Chuck's Blog

Great RecoverPoint/SRM Customer Testimonial

Sorry to be such a shameless promoter of EMC marketing material, but I really like this one.

It's a short video of one of our customer/partners -- Hosted Solutions -- talking about how they like RecoverPoint, and -- as a bonus -- a short discussion of how they're using VMware's SRM (Site Recovery Manager) to do complete automated failovers.  I was told they were one of our beta customers and did extended testing.

A longer technical discussion (10 min video chalk talk) can be found here.  Or, if you're really interested, see the full boat here.

A Bit More On Avamar ...

... but not from me today.

As a result of a certain vendor (Data Domain) making certain -- well -- interesting claims, a few of our EMC brethren felt the need to explain a bit more about how the technology works.  If nothing else, it's pretty interesting if you like to understand more than just what the marketing literature says.

Bottom line -- if you're doing dedupe for backup, you're going to have to decide whether you want to reduce data before you hit the network, or afterwards. 

I'm not saying which is best -- as I can imagine scenarios where one or the other would be ideal, but understanding the difference is helpful as you wade through the various backup dedupe claims.

Props to Mark at StorageZilla and Scott at The Backup Blog for shining a bit more light on the topic.

Being Influential: Mixed Emotions

BarryB (a.k.a. The Storage Anarchist) flipped this link to me today, describing how Aberdeen has compiled a list of "Top 100 Most Influential IT Vendors For 2008".

On one hand, it was nice that EMC was #9 on the list, and we were ahead of quite a few other names. 

On the other hand, it made me think: we're not getting our story out well as we could, are we? 

I know what EMC is up to.  I also pretty much know what vendors #1-8 are doing as well.

When I start connecting the dots on all of EMC's current -- and near-term -- capabilities -- I could make a reasonably compelling case that maybe we should be just a few notches higher on the list.

Maybe we should set a goal for ourselves to do better on this survey next year?

VMware's SRM Changes The Game For Remote Recovery

OK, it's no secret, I'm a *huge* VMware fan.  They've been able to take their underlying strength in hypervisors, and move into all sorts of useful adjacent areas: desktop, software development, systems management and so on.

For quite a while, I've been tracking SRM -- Site Recovery Manager -- as another one of these VMware-based "game changers". 

And, today, it's been announced.

So why do I think this is such a big deal?

Travelling ...

Just realized I'm going to be travelling continuously for the next two weeks (sigh) so I'm doubtful if I'll be posting too much.   Of course, you never know, do you?

See you all in a few weeks!

Do-It-Yourself Storage

I've always been amazed at the different ways you can slice the storage market: by access method (DAS, SAN, NAS, CAS, etc.), by architecture (single controller, dual controller, multi-controller, RAIN, scale-out, clusters, etc.), even by consumption model (e.g. traditional vs. storage-as-a-service).

To this growing list of taxonomies, I think we're going to have to add another: pre-integrated storage vs. do-it-yourself.

And, strangely, I think that there will be certain places where this is going to be popular.  But most organizations will probably never consider it seriously.

Here's why ...

Single Vs. Multiple Vendor Approaches

A while back, I commented on the growing disparity I was seeing to these different approaches to storage in larger customer environments.

Not surprisingly, I was taken to task by many over my observations.  "Of course", they'd offer, "what else would you expect a large vendor to say?"

Well, I'm signing up for another round of punishment.

Why?  It's getting even clearer to me with each passing week.

I Don't Know Quite What To Think ...

If you follow this blog, you know I have heartburn with cheap marketing stunts in our industry.

But last night, I came across a clever one, and -- to be honest -- I'm not quite sure what to think about it.

Let me explain it a bit, and perhaps you can share your thoughts?

Interesting Reactions To EMC's 1Q08

Well, all things considered, I thought EMC's results were pretty good: strong growth across the board, new products doing well, share gains in many segments, etc.

But I guess a few people didn't see things the same way, e.g. "EMC Weathers Stormy Quarter, Denies Technology Threats". 

OK, so it makes for an attention-grabbing headline, but that's hardly the case.

But I thought some of the core questions -- and answers -- were worthy of a bit of further discussion.

Common Criteria Isn't So Common

This post was triggered by yet another innocuous EMC press release, this one announcing that many of our platform products have been certified under the Common Criteria Information Technology Security Evaluation.

