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I knew I was old because I have 658 kids, but I never felt old career wise. I still sort of felt like the 24 year old punk who joined EMC in 1845 - and while I have watched many grow older year to year, (and occasionally noticed that the industry started hiring 11 year olds some point back), I never really felt like I was one of the aging.
Until last night.
I met EMC technoids Mark Lewis and Mike Feinberg for dinner to wax ethereal about all things that interest geeks. (The three of us couldn't have attracted a female if we plopped a million in cash on our table). I always thought Lewis was about 20 years older than me (he's 1) and Feinberg at least 10 (he's 6 years younger). That sort of made me think - but then the killer happened.
Lewis grew up inside DEC. I spent some time as a DEC reseller a thousand years ago. In our conversation about something I now forget (age), I drew a parallel to some application of today as the "Ask MAN/MAN" of yesterday. Both cocked their heads and looked like I just spoke a foreign language. I thought they were kidding. They weren't.
ASK Software was huge - bigger than Peoplesoft (who probably didn't exist yet), bigger than Oracle even (I may be making that up, but I think so), and there was no such thing as SAP or JD Edwards ERP stuff. MAN/MAN was the ERP/manufacturing software package, and besides All-In-One, was what put DEC on the map for commercial mini-computing. It also ran on HP3000 MPE machines, if I'm not mistaken. (In case you didn't think I really was old). Funny thing is both these guys knew of MUMPS, which was run by 27 hospitals, but neither had any idea about MAN/MAN, which was run by every major manufacturer on the planet for a while. CA bought it a long time ago, which is the only justification I can think of for not knowing about it.
My latest CW rant. If foks were really good with statistics and numbers, wouldn't they be hanging in vegas instead of counting tape cartridges?
I remember him telling me two things - first, there was no need for tape, that everything would be disk. Second, and this was much earlier and most likely will be denied but I swear it was true - he said that there would come a time where disk was unnecessary because memory would keep getting bigger and cheaper. His first argument is coming to fruition, albeit slowwwwwly. His second didn't take into account the absurd rate of data growth and therefore the economic impact associated with that. FYI, Dick is the E in EMC.
Dell made this announcement which is using removable disk technologies from ProStor as a direct low-end/mid-market replacement for tape based media and systems. These cartridges have the same basic form factor as tape and even higher levels of tolerance (for dropping them, for example) and longer media life - AND they are disk - good old random access, readable in twenty years, disk. The possibilities are endless.
If there is a big business right now replacing tape and tape function with disk based subsystems, what if the data de-duped frenzy going on now could also have a removability element for deep bunker archive?
Superbly brilliant, but I'm not going to tell you exactly why yet. I promise too when I have more time in the next day or so, but suffice it to say this couldn't have been a simple reaction to EMC/Kashya as several have suggested to me. I missed the call, but I see what this has meant in a few gigundo deals so far, and when I think about how IBM can come to the party now it makes me giddy.
If they did it for what I hope they did it for, then it is just genius. If they did it for other reasons, then they got lucky.
I'll explain shortly.
My latest Storage Magazine article -
Right solution for the wrong problem at the worst possible time
A new Web-based messaging service is ingenious, insidious or both.
If, during the process of eradicating gophers in the backyard, you came up with a nuclear-powered solution consisting of $11 worth of duct tape, Silly Putty and a can of Raid, would you market it to the world? You would if all you saw were dollar signs, which might make you forget that others could use your discovery for things not involving furry critters (at least the cute kind).
Case in point: VaporStream. This magical startup may make a billion dollars for all the wrong reasons or this may be the last you ever hear of them. I haven’t spoken with these surely upstanding capitalists, but my people have and they immediately knew I’d love this from an entertainment perspective.
VaporStream has created--now get this--recordless messaging. Invisible, untraceable, disappearing-ink e-mail. Create it, hit “Send” and it’s completely gone without a single smudge left on your machine, server, caches, DNA or your dirty mind. CSI couldn’t find a molecule of the message even with a four-hour, commercial-free special.
