Chuck's Blog

Delivering Storage As A Managed Service: VMAX SP

One of the more interesting EMC announcements in the run up to EMC World 2012 came out today with little fanfare, but probably deserves more attention.

It's the VMAX SP: a specific, enhanced edition of the VMAX targeted at IT service providers. 

For one thing, it includes all the software components needed to provision, meter and bill enterprise-class "high QoS" storage services.  

All in one box.

It's also notable because it creates the option of transferring all the operational heavy lifting of running an enterprise-class storage farm back to EMC -- which we then deliver as a service to owners of the VMAX SP.

It's interesting to me because it shows what happens when you starting thinking about technology as a service vs. simply as a product.  

And -- please pay attention -- you'll probably see more variations on this theme going forward from EMC and other vendors.

Simplification Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: The New ESI

Just about every IT vendor on the planet is investing heavily to tackle the "simplification" problem.

IT environments are getting too complex.  More time can be spent coordinating between different IT roles than actually getting useful work done.

But there's never a silver bullet: simplification is usually in the eyes of the beholder.  

I think EMC did a good job of recognizing this early, and rather than hand-waving at the problem, digging in deeper to understand specific roles and focused use cases where investing in simplification could be of great value.

Such is the case with the new version of the EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) for Windows environments -- how do you make IT infrastructure easier for someone who lives in a Microsoft-centric world?

The Excitement Builds: EMC World 2012 Preview

Across the globe, we're all gearing up for EMC World 2012: employees, partners and valued customers alike. 

The pace of preparation has now reached "furious". 

I almost forgot to pop my head up and share with you a few of the things we've got planned -- without spoiling any of the surprises!

After last year's extravaganza, I didn't think EMC World could get any bigger, but -- yes -- this year is shaping up to be much, much bigger in multiple dimensions.

Whether you plan to attend live, or choose to follow us on any number of online feeds, there's going to be a *lot* to talk about from May 21st through May 24th.

I thought I'd give everyone a quick rundown of what to expect -- that is, what I can share!

Investing In Tomorrow's Skills: The EMC Academic Alliance

Listen to most senior executives for a while, and -- sooner or later -- you'll hear the familiar lament that it's so hard to find good people with the right skills.

That's understandable -- our economy is moving fast, and many academic institutions are perpetually challenged to deliver the graduates with the skill sets that employers demand.  

That's especially true in IT today -- as the IT industry transforms, so do the required skill sets.  And it's happening very fast indeed.

Enter the EMC Academic Alliance -- an open curriculum platform for both academia and industry that targets the exact skills we see so much in demand.

It's been around for a while, I was just unaware of how big and influential it had become.  After going through it, I was mightily impressed.

Perhaps you'll be impressed as well.

My Friday Rant: Overcoming IT Vendoritis

I'm continually inspired by people who've overcome challenging circumstances and backgrounds to achieve great things.  Through a great deal of persistence and intestinal fortitude, these individuals have risen beyond their humble circumstances, and can be held up as an example to all.

Working for an IT vendor can be challenging as well.  There's all sorts of reinforcement loops for unproductive behavior.  

Not everyone can rise above the fray and make a meaningful contribution to their customers, or perhaps the industry as a whole. 

But I'd like to think that anyone can succeed at overcoming obstacles.

Part of the challenge that we all face is recognizing the inherent challenge at hand, and working to become more self-aware.

So, as a public service to my IT vendor colleagues, I'd like to offer up a quick diagnostic to help you assess just how bad you have IT vendoritis -- the somewhat crippling condition of becoming mildly brain-damaged by swimming in too much IT vendor koolaid.

Why?  Because admitting you have a problem is the first step to overcoming it.

The Heavy Lifting Ahead Of IT Transformation: The Story of Ingram Micro

As part of my role here at EMC, I get exposed to some wonderful stories around how IT organizations have changed their strategies for the better.  I meet great people who are doing wonderful things for the companies that employ them. 

Occasionally, I meet someone who's motivated to share their story -- how they're working to drive substantive change in their world.  And I’m doing what I can to share those stories.  

I'm sure many of you reading this would like to be in an idealized world where IT is run as a business, built on the perfect cloud, complete with an attractive catalog of competitive services with all the financial and security stuff just working -- freeing the IT staff to work on the really cool stuff.   