Don't know about the Common Criteria?  Wikipedia has a decent write-up on the basics, but only goes so far.

No, this is not just a federal government thing -- it's got wider applicability than you might think.

And, once again, the real story is what goes on behind the scenes ...

Data Loss Prevention -- New Thinking

I've had another "aha" moment -- actually, a whole series of them -- recently.

The first hint that something big was going on came as part of a flurry of announcements at RSA World, including this hidden gem around DLP.

It turns out that I only had a half-baked notion of what all the fuss might be about, until late last week.  I was privileged to spend some quality time with the RSA team who went through the concepts and demo'd the product.

When they were done, my head was spinning.  Not so much around the product capabilities (which were very cool, to be sure), mostly it was the new way they were approaching the problem that got me so excited.

I probably won't be able to fit in all into a reasonable-sized post, so consider this the first installment exploring a topic that I'm sure we'll all be interested in -- sooner or later.

The Most Popular Topic

I get to meet a lot of customers.  And I get to talk about a lot of topics.

I'd bet you'd never guess what the most popular topic is turning out to be.  And I think the "why" behind the topic's popularity is worthy of some discussion.

Hint: it's not virtualization, or dedupe, or cloud, or anything like that ...

One Emergent View Of IT

Came across an online interview that's probably worth reading, "GM's Ralph Szygenda Drives IT Innovation" in eWeek.

In it, I saw how they'd created a very different picture for themselves about what IT is all about, or -- more importantly -- might be in the future.

If you work in an IT organization, and ever wonder "what's it all about?" -- it's worth a few minutes of your time.

Of Vendor Presentations

As of late, I have been asked to do all manner of speaking engagements to large audiences.

I don't know whether it's the season, or people are more interested in what EMC has to say than before -- it doesn't really matter.  All I know is that my calendar is now relatively full with all sorts of high profile speaking events.

And, of course, this is causing me to reflect a bit on what's going on, and what it might mean.

The Other Side Of Bricks

Lots of interest in Xiotech's ISE announcement last week.

Many of the industry pundits found their approach, well, interesting to say the least.  One industry curmudgeon (I loathe to call him an "analyst") was almost falling over himself to praise Xiotech for what they're doing.

Now, I don't know much about their product (other than what I've read), and -- of course -- nobody can actually buy one yet to see what it's all about, but I found myself explaining the pros and cons of such an approach.

Of course, it really doesn't matter what I think, does it?  Eventually, the marketplace decides these things ...

FCoE Gets Buzz At SNW

So, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I've had my eye on FCoE for a while.

For me, this has the potential of being a winner for everyone who uses FC extensively today -- and you know who you are.

Even though I didn't go to SNW (I'm not a big fan of industry shows), I did enjoy watching the ritual and how different people reacted.

"Independent Analysis" -- Is There Hope?

I try to avoid rants in this blog.  It doesn't make for especially good reading, I've found.

But one of the topics that has elevated my blood pressure over the last few years has been the practice of vendors funding "independent analysis" or "independent research" that -- surprisingly! -- says exactly what the vendor might want it to say.

Someone sent a report from the Aberdeen Group my way that actually gave me a bit of hope that the practice -- and its participants -- might be coming around to a different way of doing things.

Put differently, there might be hope!

Storage Encryption -- New Capabilities

Somewhere in the blizzard of EMC-related news this week, the pieces of an interesting story started to come together, e.g. some new thinking and capabilities around storage encryption. 

The story came out kind of piecemeal (see here and here), and I thought it'd be useful to re-assemble some of the pieces. 

Many of you are doing some form of storage or tape encryption today, or are thinking about doing it.

I think there's now a better way to do this sort of thing than there was before.

The Changing Face Of Information -- Conclusions

Well, if you've slogged through this sequence of posts, my congratulations -- and my thanks.

Put together, the handful of megatrends I've tried to identify paints a very complex picture with very few simple, obvious simplistic choices.

But the picture isn't so grim -- and might be even thought of as an opportunity.

Let me explain why.

The Changing Face of Information -- More Metadata

Information has very little meaning without context. 

And for us to thrive in this new information world, we're going to need some help in understanding what a given piece of information might mean.

Hence the growing importance of metadata in this discussion -- information about information.

If you're just dropping in, we're in the middle of a connected sequence attempting to tie together multiple themes sweeping our industry, and our society as a whole.  If you've made it this far; congratualation, we're in the home stretch.