That’s because it never lived on your machine. It lived “out there” like an alien pod in the ether on some VaporSpaz server. Or did it? You don’t know. As soon as it’s transmitted to the only authorized viewer, all traces are hosed off VaporSpaz and the entire machine is tossed into Mount Doom next to Frodo’s ring. What message?
The company seems to think there’s a big market for “recordless messaging” because CEOs and the like don’t want a record of everything. That’s true, albeit a bit misguided. The only reason not to have a record of something is because: A) It’s illegal; B) It might be illegal; or C) I don’t think it’s illegal, but I don’t want to get caught having it because I’m surely gonna get canned if I do.
The pro-use argument is simple: For private, nonregulated messages where I want to ensure that my double-secret missive regarding our offer to acquire super-stealthy TechnoLuv Inc. isn’t intercepted by competitors or other bad people. Who needs encryption if the message disappears? No need to wear a costume if you’re invisible, eh?
I buy the theory; I just don’t trust people to use it right. Here’s what’s really going to happen: Everyone on the planet who harbors the will or intent to do others harm will use it to send “Atomic bomb a la mode recipes” and “Place the briefcase next to the traffic light” or “Really? I’m 13, too, and I love that mall” messages to accomplices or unwitting victims, knowing they’ll never be found out. Best case, we’ll have CEO types saying things they shouldn’t about subjects they shouldn’t mention to people who shouldn’t hear. Because it’s obvious this will happen (I have ADD and it took me about four seconds to figure it out), some government will have to: A) Buy them out and send them someplace far, far away; B) Arrange an unsolvable spelunking accident while the technology somehow gets misplaced forever; or C) Some giant archive/record management player will buy them and do some version of both A and B. If you’re VaporStream’s neighbor, consider a bulletproof vest and working away from the house.
Shouldn’t some spook have heard about this and “made it go away” by now? Didn’t VaporStream’s CEO realize there’s no legitimate business reason for this stuff, but huge, potentially bad, ramifications? I hope they get paid and not “disappeared,” I really do. It seems ingenious, assuming it works. Or maybe no one has done it (publicly anyway) because they want to live and not be the one responsible for all the potential damage it can cause? Thankfully, Congressman Mark Foley wasn’t a beta test site. How many more pages might have had the opportunity to become the victims of a high-ranking public figure/sexual predator if Mr. F had this stuff?
But what it really may enable is the end of the world, so I’m just gonna have to take a tough stand and announce that I’m against it. That’s just me, old school. Isn’t the only way to kill someone with a Centera or some Symantec/KVS software to either drop the box on them or wait until they have a heart attack when they see the new maintenance bill?
Observations of late:
Chris Calisi is toast at Overland. It was long overdue. Very nice guy, but never understood what the company is (low tech player to volume market) and always wanted to add IP, usually at a silly cost. The business has been slaughtered over the last year or so, with no end in sight so Chris had to go. The company is trading just above its cash value, which isn't good for those of you foreign to the world of high finance. I'm pretty sure I could buy them. Rick Belluzzo (Quantum/Adic) should go snap them up to help him shore up the low end. They ship a ton of Rios as iSCSI virtual tape targets and still have a fairly large low-end VAR channel.
EMC's CTO, Jeff Nick, turns out to be brilliant. You don't know him, because Mr. Tucci and co. have apparently not let him out of the basement. He was the On Demand CTO guy at IBM prior, and is a way forward thinker - which is probably the real reason he's been locked up! Selling stuff you have today is the mission, not talking about what the world will look like in 8 years. I bring it up because for the first time since I've known the mighty E, there is a guy there who really has long eyeballs and isn't focused on what to ship this quarter - and if they let him, he just might lend a whole lot of credibility to the end-game for those folks. I tried to argue with him for a while, but then realized I completely agreed with where things had to end up in IT (which may really mean he's an idiot). Don't expect to hear him at the next SNW, but feel good being an EMC customer knowing someone is spending time really looking out beyond their nose.
