Chuck's Blog

You Really Should Join Us At EMC World

Across all of EMC, we're busily making plans for EMC World.  And maybe you should be as well.

Every indication is that it'll be way above-and-beyond even last year's gathering.

If you've been before, expect even more of what you liked, plus a few big surprises.  

But if you've never been before, I'd like to make my case as to why you should invest the time.

Enabling Trust In The Cloud

Frequently, I have the privilege of writing about big ideas -- and big announcements.  

Today's post worries me a bit.  Frankly, I'm concerned I won't be able to do full justice to the topic at hand.

At its essence, today's post is about three things: a big trend, a big challenge -- and a big solution.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day -- a day where we make the time to express our true feelings to the ones we love.

I'm taken back to elementary school, where we had to bring a valentine card for everyone in class.  

There was a certain logic to that practice -- I don't think we take enough time to tell the people we work with just how much we appreciate them.

So that's what I want to do today -- send a valentine to everyone I work with, directly or indirectly.

Collectively, you all make the difference between just another job, and a wonderful adventure.

Understanding Advanced Persistent Threats

Next week is the big and uber-cool RSA security conference.  In preparation, I was chatting with Brian Fitzgerald and Nirav Mehta to get a quick synopsis of what they had planned for the show.

Half-jokingly, I asked "what's the big new threat that no one is prepared for?".  A lot of the conversation at the RSA Conference is inevitably along those lines, as you'd expect.

In a millisecond, Brian shot back: "APT -- advanced persistent threats".  

I had no idea what he was talking about.

He started to explain the basics.  I was fascinated, and asked him to send along some more info.

Maybe you'll be fascinated as well -- or at least, maybe a bit concerned?

The Evolving IT Infrastructure Organization

Cloud concepts — whether private, public or a hybrid — represent a meaningful change in how IT services are delivered.  More and more IT leaders are starting to realize that to make that next leap forward, they’re going have to significantly re-factor and evolve their IT organizations: new skills, new roles, new mandates.

Hi.  We’ve invented this new thing called “airplane”.  It’s faster, better and cheaper than other forms of travel, especially if you’re going a long distance.  It works pretty well.  However, we’re going to need some new skills around flying it, maintaining it, etc.  It’s not much use by itself.

I was fortunate enough to sit through an all-day executive briefing where this important topic was the only one on the table: how will IT organizations transform themselves going forward?

The example on the table? EMC’s own IT organization.  

And, if you care about IT organizational evolution, you should make the time to read this post.

I Respectfully Disagree

I enjoyed reading Chris Mellor's recent ramblings on "Converged Stacks Will Retard Storage Innovation".

He makes a plausible argument: the rapid shift to converged and integrated infrastructures (e.g. VCE Vblocks) will make it harder for the erstwhile small startup to play, and thus hamper an important source of innovation in the storage industry.

After thinking about it for a while, I've decided precisely the opposite is likely to be true -- and here's why.

Should Information Be On The Balance Sheet?

This painfully viral meme comes to you courtesy of none other than James Governor of RedMonk Consulting, perhaps better known as @monkchips.

He infected me badly at the recent EMC megalaunch event in London.  The words escaped his lips, and I had to go think about it -- a lot.

And maybe you should, to.

More Friday Ranting

It's Friday.  

Those of us in New England are looking forward to a few days off to shovel yet even more snow, fix our leaking roof, look despairingly at the meter of ice-encrusted snowpack in our yards, etc.  

Please don't send me tweets from whatever warm spot you might be in -- we're collectively not in the best of moods right now.  

As I sometimes do, I'd like to use this post to get around to a few issues that are bothering me.  If you don't like random rants, this is not a post for you :-)

When Is A Backup Really A Backup?

I must be getting old and crotchety.

I keep seeing various marketing spins around "local backups" and I sort of shake my head and wonder if the world is going mad, or maybe it's just me?

See if you agree with my line of reasoning.

What CIOs Really Want To Know About Cloud

"Cloud" -- however you choose to define it -- is undoubtedly one of those big transformational waves that sweep through our industry every so often.

Regardless of what kind of IT organization you're running, if you're an IT leader, cloud concepts will undoubtedly impact how you do things going forward.

By now, there's a pattern in how the conversation usually goes with these IT leaders.  The specifics might vary, but the themes don't.