But -- very frequently -- there's a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done just to even broach that topic, let alone achieve it.  A wonderful house needs a strong foundation, and sometimes you need the earthmoving equipment to come in and do the prep work before you can even get started.  

Recently, I had a chance to catch up with Anastasio Scalisi, who's been working assiduously at Ingram Micro to create what I see are the necessary foundations for an ITaaS initiative.   As part of the Ingram Micro team, his story is how a small group of motivated leaders can drive meaningful change in how IT is acquired, deployed and consumed -- and building the groundwork for a full ITaaS model.  

When Business Leaders Own Their Information

The subject of this post came to me in a rather convoluted manner.

As I began to work more with organizations who are trying to achieve broad analytical proficiency, I started to notice something that at first appeared both unusual and unsettling.

One or more business leaders in the organization would begin to lay strong claims to "owning" their information.  

They were prepared to invest their cycles and resources towards acquiring more and improving the value of what they already had available.  They could be persuaded to share -- depending on circumstances.

While these leaders were moderately polite to others in the organization who were doing the same, they didn't want to be dependent on other groups (including, to a certain extent IT) as they went forward with their information ownership goals.

As I started to see more of this -- including in my own company -- I had to stop and think: is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

And I've come to the conclusion: it's a very good thing indeed.  It's precisely the right behavior, and should be encouraged.

VMware To Acquire Cetas: Making Analytics Easier To Consume

Today VMware made an acquisition that's extremely interesting from several perspectives: cloud, virtualization stacks, big data analytics and more.  

While certainly no Instagram, I think we'll all look back in a few years and agree -- yes, this was an important one.

Cetas describes themselves as ".. an early stage startup that delivers Analytics-as-a-Service to customers and is driving the democratization of analytics and business intelligence by dramatically lowering the barriers to entry for all companies, from SMB to large enterprises."

Yes, quite true when they were a standalone entity.  

But as part of the VMware (and, by extension, the EMC) family, it gets much more intriguing indeed ...

In Praise Of The Business Process Owner

Take a closer look at any successful organization, and you can quickly spot a half-dozen or more key business processes that really matter.  

Sales and marketing.  Customer satisfaction and quality.  New products and offers.  Global logistics.  

The specific process names might vary, but the patterns never do.  

And if you're a progressive IT leader looking for new opportunities to introduce change into the landscape, I'm going to argue that the people leading these initiatives are your new best friends.

Introducing VSPEX

This morning, EMC introduced VSPEX: a partner-centric pre-configured and pre-integrated infrastructure stack.  

Yes, we're pretty excited.  

Some will inevitably classify this announcement as yet another variation on a popular theme in the IT infrastructure marketplace.  

I mean, isn't every IT vendor packaging up infrastructure in new ways?  

Yes, somewhat true -- but many of us believe that there's plenty of room left for innovation and differentiation in this category.

VSPEX is not only interesting in what it does on its own, but how it nicely fits in to other things EMC is investing in -- like VCE and Vblocks.

Clouds Can Be Confusing For Vendors, Too

A spate of interesting developments recently in the evolution of the "enterprise cloud" market.  

Both IBM and HP have made rather significant announcements.  

Each announcement is interesting in its own way, and -- despite my obvious competitive biases -- I will try and share why I find each so interesting.

And I come away with a simple observation: clouds can easily confuse both customers and the vendors who serve them.

The Dark Side Of Big Data and Predictive Analytics

As a technologist, I'm always drawn to the amazing potential of new technologies and capabilities.  But I've also learned to be on the lookout for undesirable side effects as well.

I'm sure the first cave dwellers thought fire was a magical thing, until someone got burned, or a forest fire started.

Cheap, plentiful carbon energy has done wonderful things for our lives, until we realize we might be melting the ice caps in the process.

Modern mobile technology is transformative and wonderful stuff.  Using smart phones while driving is quickly supplanting alcohol as the #1 cause of automobile accidents.

Social network sites can be amazing things, until we realize just how open we've been with our personal information.

The era of widespread big data and predictive analytics is upon us -- should we be concerned?

Yes.

Connecting My Company To Yours

I often struggle to explain to people what I do here at EMC.  I'm not sure I entirely understand it myself, some days.

But I do see the value, as do others.  The problem is that it doesn't fit nicely into any established orthodoxy.  

