal behind the story -- Mike Miller -- and found the reality to be far more fascinating.

Mid-Tier Storage: Charting The Changes

Occasionally, people find a way to make something familiar so much faster and better that you've got to do some mental re-calibration. 

My favorite example is this crew, who've found a way to conveniently insert a military jet engine into what looks like an ordinary school bus.  The result really isn't a school bus anymore -- it's something quite different to behold.

Similar thoughts went through my head as I contemplated this morning's news from EMC: a passel of performance, efficiency and management enhancements for the CLARiiON and Celerra midrange storage platforms.

Having worked with both for so long, I'm finding myself having to re-calibrate my expectations.

Managing Your Skills Portfolio

I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak on a panel here at the "Everything Channel" event in Dallas.

Ostensibly, we were supposed to be talking about 2011 storage opportunities for resellers and solution providers.  But, somehow, we got into a number of far more interesting areas, including the strategic importance of the above topic.

We ran out of time, but the thought keeps rattling around in my head ...

Now HP Gets Into The Act For 3PAR

This morning's M+A news was equally as interesting as the news from a week ago: HP submitted a bid to top Dell's offer for 3PAR.  And, if 3PAR trading prices are any indication, there's investor confidence that the price will go higher still.

When I wrote about Dell's bid last Monday, my central premise was "it's all about competing with HP, folks".

Turns out I was closer to the truth than I thought.

Storage Opportunities For Channel Partners

I've been invited down to the xChange gathering next Monday to speak on a panel with some of my industry compatriots on the above topic.

Although I can improvise as well as the next guy (and sound pretty good in the process!), I really enjoy open-ended topics like this that make me step back and reflect a bit.  As a result, I came up with way more material than I could ever fit into a 90 second panel soundbite.

Helping IT People Get That Business Mindset

If you're an IT professional, you're entirely justified in thinking it's all about the technology: what's out there, what's the best, how do you use it, etc.

There will always be a need for people who understand the enterprise IT domain, especially as roles and responsibilities shift dramatically in the next few years.

But most IT people are employed by businesses of one sort or another.  So it makes a certain sense that truly valuable IT people not only know their domain, but can tie it back to the business in meaningful ways.

My Take -- Dell To Acquire 3PAR

[One week after this post was written, HP has announced their competing bid for 3PAR.  Not entirely surprising, either.  Not clear who's going to end up the victor as of now]

Nothing like a little M&A action to spice up a Monday, no?

Today's news is rather straightforward -- Dell intends to purchase 3PAR.  Not entirely a surprise if you're a close industry-watcher like I am.

Some interesting commentary is starting to result (including this piece by Dave Vellante), so I thought I'd offer up some personal observations as well.