Chuck's Blog

Want A *Really* Thorough Background on The Virtualization Market?

It must be the week for drive-by postings from me.

Just this morning, I tripped across an excellent write-up from ML that seems to be freely available that goes into exhaustive detail on the opportunity, how they see it evolving, who's affected, etc. 

Although relatively recent (Oct 22), I could already spot a few areas where things had changed -- more of a testament to the fast-moving nature of this marketplace.

Although I can't really endorse any output from any analyst organization, if you're really interested in the topic, you might want to go here.

More on Metadata

Just a quick follow-up to my post on The Metadata Conundrum ...

Just stumbled across this excellent video (again) that make a great case for re-thinking about how we organize information. 

Fun, thought-provoking and inspirational.

Information Security -- Hard Numbers

Don't usually like drive-by blog postings, but here it is -- a great article in Forbes that offers some hard numbers on the average costs associated with data security breaches in terms of remediation, lost customers, etc.

Like most averages, though, they're misleading -- the spread is too broad to talk meaningfully in terms of "averages".

Sobering reading.  Find it here.

The Metadata Conundrum

It doesn't take too long at looking at the overall information management problem before you quickly realize that metadata (information about information) is one of the important keys to all of this.

With the right metadata, it's not hard to imagine a world where by simply looking at the metadata, you could figure out where to store it, how much protection it needs, retention, security.

Or, in terms of value-generation, what are the key attributes of this piece of information that might make it valuable to other parts of the business?  Easy to find and use?

And then you get into the gritty details of how, and why ...

I was first intrigued by this discussion when EMC started to work on ILM (information lifecycle management).  Metadata (or tags) could help a lot in the day-to-day management tasks associated with information. 

But it's not as a simple or straightforward as we all would have hoped.

Information As Money

I took the unusual step of completely unplugging from the grid during the Thanksgiving holiday.  Didn't even check my Blackberry as the vacation progressed.  It was nice, but -- boy! -- is it hard to get going again, not to mention the bazillion emails and RSS feeds to go read.

One event that jumped out was the recent large-scale personal information disclosure at HMRC in the UK.  A lot was written about that by many people, but I think the event and its aftermath reinforces some of the basic themes I've been championing over the past year.

Hint: this sort of thing happens far more than you might think, and the consequences will likely be far more dire in the future.

EMC Innovation Day

Last week, EMC held its first "Innovation Day". 

The goal was not only to share what some of our new ideas might be, but -- more importantly -- how we're approaching the whole important topic of innovation.  Not to overstate the obvious, but innovation is the engine that keeps tech companies relevant (not to mention other types of companies!)

You can find a press sampling here.

Or, if you really want to see what's going on, visit the microsite here.

For those of you in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!

Beyond Document Collaboration

I may have mentioned already that one of my more fun projects is figuring out how to get EMC more proficient at this whole social media thing.

And it's made me realize that value-creating IT environments will be evolving here very, very quickly around this new paradigm.

When I'm in front of customers, sometimes I make the mistake of sharing that I'm working on this.  And, more than once, we've found ourselves spending all of our time on this topic, rather than the technology stuff I was supposed to be talking about.

The Undercover Economist

Many bloggers have long lists of recommended reading, or music, or something else.

You may have noticed a single lonely book recommendation over on my right rail.

It's not that I don't read a lot of books (I do), it's just that it's the rare one that I'd recommend to people in this industry as "hey, this is worth your time".

And I've just added another one.

Oracle's Virtual Play

Of course, you probably saw Oracle's announcement regarding their support of Xen, the hypervisor alternative now part of most Linux distros.

Monday morning, I hopped on a plane for Hong Kong.  When I got off, my blackberry immediately filled up with all manner of commentary about this announcement.  Of course, I couldn't sleep last night, so I had plenty of time to think about things.

And, I'll tell you -- I went from being curious, to being amused, to being downright disappointed.

A Tale Of Market Adoption -- Storage Vs. File Virtualization

Storage virtualization has been a lively topic of discussion for many years in this industry.

File virtualization is a relative newcomer, but it seems to be finding its way from data sheet to deployment much, much faster than storage virtualization.

And, thankfully, we're not having the bombastic discussions with file virtualization, which is a welcome relief .. ;-)

Stealth Announcement from EMC?

OK, so I know how to keep a secret, but -- hey -- once something is on the internet, it's fair game, isn't it?

Storagezilla was the first one to twig to the public viewing (sometimes I don't think he ever sleeps), but I'll offer this link and this other one.

As soon as we're ready for a more public discussion, I'll be glad to explain what this is all about.  And, trust me, it's pretty darn cool.

In the meantime, consider it a mildly-interesting Sudoku puzzle ;-)

Podcast: Virtualization and Security

Hmmm -- the podcasters over at RSA found me recently, and asked me to talk a bit about what I was seeing from customers around the confluence of two really big themes in IT today: security and virtualization.

Now, I'd like to say it's a complete exposition, but -- to be honest -- it's a fresh discussion we're just now starting to get engaged in.

Maybe interesting, maybe not.  Find it here.

Dell, EqualLogic and EMC

By now, you've probably not only seen the news, but you've also probably seen lots of commentary on Dell's recent acquisition.

I decided to wait a bit before posting my thoughts on this topic, just to allow for some contemplative reflection.

In many ways, Dell's move does not come as much of a surprise.  I think the impact of this move will have a more significant affect on Dell's well-known competitors far more than it could potentially impact EMC over the long run. 

So let the speculation begin!

Tiered Information Protection

By "information protection", I mean things like backup, recovery, replication, etc.

For the last few years, customers have begun to get comfortable with the idea of "tiered storage" -- put the right information on the right service level at the right cost at the right time.

Simple in statement, but potentially hard without a bit of forethought.

I'd offer that -- during 2008 -- we'll see a strong interest in "tiered protection" -- protect the right information with the right service level at the right cost at the right time.

And, despite all the new technologies flooding into this space, it might end up being easier than anyone might have thought.

When Can We Delete Something?

Simple questions can have complex answers, e.g. "daddy, why is the sky blue?" which leads to a discussion of Rayleigh scattering and other topics a bit too daunting for most seven-year-olds.

And in that category, we've got the simple question above -- when does IT (or anyone else) get to stop storing, protecting, managing a piece of information, and consign it to the dustbin of history?

The answer seems to lead towards a few of the themes I've written about before, and -- I now have met my first customer who has worked out a semi-practical way to decide when something gets deleted.

It's a tortuous journey, and not for everyone, but it's an interesting story.

Just Found This

Like I've said before, I usually know most of what EMC is doing.

And, occasionally, I'm wrong, and I get a nice surprise.

Just found this YouTube portal with short "to the point" videos on technical concepts.

Saw a few, short and sweet, and far better than a 30 minute powerpoint event!

Virtual Trade Show

I did a short gig with Ziff Davis where we talked a lot about the new role of storage and information management. 

No new big themes, but I was pretty concise, and it turned out pretty well.  Some of the questions were pretty interesting as well.

Unfortunately, ZD will want to know a lot about you prior to giving you the privilege of viewing this (my apologies), but if you can tolerate the registration process, might be worth a view.