My current title of "Global Marketing CTO" is a rather poor attempt at labeling.  I'm not global, I'm not that good at marketing, and I'm certainly not a chief technology officer of any sort.

But you've got to have something on your business card, don't you?

One of the things I now find myself spending more time on is brokering meaningful connections: richer, deeper conversations between my company to yours.  And, increasingly, this has less to do with technology-centric topics, and more about how businesses go about figuring out clever approaches to problems we've all had to face.

Do you have someone doing this (formally or informally) in your organization?  

You might want to think about it, because we're seeing an enormous amount of value, and I fully expect much more to come.

BI-as-a-Service: The New Cool IT Project

Cool IT projects come and go.

Social media platforms used to be a cool IT project. VDI used to be a very cool IT project. Then it was your first private cloud.

As the unofficial customer coolhunting dude at EMC, I hereby annoint my candidate for the next cool IT project: creating a BI-as-a-Service capability and pointing it at your analytical power users.

We're doing it in our own business, and I've now met more than enough customers who are interested in doing the same for their business.

And, just to be clear, this isn't your father's business intelligence.

Cloud Meets Big Data In Healthcare: The Importance of ACOs

Many people I meet who work at the intersection of healthcare and technology can get frustrated.

On one hand, the current healthcare delivery system in the US, with many obvious and visible opportunities for improvement.

On the other hand, the tantalizing power of newer technologies: cloud, big data, mobility, etc.

Historically, many people like me have looked at the situation, and tried to figure out why supply and demand weren't getting properly connected.  

The technology is there -- why isn't being consumed?

In a nutshell, my opinion is that the industry wasn't organized for success.  There were inherent structural barriers that inhibited the widespread adoption of the newer technologies and approaches.

But, with the recent rise of ACOs (accountable care organizations) and their brethren, a few of us are extremely optimistic that the next few years will be very different than the past.

An Update From My Friends At VCE

If you're a long-time reader of this blog, you know I can't hide my enthusiasm for what VCE is doing with Vblocks.  

By making converged infrastructure easier to consume, they've helped many IT organizations accelerate their transition to cloud and IT-as-a-service models. 

But -- as is always true with any new concept that upsets traditional orthodoxy -- it hasn't come without a fair amount of controversy: some thoughtful and intellectual, and occasionally a bit of unprofessional mudslinging and innuendo. 

I had a chance to catch up with one of my good friends and long-time EMC colleagues who is now at VCE: Todd Pavone, responsible for engineering and marketing at the company. 

We had a great opportunity to share perspectives on what's really going on at VCE -- and what might lie ahead. 

What's Your Personal Innovation Index?

I think most of us would like to be perceived as bright and innovative.  

Saying that -- and doing that -- can be two different things.

While we might occasionally have an innovative moment, how do we get into the habit of personal innovative behaviors that routinely inspire and influence others?

One helpful technique might be to measure your innovative behavior -- and see how you're doing.

Since different people have started to ask me about this, I thought I'd put some thoughts into a post for your consideration.

And, like most things in life, I'm sure it's not the last word on the subject ...

Learning To Get Comfortable With Sensorship

No, that's not a typo.  

That's a twist of a clever phrase that our own Thom Lytle used to describe our increasing participation in sensor networks of all kinds.

In a world of big data analytics, what we think, what we do, how we behave -- are incredibly valuable inputs.  There's a powerfully strong incentive to capture our digital exhaust as we move through life.  

In so many of these models, there's no practical way anyone can opt out.  We're increasingly being sensored whether we approve or not.

Not to be overly negative, but there's scant chance of our legal systems ever hoping to catch up to where technology has so quickly brought us.

So I believe the topic of "sensorship" -- our willing and increasingly unwilling participation in data gathering exercises -- is going to be an important one.

What Happens When You Point A Cloud At A Business Challenge -- Part II

About three months ago, I wrote a post describing how we were using cloud capabilities to address very specific business challenges internally here at EMC.

Matt Coviello had just stood up the latest version of his vLab, and started to introduce it to our global presales community.

Now, it's three months later, and much has changed.  Most importantly, Matt's team has started to expose these capabilities to selected portions of EMC's Velocity partner community, as Chad shared here.

I thought it might be time to spend some time with Matt, and see how his world had changed in three short months.  

Tales From The Trenches: Changing Your Business Model With Big Data Analytics

The premise -- at a high level -- is easy to understand: the new-found power of predictive analytics has the potential to change the way you do business.

