Chuck's Blog

EMC Joins OpenStack

Today, our EMC logo went up on the OpenStack Foundation's web site as a corporate level sponsor.

You'll see many other logos up there as well -- all good.  I'm sure each participant sees OpenStack through their own lens. 

With this post, hopefully I can share a bit of EMC's perspective and motivations.

Because -- as with most things -- the pattern should be familiar by now.

Charting The Digital Universe: IDC's 6th Annual Study

Climate change has been hotly debated for well over a decade now. 

The evidence is largely in, what remains is a discussion around root causes, and what -- if anything -- can be done. 

Personally, the topic became particularly urgent when I saw a recent documentary ("Chasing Ice") which features stunning time-lapse photography of massive glaciers and ice sheets melting before your very eyes.

Seeing is believing.  Our world is changing, faster than we thought.

In many ways, the most recent IDC Digital Universe study provides clear evidence that our world is also changing from a physical one to a digital one, and much faster than we previously thought.  In addition to attempting to quantify and forecast how much information we collectively generate and consume, it highlights particular "big picture" topics of concern to many.

Many of us now live our lives primarily in a digital world.  We work digitally, socialize digitally and spend our off hours digitally. 

Our children are being raised and educated largely in a digital world.  Businesses are in hot pursuit to re-invent themselves in this digital world, followed closely by public sector.  "IRL" (in real life) has started to become the exception rather than the norm.

Our world is changing, faster than we thought.

But unlike climate change, our digital world is mostly good for all involved -- a major leap forward for us as a society: richer lives, better answers to social problems, and -- above all -- easier access to the information riches the world now has to offer.  Like all transformations, it presents its own unique challenge.

In many regards, I see the IDC study as useful and important -- it measures the "digital footprint" of this unprecedented transformation.  And, as in past years, there's much more insight to be gained other than just appreciating some really big numbers.

E&Y: Trust And The Cloud

I'm lucky to meet a wide range of IT organizations scattered across all sorts of industries.

Some are bravely charging ahead into the new world of cloud-based IT service delivery: transforming their internal operations, consuming more external IT services, and learning quickly as they go.

But others are holding back, and for what turns out to be very sound reasons. 

A tough set of regulatory concerns, for example.  Challenging security and data privacy laws.  Compliance and auditability.  High-risk IT applications that can't afford any sort of a bad day. 

These IT groups believe they can't move ahead unless *all* of this is sorted out -- ahead of time.

If you're reading this and nodding your head, you know who you are.

For these organizations, the move to a modern IT model has to be done with trust and confidence.  It's not an IT thing, it's a business thing -- and it's not optional.

Enter Ernst & Young

More known for tax, audit and regulatory consulting, they've developed an interesting set of IT transformation consulting services precisely targeted at these more risk-sensitive industries. 

While perhaps not known as a technology powerhouse, they do bring deep expertise in establishing the required "trust assurances" across the organization needed for a move to any form of cloud.

As I've started to work with their team, I've gained a new-found appreciation around a an entirely new path to the cloud. 

By focusing on a tough set of business concerns first and foremost, they may end up being far more successful in helping their clients get to cloud than us technology-focused types.

There Is No Automation Pill

So many discussions these days with customers around IT transformation -- three of them yesterday alone.

While every discussion has its own unique nuances, there are observable patterns where people frequently can fall into a predictable trap -- not just IT organizations, but us as IT vendors as well.

And, not surprisingly, one of those topics is automation.

Here's the trap: since automation is "good", let's start by simply adding automation to what we're doing today.  More automation -- that's what we all need!

The customer goes for it.  The IT vendor goes for it.  And then I often have the uncomfortable and unpopular task of unwinding everyone from a mutually agreed goal.

Unfortunately, good automation is always the result of substantial process redesign.  It's the outcome of hard and persistent work to understand the real value at hand, how things get done, realigning tasks, workflows, measurement and more.

Good automation is an outcome of a massive process re-engineering effort.  More broadly, it should never end -- you should always looking for a better or more efficient process design, and hence always should be revisiting your automation approach.

There's no magic "automation pill" that I've ever found. 

Want to lose weight?  Eat less and exercise more -- but that's hard work, isn't it?

Lost In Translation?

Part of my role here at EMC is to spend time with writers, bloggers and journalists on various topics.  It's a global endeavor, often crossing language and cultural barriers.