If we step back for a moment, I've introduced this series, written about the growing need for information governance, identified information risk management as the new frontier in security, pointed to the unmet needs of knowledge workers as a crisis in the making, described how the changing nature of applications will change IT, positioned virtualization as creating the potential for "frictionless" IT, speculated a bit on how the cloud might affect us all, and shone a spotlight that -- as digital citizens -- we're going to want more control of our personal information.

And, behind all of this, perhaps our thinking around metadata might have to change in a big way.

The Changing Face of Information -- My Personal Information

One of the most powerful forces in our society is the growing need by information-literate citizens to have control over their personal information. 

I know I'd like to have more control over my stuff, and I think others feel the same.

If you're just dropping in, we're in the middle of a connected sequence attempting to tie together multiple themes sweeping our industry, and our society as a whole.

If we step back for a moment, I've introduced this series, written about the growing need for information governance, identified information risk management as the new frontier in security, pointed to the unmet needs of knowledge workers as a crisis in the making, described how the changing nature of applications will change IT, positioned virtualization as creating the potential for "frictionless" IT, and speculated a bit on how the cloud might affect us all.

But all of this assumes that it's corporate information. 

What if I think of it as MY information?

The Changing Face of Information -- Enter The Cloud

As a marketing wise-acre, I could joke that "cloud" is a marketer's dream -- it's so vaporous, you can make it mean anything you want, right?  Actually, most us here have a pretty precise idea of what it is, and what it might mean.

By the way, we're in the middle of a series of posts here. 

Just to bring you up to speed, I've introduced this series, written about the growing need for information governance, identified information risk management as the new frontier in security, pointed to the unmet needs of knowledge workers as a crisis in the making, described how the changing nature of applications will change IT, and positioned virtualization as creating the potential for "frictionless" IT.

Now we're ready to connect a few of the dots, and take on the concept of cloud computing. 

And, before long, I'm guessing it'll be a very interesing discussion to most of us in the industry.

The Changing Face of Information -- Virtualization Changes Everything

The Changing Face of Information -- Virtualization Changes Everything

I feel bad writing yet another post about how virtualization is transforming how we think about computing -- and IT in general -- but, given that I'm in the middle of a series of related posts here, there's no way I can escape covering the topic.

Just to bring you up to speed, in addition to an intro, I've written about the growing case for information governance, identified information risk management as the new frontier in security, how the unmet needs of knowledge workers are creating a crisis, and how a changing definition of applications will change IT.

How could I ignore virtualization?

So, rather than rehash the obvious, I'm going to try and draw a different view; one that speaks to information directly, rather than computing.

The Changing Face of Information -- What Is An Application?

You're reading a post that's part of a larger sequence.  I'm taking a look at several of the core issues that we'll all be facing in the coming years as we rapidly move to an information economy.

In addition to introducing the topic, I've taken a look at information governance, information risk management, and the growing importance of knowledge workers.

In this post, I want to dig into a fundamental question -- what is an application, or -- more importantly -- what will be an application?

The Changing Face Of Information -- The New Knowledge Worker

Continuing from previous posts, I'm attempting to take a broader look at the implications of our rapid shift to an information economy.

We've looked at information governance, and information risk management.

But what about value generation from information?  Or, more importantly, the people who generate this value?

And that brings the focus to where most of the new value is being created in the enterprise -- the knowledge worker.

The Changing Face Of Information -- Information Risk Management

We're on a journey here that spans across multiple posts, looking at the broader impacts of our shift to an information economy and an information society.

In my previous post, I attempted to make the case that information governance -- a centralized, business-oriented view of how information is gathered, used and managed across the enterprise -- would likely be an emergent theme; if not now, then certainly in the near future.

I also observed that risk avoidance associated with information management issues -- although a likely starting place for the discussion -- wasn't the be-all and end-all of how we might think about the topic.

In this post, I'd like to explain a bit about why information risk management will probably be not only the central theme behind information governance, but how it will probably dominate the IT security discussion in coming years.

The Changing Face Of Information -- Information Governance

This post is part of a sequence I've introduced here, looking at some of the inevitable consequences of our rapid shift to an information-centric economy and society.

In this post, I'd like to present my case that the CIO -- and everyone who works in the IT organization -- will likely have a new role in the near future.