But the devil (as always) is in the details.

Clearly there's a transformation at hand.  

The starting point: a familiar world of historical reporting on events in the past.  The goal state: the ability to better predict (and capitalize on) likely future outcomes.

And getting from Point A to Point B is rarely as seamless and pleasant as you read about :)

To that end, I'm actively studying transformational stories about how organizations are learning to change the way they do business around big data analytics.  

And, as it turns out, EMC Corporation is an excellent example of just such an organization.

Good Help Is Here For Your IT Transformation

Any time we're faced with a daunting and unusual challenge, we usually go looking for good professional help: doctors, lawyers, architects, tax professionals, financial advisers, etc.  

We may prefer to do things ourselves, but we realize that getting good, experienced help can make all the difference between a successful outcome, and one that isn't.

The same is true when IT leaders start seriously thinking about IT transformation.  Getting to cloud and its associated IT-as-a-service model can be a daunting transformational journey, and not for the faint-of-heart.

At one level, it's a re-invention of IT's business and operational model to look more like a competitive service provider, and less like a traditional IT shop.

Given my technical background, I have historically been rather skeptical of professional and consulting services, but I've discarded that obsolete view over the last several years.  IT transformation is hard, daunting work -- and getting good help from people who have done it before is not to be discounted.

Such is the case with EMC Global Service's announcement today of a greatly expanded and integrated portfolio of IT transformation services -- a set of offerings that pass my personal test as truly beneficial to many of our customers.

Even if you think you're not in the market for consulting services, it's worth understanding what these people do, how they do it -- and why it's important.

New Tools For The New Information Value Chain

Today, the Greenplum team is not only announcing an improved set of Chorus capabilities, but the important acquisition of Pivotal Labs.

So, what's going on here -- and why are many of us so excited?

Yes, there are cool new capabilities from Greenplum that help accelerate the impact of data science, and yes there's a very cool group of agile app developers and tools from Pivotal Labs. 

But how do these themes tie together, and how to they complement other pieces of the puzzle that we're assembling on the behalf of our customers?

My Perfect Privacy Disclosure

We're at an interesting turning point in so many digital business models: there's a compelling incentive for companies to know as much about you as humanly possible.

On the other hand, we as individuals are increasingly disturbed by how much these same organizations know about us, and it's only going to more disconcerting in the future.

In between is the quaint notion of a privacy disclosure: a veritable fig leaf that attempts to cover the naked truth of what's really going on.

Almost always rendered in small fonts and obtuse legalese, these are quickly displayed in a perfunctory fashion, never to be seen again.  

In the spirit of openness and transparency, I'd like to share my personal thoughts as to what an ideal a privacy disclosure ought to do -- and that's tell it like it really is.

Big Data: From Meme To Marketplace

Industry memes come and go, but industry markets are tangible things: they can be measured, segmented, analyzed and hotly debated by the participants.

Subjectively speaking, widespread usage of the term "big data" started in earnest at the beginning of 2011.  One short year later, it appears made the important transition from meme to marketplace.

Analysts are weighing in.  Interesting subsegments are emerging.  Ecosystem vines are actively growing, thriving and intertwining.  Various customer audiences are raising their hands and expressing strong interest in one set of topics or another.  

All very encouraging from where I sit.

I thought I'd use this post just to bring you up to date on the current state of our industry "big data garden" and how it's growing ...

Rate Your Storage-As-A-Service Capabilites

Storage pros everywhere: don't think you're exempt from the "X as a service" trend.

Just like other parts of IT, sooner or later you'll be transitioning to this model -- if you haven't already.

Given the explosive growth in storage and rising aggregate costs, maybe you'll end up being the *first* part of the IT organization to transition to this service-oriented model.

To be fair, not everyone should care about this particular topic -- or at least, not yet.  

If your environment is big and getting bigger faster (>100TB) you might care.  If your environment uses storage dynamically (lots of requests with fast turnaround expected) you ought to pay attention to this discussion.

And, despite me working for a vendor (EMC), this is going to be more about how you use the tools vs. the tools themselves.

So, let's figure out together just how far along you are on this journey.

Beyond STEM: Creating New Skills For The New Economy

If the acronym is unfamiliar to you, that's understandable: it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  

As a company, EMC cares a lot about STEM education.  At one level, these skills are the "raw fuel" for so many technology-based companies like us.