D-Link (yes, that D-Link) is shipping boat loads of iSTOR based iSCSI RAID boxes, and get this, into the SMB space. The stuff is cheap, fast as heck, and brain dead to operate. I like this stuff.
George Symons, arguably one of the nicest gentlemen in the history of the computer business, has left EMC (he was CTO of the Legato stuff) and become the CEO of SMB backup player, Yosemite - which just so happens to be 11 feet from his house. George is impossible not to like, so I'll be rooting for him.
I have misplaced my orthotics, and get foot cramps at bizarre times - like now. Got to go.
By now you've already heard about the infamous Mr. Foley goes to Washington foibles, and probably a few of the jokes.
What you haven't heard is that they guy who is going to take his job is Tim Mahoney. What else you don't know is Tim is a storage guy, which makes him obviously qualified to lead the nation, or at least the great state of Florida.
Tim was VP of Sales and Marketing at Tecmar, and then Rodime, and then SyDos (the aftermarket division of SyQuest).
Joel Reich, iSCSI overlord at Netapp, worked for him for 2 years at Tecmar and then about 4 years at Rodime. It looks like Tim left the storage business in the mid-90's. I asked Joel if he'd vote for Tim if the Foley scandal never happened. He said he would still vote Foley even after the issues. I laughed.
If Tim can become a U.S. Congressmen, then maybe I should run for President.
Tim's site says there are "0" days left before the Nov. 7th election. It's Nov. 6th today. Nice.
Here's the CW rant I did on the silly public DR thing that happened in PA. I had a decent amount of comments, and all but one agreed. This fellow didn't - here's what he said:
"Today I read the Opinion (below) on the discussion regarding the proposed Northeastern Pennsylvania’s real estate development project, as advertised to help address the Business Continuity (“BC”) requirements of Wall Street firms. I think the author’s opinion is emotional, not adequately supported by facts and way over the top in its condemnation. The opinion failed to recognize many important realities or acknowledge the greater good that such thinking and commitment, on the state, federal and private sector levels, to providing more and potentially better backup options brings to the business community and to the population at large. Our vulnerability and, thus, our need to secure adequate resiliency is not a family secret any longer. I feel that the options promoted by the group from PA have merit, despite the public fanfare brought on by the sizable financial commitments made by the government and private parties in this project. I strongly believe that Mr. Duplessie, who is a self-proclaimed analyst, failed to properly analyze the story or the situation, beyond the perceived need for secrecy. I was among many there as an attendee at the meeting on October 10, 2006. I arrived by car (not helicopter), met the many parties involved, asked questions and witnessed the media event afterward. Perhaps most importantly, my firm knows what it is looking at in these promotions. My colleagues and I analyze alternate sites options professionally for clients. We take into account many factors of the site options and the specifics of individual client requirements. We have seen nearly every solution promoted in the past twenty-five years. While it is prudent for individual companies to not advertise where and how they conduct business continuity, the available solutions are public knowledge.
For your consideration and the consideration of the readers who read the incomplete thoughts offered by Mr. Duplessie:
- There is no building to target - The buildings are proposed and not yet built, nor has ground been broken for any building.
- A level of privacy was maintained - The helicopters flew to the grounds of a hotel off-site where the meeting was held, not to the sites. No clients names were featured during the session and no client commitments were advertised.
- There are few secrets - Information on the location of commercial DR sites, once built and marketed, and also the location of private sites, is quickly common knowledge anyway, due to the necessity for the employees to know where it is and how to get there. The plans are communicated in advance throughout the organizations’ personnel on a broad scale and to all key vendors, the U.S. mail, FedEx, UPS and even the water cooler vendor. The family, friends and neighbors will all know and so will hundreds of local merchants. Let’s not kid ourselves about secrecy.
- Other options abound - The New York financial community has split operations and DR sites all over the NY area, the Northeast US, around the country and even around the world already.
- Who brought up Jersey City? - The author alludes to a common knowledge that there is a concentration of Wall Street BC and DR sites in Jersey City right now. If that were, and indeed still, true, by putting that ‘knowledge’ in the media Mr. Duplessie was doing essentially the same thing for which he condemns the promoters…giving out new ideas to terrorists – like they need them.