They're going to be the CFOs of information.

The Changing Face of Information -- Intro

Sorry for being a bit delinquent in posting here regularly.

I've been travelling more than usual.  Although air travel these days can hardly be described as glamorous (insert long list of major grievances here), there is an upside: you get to meet great people, and you get some time to yourself to think and reflect.

I thought I'd do something different here, and offer up a consistent sequence of posts about the powerful forces of information-related change that's sweeping our society, and the resultant consequences that are likely to occur in the next few years. 

I've touched on many of these concepts in my last few hundred posts, but I thought it'd be worthwhile to present an organized view for consideration and -- hopefuly -- discussion.

Part of my motivation is reading the prognostications of others. 

I either find (or get sent) just about every "looking ahead" piece that gets written.  Although I always find a few things that I can agree with, I often find that I'm saying to myself "gee, they really missed that one, or this one". 

So I'm going to try to do a bit better.

Potential Upcoming EMC Announcements

[updated 4/4: ... folks, this post was an April Fool's prank.  I ended up fooling too many people.  And, as blog posts are typically read far after they're posted, I thought some truth-in-labelling might be appropriate.  Commentary now appears throughout.]

Well, if you look at the calendar, you'll see it's getting to be spring.  And in the info-tech industry, this is when all the new product announcements start.

I thought I'd share with you a few upcoming announcements you just might see in the next few weeks, or not, as the case might be ... ;-)

And Even More VMware Goodies

Things come in waves, don't they?

Just now, someone sent along a great presentation on how ControlCenter 6.0 (EMC's multi-vendor storage management software) does useful things like report on storage utilization on a per-VM basis, visualizes VMs in the storage topology correctly, even does chargeback on a per VM basis (among other neat tricks).

If you're thinking about managing VMware storage at scale, it's worth a scan ...

More VMware Goodness

I know a lot of you out there are really into this VMware thing, as am I.

Well, someone sent me a few cool links today, and I wanted to share.

The first was an impressive WebEx demonstration on using space-spaving snaps to make VDI setup and administration a breeze.  Not for the technically faint-of-heart.

Yes, it's really fast, but I wonder how fast it'd be on an enterprise flash drive?? ;-)

In the same vein, I also got sent a WebEx link showing SRM (Site Recovery Manager) going through its paces with EMC replication technology.  Again, not for those of you who don't like gory details.

I really enjoyed both, and learned a lot.

See all the VMware-related videos from EMC here.

Tiers, Tiers Everywhere

I've been noticing increased activity from vendors large and small to offer newer tiers of storage in our crowded, noisy marketplace.

That's a good thing -- the more choices we all have, the better.

But, at the same time, I think it's also important to have a bigger context about what's going on here, and what it might mean for consumers of these technologies.

Physical Security and Information Management

There's an important new class of information that's being captured more frequently -- and that's physical security information.

All those CCTV devices and other sensors you see everywhere are silently gathering more and more information about us and our movements. 

And, despite the obvious benefit of providing more security for all of us, it's raising interesting questions at several levels.

This post was triggered by an interesting press release today, announcing further progress on EMC's physical security solutions.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I like to dig down behind these announcements, and share the story behind the story; hopefully to expose an interesting thought or two.

And this one is no exception.

The Future Of IT -- Very Big and Very Small?

So, you either believe that IT is undergoing yet another upheaval, or you don't.

You either buy into Nicholas Carr's core premise (as found in "The Big Switch"), or you don't.

But if you do buy into these ideas, there's another implication to consider.

There will likely be very little medium-sized IT in the future.  Just the very big, and the very small.

Which NGDC Do You Want?

The acronym stands for "next generation data center", and -- once again -- this discussion is very much in vogue across the industry. 

So many pieces are coming together, that there's a new hunger for a conversation around "what does it all look like in a few years".

I think there's actually two distinct NGDC models emerging, and -- the real question is what kind of business do you see yourself in?

Information Governance -- An Update

Like many of you, I tend to be on the lookout for interesting trends in this industry.

No surprise, but trends come and go.  Some start out strong, but may lose steam or morph into another discussion entirely.

Others continue to gather steam until the concept becomes part of our overall fabric of thoughts and ideas.

And I think I owe you an update on "information governance". 

I'm Starting To Really Like These Guys ...

We all read lots of different things from different sources. 