Personally, I care a lot about STEM education.  I am ostensibly a STEM graduate.  Two of my three children are now going through STEM programs: one male, one female.  It's an expensive proposition, to say the least.

But for many years, I've had this uneasy feeling that the game had changed, or -- at least -- we could be doing it much, much better.

And, after much thought, I've decided to share my personal views about how we could be better preparing our graduates for the coming economy.

Trust In IT: The Business Perspective

It's the week after the landmark RSA Security Conference, and cyber security is justifiably very much on everyone's mind.

The picture today is not pretty: the bad guys appear to be organized for success, and their intended victims are generally not.

For me, the RSA Conference gave me a good overview of where we are towards closing the currently wide gap -- and a sobering reminder of the work that lies ahead.

The Shape Of The Storage Market: Q4 2011 IDC Results

I know many of you follow the storage market for various reasons: whether you're a vendor, a customer or perhaps an interested analyst.

The best independent data out there comes from IDC -- the de-facto gold standard in this category.  

Every quarter, they publish their scorecard on vendor and category shares.  Since getting a detailed analysis requires a subscription to their service, I occasionally pore through the spreadsheets, and try to find a few summarized nuggets that others might find interesting.

As before -- there are a handful of interesting takeaways from the latest batch of data.  And I promise I will make every effort to keep chest-thumping to an absolute minimum ...

Want To Share Your IT Transformation Story?

I think I'm pretty fortunate that I get inside glimpses on how IT leaders are taking their teams forward to succeed in the brave new world.  

And I do what I can to share what I've learned -- both in person, and via this blog.

But I know I've only just begun to scratch the surface.  I suspect there are many more great stories out there -- chock full of great insights -- waiting to be told.

In each of them, there's something special to learn from -- one key insight or another that can probably help others with one aspect or another.

So here's the pitch -- if you've got a story to tell, would you be willing to invest an hour of your time to share with others?

The Inherent Difficulty Of Managing Data Growth

One of the most difficult questions I get asked by customers is painfully straightforward: how should we manage the explosive data growth going on in our organizations?

I wish I had a simple recipe.  Do these three ridiculously easy things, and you're set -- for example.  

No such luck.

You'd probably think that EMC would have some sort of semi-official position paper with deep insights on this thorny topic, but -- alas -- that's not the case either.  Truth be told, we tend to be somewhat divided amongst ourselves on the topic.

So, in an effort to be helpful, let me share with you how I'm answering the question when asked.

The Top Ten Pitfalls In ITaaS Transformation

By now, the story should be starting to be more familiar.  

The business needs more from the IT function, but IT can't easily deliver.  Inevitably, business leaders start searching outside of IT to get the flexible and easy-to-consume services they need.

I T leadership suddenly realizes that they're now being forced to compete for internal business , and IT isn't a monopoly any more.

Fail to compete successfully for your internal IT customers, and the future is not bright.

And so begins the uncomfortable process of IT groups transforming to look more like modern IT service providers, and less like the inwardly focused, siloed IT departments of yesteryear.

What started a few years ago as just a modest handful of customer examples quickly expanded to dozens, then hundreds and now many thousands.  

Personally, I think this has created a great opportunity for IT leaders to learn from each other as they each embark on their own transformational initiatives.  

But -- as with most things -- you tend to see patterns: where things work, and -- sometimes more importantly -- where things tend to bog down.

So, allow me to share my personal list of sand traps where IT leaders occasionally get stuck.  

Why?  Because knowing where the problems might lie is often half the battle ...

When Technology Transformed Education

In this blog, I end up writing a great deal on how information technology has the potential to change the world around us.  

From big data to mobilization to social to cloud: there's no shortage of fascinating examples where the potential for great changes are visible -- if we choose to pursue them. 

Like many of you, I am drawn to examples where technology can change people's lives for the good: health care, poverty -- and especially education. 

In this morning's New York Times, we read about the example of Mooresville, North Carolina who have used rather conventional technology to re-engineer the educational experience.

As a result, they are drawing considerable attention -- not so much because they're using technology -- but because they're changing their entire approach to education around what the technology can do.

Lightning, Thunder ... And Reverberations

Well, a relatively interesting week here -- at least from my narrow and biased storage vendor perspective.