- More options = less concentration of risk - The proposed plan would dilute any alleged concentration in Jersey City or elsewhere.
- The real man in US Congress behind this is US Rep. Paul Kanjorski (PA), member of the Financial Services Committee in Congress, involved and knowledgeable of the issues and eloquent in his articulation. (The quote attributed to PA Rep John Siptroth is meaningless out of its context and is left open to interpretation. The more valuable points were made by Congressman Kanjorski.)
- The network radio and TV coverage of DR sites is not new; IBM, Sungard and many other entities have been in the national news before and while recovering companies from the outages of 9-11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the first WTC bomb in 1993 and the NE US power outage of 2003, to name a few · Terrorism is only a subset of the universe of bad circumstances planners address - The author’s presumption is that the sole or primary criteria for firms to seek DR or Business Continuity (BC) is widespread, intentional, successfully targeted destruction. This is one of many concerns.
- DR is the sizzle, Real Estate is the steak - The proposed project in PA is a commercial real estate development project that is really promoting the positive features of the region, with regional diversity of business operations, personnel, BC and IT-DR just some of the potential justifications. There are housing, retail and other intended regional enhancements planned that have little or nothing to do with DR. Eagle Rock Alliance and its management have no commercial interest in the proposed project or have a prior, current or planned relationship with the Penn Regional Business Center (PRBC) project, its sponsors or any of its potential competitors. We believe that the high profile of the project has raised awareness in Business Continuity as an important business initiative and at the same time served to expand the horizon of viable solution options that the business community can consider for their individual business resiliency needs.
Yours truly,
Gerry Nolan
President
Eagle Rock Alliance, Ltd.
I do like the "self-proclaimed analyst" remark, touche on that one my friend. However, the fact is after carefully reading your well crafted, albeit self-serving commentary, my position remains steadfast - It was dumb.
Had you read the article with half as much effort as you put into the reply, you would have noticed that I had no issue with the business aspect - only with the way it was publicly done. Flaunting "disaster recovery" in the face of non-stable, non-rational folks who have a history of doing bad things for bad reasons is just plain dumb. How you could take that criticism to mean terrorism was the only need for DR is beyond me. Standing around half-loaded dropping twenty dollar bills in the middle of a crack neighborhood while looking for the keys to my hummer doesn't mean I want to get robbed, nor does it imply everyone there wants to rob me - but giving them the idea isn't very smart. We all know there is money in a bank, but does that mean the bank should advertise that there will be a very large infusion of cash on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm and oh, by the way, our alarm has been giving us problems and our 86 year old security guard isn't feeling well? It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
While it certainly is also true that it isn't all that hard to find out where the DR sites are for those who you wish to destroy, not every would-be terrorist is a rocket scientist. It is irrelevant if this were part of an intelligent well planned attack - but for a dope like the shoe bomber it just may have been a self-realization moment that called someone to action. We aren't dealing with terrorist Mensa candidates all the time - the bad guys are a pyramid scheme, lots of smarts up top, lots of disilusioned loners looking to join the cult down below.
Of course the options they were promoting have merit - DR is good - and necessary. Commercially pushing the cause was not a concern, it was the Wall St. angle that was dumb. Some things should be left unsaid. You lost me by saying I was only talking about terrorism as the requirement for DR, which is dumb on your part. If there has been a more vocal pundit on the needs for DR/BC in all companies large and small - in life or in print - I challenge you to find them.
Since you clearly didn't comprehend, or desire to comprehend, the simplicty of the message, I can only surmise that you sent this in the hope of being published and sounding smart, therefore enhancing your business opportunites, (or trying to get a favor out of Mr. Kanjorski). I don't blame you for that at all, but you seem so wildly off base that I'm afraid your rant may cause the opposite effect - I wonder how many folks who read this may interpret your pitch incorrectly, and assume that means you support enhancing the operating efficiency of terrorists? Yikes.
Anyhow, thanks for reading!
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