Most of the time, it turns out pretty well.  What ends up in print is a reasonable reflection of what I said - maybe not perfect, but close enough.

Once in a rare while, the result can get jumbled.  When it does, I certainly share a decent amount of the responsibility: was I clear, did I speak slowly, did I make it simple enough?

A few days ago, a write-up of a recorded interview appeared in Storage Newsletter.  I was dismayed that it had a bad case of that "lost in translation" problem. 

I'm not quite sure how it happened.  The questions were reasonable; I thought my answers reasonable -- but the result wasn't ideal.   To make matters even more problematic, one of the industry bloggers pounced on one of the many misquotes as "evidence" of a broader set of issues. 

Nothing goes unpunished on the social web. 

So, in the interest of continual improvement, I thought I'd reprint the entire interview here, along with an improved transcription of what I said.  The answers are the same, they're just a bit easier to read.  I've also added some expansion points (clearly indicated) as needed.

When Big Data Changed Marketing At EMC

The premise is simple: big data has the power to fundamentally change almost everything we do. 

No industry or function appears to be immune from the tantalizing power of predictive models.

There are thousands of great stories out there about how big data analytics is changing how business is done.  And one of those stories involves EMC and how we do marketing.

There's a clear "before" and "after" -- and our story serves as just one great case study on how organizations can re-invent themselves around these new-found capabilities. 

To be clear, marketing is just one of the many functions at EMC being transformed by predictive analytics, and EMC is just one of many companies learning how to build a superior business through this new style of data-driven management.

You may not have much interest in marketing (or even EMC) but this story is quite illustrative as it clearly demonstrates so many of the common themes I see across industries, geographies and functions.

The Emergence Of Dispersed Clouds

Almost four years ago, I wrote a post that speculated on the emergence of a very particular type of cloud -- a private cloud.  Fast forward, and you'll find private clouds everywhere -- it's certainly not a new or unfamiliar concept any more.

WIth this post, I'd like to attempt to introduce a new cloud archetype into the discussion -- the dispersed cloud. 

While the concept might seem somewhat strange and unfamiliar, I believe it won't be too long before we simply accept them as another integral part of the broader computing landscape.

Like the private cloud before it, the emergence of dispersed clouds shouldn't be a debatable matter -- the required forces are already visibly at work, and I believe the eventual outcome is simply a matter of time.

That Zealot Moment

I end up doing more than my fair share of public speaking gigs on behalf of EMC.

It can often be a tedious grind: travel, timezones, etc. -- all in exchange for a fleetingly brief speaking slot somewhere.   It might look glamorous to some, but it's not.

The travel certainly isn't fun.  The presentation itself isn't particularly fun after you've done it 20 or more times.

No, the best part for me is that zealot moment -- when people come up to me after the presentation, and we end up having a really great conversation. 

And that, if anything, makes it all worthwhile.

When Big Data Changed Radiology

This week is the annual gathering of the RSNA -- the Radiological Society of North America.  And for many of us, it's not just another industry trade show: it's a microcosm of the powerful forces that will inevitably play out in industry after industry as we move to pure digital business models.

The underlying premise of a digital business model is simple: it's a complete re-invention of the value proposition along digital principles vs. simply automating familiar physical activities.  And, in health care, the business at hand is delivering better patient outcomes far more effectively and efficiently.

Within the broad spectrum of healthcare, radiology in particular is at ground zero for this transformation.  Modern radiology has become an entirely digital proposition for the most part, and -- in the process -- radiology itself has been transformed.

And, like so many things, there are lessons to be learned from what's happening in radiology -- not only within healthcare itself, but more broadly when looking at a wide range of professions that haven't been sucked into the digital vortex – yet.

Finally, Another Interesting Take On A Global File System

Stop me if you've heard this before -- wouldn't it be great if we could make all of our local file servers around the globe act like a single giant intelligent file server?

I can count at least a dozen different takes on this particular IT challenge in the last 15 years or so -- but none has enjoyed wide popularity or success. 

But, in the spirit of bringing you cool new things to consider, I'd like to share with you an interesting partnership that's starting to enjoy some good traction with customers to do exactly what I've described.

While nothing is perfect in this world, this particular combination seems to do a far better job than previous approaches in addressing some of the more challenging issues behind delivering global file services.