EMC launches Project Lightning (now VFcache) with immediate availability.  

We preview a near-term follow-on technology -- Project Thunder.  

The web then reverberates with reactions from extremely positive to somewhat negative to occasionally "meh".

It was a pretty interesting show if you watch this part of the tech industry closely.

Now it's Friday.  

What have we learned?

Beyond IT: Building Your Digital Business Model

Not too long ago, I introduced the growingly attractive notion of a digital business model -- one that focused on creating content and experiences that customers and partners preferred.  My thanks (once again) to Dr. Peter Weill for introducing this powerful concept.

Since then, I've been quietly looking for stories where abstract theory have become funded projects.

Many of these stories are coming to me via EMC Digital, the boutique consulting specialty within the broader EMC Consulting organization.

And -- at the end of the day -- this particular story illustrates how a combination of innovative thinking and strong leadership can transform the seemingly mundane into a potentially compelling competitive advantage.

New IT, New Roles, New Tools

The conversation ought to be familiar by now.  

Many IT organizations are taking a hard look at themselves, and are realizing they have to learn to compete for internal customers.  

To do so, they need to start looking more like a modern IT factory, and less like your father's IT shop.  

A successful transformation essentially boils down to organizing for success: reformulating many existing IT roles, and creating entirely new ones.

Transforming even a moderate-sized IT shop takes a unique brand of leadership.  The journey isn't quick or easy, but it does offer substantial rewards to all involved.  

And, to put it gently, in many cases your options to ignore or postpone the inevitable aren't all that appealing :)

New IT inevitably means new roles and new processes, which -- of course -- implies the need for newer tools that are oriented around creating easy-to-consume services vs. simply monitoring the underlying technical components.  For example, most VCE Vblocks are shipped with UIM as an "orchestral enabler" that can expose infrastructure and allow it to be consumed as a service.

But not all clouds are Vblocks, and not all IT environments can be managed using a single paradigm.

Into this transforming IT world, EMC will be launching IT Operations Intelligence v9 early next week.  

While the product has plenty to like on its own merits, I'd like you to consider this a preview of some of the bigger ideas finding their way into next-gen IT management tools -- both from EMC and others.

The Other Side Of Big Data

Yes, I admit it.  I am caught hook, line and sinker on the transformative potential of big data analytics to not only change business, but change the world we live in.  It grows more heady and more intoxicating with every passing week.

Red pill, blue pill ...

But there's another important aspect to the big data discussion that shouldn't be ignored -- and that's the plethora of big data models that aren't entirely based on advanced analytics, but are still strategically important big data applications in their own right.

Our cohorts at Isilon have done a masterful job at accelerating value for our customers in this space, which occasionally tends to get overshadowed by the more flashy topics.

So, in the interests of inclusiveness, I'd thought I'd share with you the other side of the big data story.

From Lightning To Thunder

We all know that thunder closely follows a big lightning strike, and with today's unveiling of Project Lightning (now VFCache), there's thunder as well, as in Project Thunder.

To get a real appreciation for what this is all about, I'd strongly encourage you to read this background post first, and then my overview of VFCache.

Now, with all of that out of the way, let's dive into this interesting technology preview.

VFCache Means Very Fast Cache Indeed

Big news today for IT infrastructure professionals. 

EMC has taken the wraps off of the much-talked-about Project Lightning, and there's much more there than most people expected :)

In my previous post, I did my best to set context as to what was going on, why this was important, and so on.  Unless you're a storage technologist, you really should start with that post.

In this one, we're going to get into the details: what it is, what it does and how it's different than what's come before.

And in my next post, I'm going to preview its sibling -- Project Thunder -- which, as you'll see, is a natural extension of what Project Lightning accomplishes.

The Next Generation Of Enterprise Flash Storage

Big news today for IT infrastructure architects -- and the businesses that depend on them.

Today's "Lightning Strikes" announcement from EMC represents a new milestone in giving our customers a new-found ability to deploy advanced infrastructure that's more efficient, more optimized -- and a helluva lot faster :)

It's a big deal.  There's a lot to cover, so I'm breaking this into three posts.

In this post, I'm going to set context -- what the problem is, what server-side flash brings to the party, what challenges exist with existing approaches, and so on.

In the next post, I'm going to dive into the details of VFCache (formerly known as Project Lightning): what it does, how it's different, what's there now, what's down the road, etc.