But, I've got to tell you, I'm starting to read the Xconomy guys more and more -- great, insightful thinking that goes far beyond the usual coverage that's either shallow, incorrect or both.

As an example, you'll probably appreciate this take on some key aspects of EMC's acquisition strategy.

Interesting reading!

Data DeDupe -- Product or Feature?

Ah, you've got to love this bloggy world we're living in.

Today's post was driven by industry speculation that EMC and Quantum might be doing something.

Which, of course, lead to a broader discussion on data deduplication.

And, inevitably, I felt I might weigh in and try and attempt a tiny bit of clarification here.

VDI -- The Red Hot Discussion

I've never seen anything like this in the industry.  VMware is going from strength to strength in a way that's hard for many of us to fully comprehend.

Just when you thought the server-oriented ESX party was raging, over the last 6-12 months the VDI discussion has become extremely interesting, especially to larger organizations who are seeing the potential to save money, deliver better user experiences, improve security and so on.

As a result, a number of vendors are being drawn into extremely interesting conversations around VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), including EMC.

I thought I'd offer up a few thoughts on this, based on what I'm hearing from people.

My Favorite Charity

Now, lest you think that EMC is entirely about technology, profits, markets, beating competitors, et. al. we do have a distinct charitable side to our corporate ethos.

EMC invests considerably in a wide range of "make the world a better place" initiatives, both on a local and global scale.

And, a few years ago, we started working in an area that I find fascinating.

The Future of IT (Professionals)

So, I'm occasionally having an interesting experience these days.

Very often, I'm asked to share EMC's views on what's broadly called "the future of IT".

And, in the act of doing so, we usually end up in a discussion around "the future of IT professionals".

I think this is a discussion we'll be having more often in the future.

My Personal Storage Farm

Perhaps you've noticed that EMC has entered the prosumer market to a certain extent, by offering LifeLine software that hardware OEMs can offer to their customers.

A few weeks ago, I was offered the opportunity to try one such LifeLine-based product -- the Intel SS4200

I took it home, set it up, and had a blast.

I thought I'd share my impressions here, since many of you have your own personal storage farms at home.

Wishful Thinking

Many of you noticed NetApp's recent rebranding push this week.

Since I'm sort of a marketing guy, and NetApp is sort of a competitor, I watched with considerable interest.

Simply stated, it didn't seem to go so good for them.

And I think there are some lessons to be learned for all IT vendors.

Building The NextGen Management Brain

I fear I may have been neglectful in my blogging duties. 

I've fallen behind in a couple of areas, specifically regading a few recent developments in EMC's resource management strategy. 

Go ahead and blame me, but there's a lot to cover around EMC, and I still have my day job(s) to get done ...

So, with apologies out of the way, let's dig into a fascinating portion of EMC's portfolio -- resource management.

Bang!

In last month's Scientific American, there was an interesting article that basically stated that the scientists were wrong; that the universe we all live in is expanding far faster than we previously imagined. 

And they detailed some interesting consequences to this, but -- thankfully -- we wouldn't start to notice for billions of years.

Today, IDC updated last year's landmark study on "The Expanding Digital Universe" with a new one ("The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe"), basically saying they were wrong, the digital universe is expanding far faster than they orignally estimated.

But, rather than billions of years, the effects are likely to be far more immediate to all of us.

More Good Reading

If you generally like this blog, you'll probably enjoy Steve Todd's blog: http://stevetodd.typepad.com

Steve is one of those incredibly bright, multi-dimensional people who also write well.  Given his inarguable credentials in storage technology development, he's definitely worth a read.  Some people take a while to get good at this blogging thing; Steve just jumped in and showed us all how it's supposed to be done.

Yes, he's an EMC employee, but that doesn't seem to hold him back ;-)

Storage Protocols, VMware and Religion

Funny, isn't it?  How most technology questions break into religious camps?

I've noticed that there's a fair amount of religion around which storage protocol is "better" for VMware: FC, NAS, iSCSI?

And, like most things, a fair amount of agnosticism might be appropriate.

Q4 2007 Storage Scoreboard

I've gotten into the habit of recapping the IDC storage vendor share reports here on this blog.

Not to brag on EMC's behalf, per se (although there's some opportunity to do that, which I will studiously try to avoid), but to pick out some of the more interesting trends in market evolution.

No real surprises, from my perspective, but some interesting nuggets that might be worth considering.