And, in my final post, I'm going to introduce you to Project Thunder -- which *hasn't* been as widely talked about -- but, as you'll see, is a natural extension of what Project Lightning (now VFCache) is targeting -- only at scale :)

If you're into IT infrastructure at any level, go get a cup of coffee, and let's dig in together.  Yes, there's a lot to digest, but you'll probably end up just as impressed as we all have been internally for a while now.

From CIO To Chief Digital Officer

In the new digital information economy, who leads the transformation from the previous business model to the new one?

In an interesting bit of serendipity, two powerful ideas have connected that give light to a fascinating new career pathway for the progressive CIO.

One world view comes from Russell Reynolds Associates, the industry benchmark in executive leadership talent. 

The other world view comes from Dr. Peter Weill, the Chairman and Chief Research Scientist at the Center for Information Research (CISR) at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

I think they're basically talking about the same thing, only from very different perspectives.

And, before long, I think we'll see many more compelling report-to-the-CEO-directly roles where a progressive CIO background might qualify you to be the best and first choice as the new CDO -- the Chief Digital Officer.

HDFS: Coming Soon To An Array Near You

As enterprises around the globe are beginning to exploit the value in their unstructured data, Hadoop is starting to find its way into more enterprise settings.

Enterprise IT buyers are justifiably a demanding lot, which creates plenty of opportunity for IT vendors such as EMC to create products that meet their newer needs.

Such is the case with the new native HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) capabilities from EMC's Isilon group.  

As you'll see, it makes exploiting the power of Hadoop and large unstructured data sets incredibly more efficient and powerful.

And before too long, I suspect other storage vendors will scramble to offer something very similar :)

My Continuing Infatuation With Storage

During my many decades as a technology guy, I've been exposed to all sorts of interesting things: compilers, AI, networks, security, processors, databases, virtualization, apps, mobile, etc. etc.  

But no technology has held my interest over the many years as storage.  I do have my flings with other disciplines from time to time, but I keep coming back.  

Good thing I work for EMC, eh?

I occasionally get asked about this fascination with the topic: polite inquiries as to what is it about storage that endlessly fascinates me -- almost as if they were inquiring into a dark association with Dungeons and Dragons, or maybe I'm into retro computing?

So, rather than have to answer the question repeatedly, I thought I'd share my personal reasons as to why storage continues to enchant me as a technology, and show no sign of slowing down.

Maybe it will end up seducing you, too -- if it hasn't already :)

Big Data Hits The Big Time in Davos

If you're a rock musician, you know you've "made it" when you get inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

If you're a societal mega-trend, you know you've hit the big time when you've become the main show at the World Economic Forum being held in Davos.  

I suppose this is just another indication that big data analytics -- and its breathtaking transformative potential -- has officially hit the major leagues.  

Big data is now officially "big".

The profound societal implications of big data analytics has now overflowed the neat category of the  tech world, and is quickly spilling into pointed discussions around such weighty  topics as global health care, economic development, education, governance, agriculture, privacy, national security and more.

One useful observation is that information is becoming the "new currency".  We're seeing the early days of how aggregated information is becoming the new source of innovation and improvement, power and wealth.

And what better place to discuss this new "information economy" than at the World Economic Forum?

Change Is In The Air: CIO Magazine Poll Results

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I've been writing extensively on IT transformation - where IT decides it needs to compete for internal IT business, and organizes appropriately.

Why?  It's a really big deal.  As a result, I've exhaustively gone through what I felt were the motivations and the challenges for IT changing the way it does business. 

But now, you don't have to listen to me and my endless exhortations.  You can now see how others in the IT profession feel about the topic.

While the poll results might be surprising to you, the only "surprise" I found was perhaps  the degree that the responses tended to correspond to my own personal views.  But that's not really a surprise, since many of my views are nothing more than aggregations of conversations that I frequently have with this audience.

Take a moment, and see for yourself …

Analytically Enabling The Enterprise via BI As A Service

Many amazing things being done in our EMC IT group these days.

The original premise was that -- once we had made enough progress on transitioning to an ITaaS model -- the value-added strategic IT initiatives would start to come hard and fast.  Well, they are.

Why?  

Almost everything IT does now is based on variable, re-usable (and competitive!) services: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS etc.   IT friction is dramatically reduced as a result.

Business users are now marketed to, and not simply told what they can and can't have.  

A financial governance model based on price signals and an internal marketplace is now starting to optimize IT decisions.  

It's a very different IT game here at EMC than just a few short quarters ago.  Perceptions have changed; enthusiasm is everywhere.  And I get the privilege to share it with all of you ...

In a previous post (The Journey To Big Data Analytics), I outlined the process by which most companies we thought would likely acquire and leverage new analytical capabilities.  At a high level, we now feel prepared to start our own internal journey in earnest, much like we're simultaneously tackling the challenge of mobilizing our extended enterprise.

In this post, I'd like to begin to share with you how we're organizing for success around this particular topic.  Yes, we're using plenty of EMC technology (naturally!), but the real key to anything transformative is the organizational approach.

The Daunting Challenge Of Mobilizing Your Enterprise

Around the globe, IT strategists are starting to grapple with the rapidly emerging challenge of mobilizing their enterprises.

Call it the end of the PC era, call it what you will -- but the trends are undeniable.  People prefer a tailored mobile experience.

EMC's own IT group is no exception.  

We need to quickly create broad capabilities to mobilize our workforce, our partners -- and, eventually -- our customers directly.

When EMC IT was investing in transforming to an ITaaS model, I enjoyed sharing with you the many rich experiences and learnings from our journey.

Well, we have the opportunity to do it again -- just on a different topic.  I think there will be much that we can share with all of you as we begin to tackle our own requirements.

Because, sooner or later, I think just about every enterprise IT team will have to face a similar challenge.

Creating Actionable Intelligence: The Brave New World Of Information Security

If you've been paying attention in the security world, you'll probably sense that a sea-change is well underway. The forces behind the "perfect storm" are assembled and quickly gathering strength.

More information in more places. Higher-value information targets.  And an increasingly sophisticated and well-funded set of opponents using APT techniques to secure their prize. 

Most people chartered with responding are very much aware of the new challenges -- but what to do?   

While there are no simplistic answers, there is a clear consensus emerging that this is no mere matter of better technology; it requires a deep and thoughtful organizational response -- a new way of doing things in the new world. 

The latest evidence comes from the SBIC -- the Security for Business Innovation Council --  in their new report "Getting Ahead Of Advanced Threats: Achieving Intelligence-Driven Information Security". The SBIC is a subset of very bright and passionate security leaders in Fortune 1000 settings that regularly gather to make strategic recommendations for the community at large.  

Sponsored by RSA, we've seen a number of useful reports on relevant and topical corporate information security subjects. This one is worth reading -- simply because it sketches out a roadmap of how security leaders will need to go about building their new organizational response in this new world. 

Like anything else, the challenge essentially boils down to organizing for success around a few new principles.

The Six Key Attributes Of Great Leaders

We're all still sort of buzzing from the EMC 2012 Leadership meeting, which I guess is a good thing.

I wanted to circle back and share with you one of the best thoughts from Joe Tucci's presentation to the assembled leadership team.  Many of us found very strong resonance with what he had to say.  

For the things we were already doing, it was nice to get some confirmation.

And, in a few cases, maybe there are a few things we could be doing better :)

The Journey To Big Data Analytics

Our story so far ...

Many now realize that big data analytics is the next big thing in creating value from information. 

As such, more than a few people are wondering how they might think about their journey: how they get from where they are today to where they want to be in a sequence of logical, digestible and justifiable steps.

We spent a great deal of time in 2011 learning from organizations who had visibly achieved this proficiency.  What kinds of skills were required.  How they were organized.  And, more importantly, how they got to where they are today.

We've boiled down our learning into a relatively simple three-phase model that describes that pathway that many organizations seem to follow.

And, if you're wondering how to get started on your own journey, perhaps you'll find this useful.

Thoughts From EMC's 2012 Leadership Meeting

Some -- but not all of you -- follow EMC quite closely.

Your reasons may vary, but you do seem to pay attention to us.  Thank you for that.

Many of us have just returned from our annual leadership meeting.  Think in terms of a hand-selected group of about 400 individuals from across EMC's vast holdings -- coming together for three days to reflect and renew ourselves for the challenges ahead.

I couldn't resist the temptation to offer up a short blog post with a few personal thoughts.

Maybe you're interested, maybe you're not ...