Polluter pays the bill

Cheaper hardware and advances in network connectivity is a major reason for the large number of Intel servers. These are more like PCs on steroids, which make the low utilization plausible and is an indication for the simplicity to virtualize them all at once. This revolution has made Microsoft fat but brought us little savings. Additional requirements for security and availability ensure other components are expanded.
 
All this is not because the IT department wants that so badly, but simply because the business demand for it. With distributed processing is the genie out of the bottle and we have a growing need for IT resources. Of course the customer is king, but they should not behave like the jester.

Globalize your server sprawl

Are you ready to globalize your server sprawl? Want to chase your data around the world? Guess not, but it’s again about the everlasting dance between CapEx and OpEx and now we are encouraged to breakthrough the walls of the datacentre. Despite my 'virtualization atheism' I wouldn’t say it's all a lie, as we're doing a lot more for less. More complexity, security, specialization and licensing in less square footage for example.

Even Cloud Computing make us more trouble ahead, it’s not really a turnaround. Only differentiator is in how costs are charged. This is not something revolutionary, but was common in those days computer cycles where expensive. Unfortunately, that became out of fashion with distributed processing. So the genie is out of the bottle by decentralizing processing and now we have an ever-increasing need for IT resources.

Cloud adoption

If the noise around cloud computing has passed to you, you've probably been somewhere that had no Internet, papers, radio or phone. But anyone who is not in a place like Guantánamo Bay certainly could not have missed all the great benefits of cloud computing. Sometimes it seems that everyone has been commissioned to shout the cloud. It's almost  a shame that most companies are still hesitant about the cloud and at best give it a try.  

While most companies have to digest virtualization cloud marketers gradually begin to outvoice each other. Perhaps it's now a moment to listen to the market. 

Cloud fairytale

Sometimes you just need to recognize that others do things far better than yourself. Explaining the cloud in simple pictures for example. The few words and pictures presented by Andy Harjanto are revealing, but still allow room for personal views about the subject.  

That might be a deviation of mine but first slide is already significant, supposing the IT manager is overrun. But by who is he trampled? Could be the business demanding for more IT but also the sales guy telling half of the story in this presentation.

Managers are idiots

Not mine of course but those that you order to satisfy their information needs. So remarkable we're all information workers as it takes time to satisfy these decision supporting systems. But  'Management by Excel' does not testify to a really visionary leadership and is more like bookkeeping. So I sometimes get the impression 'information slave' gives a better description for this stupidity.  

That said, it is not so much to the managers in  general, but the information they use. I think it's the difference between the entrepreneur and the manager. First is guided by the opportunities while the manager is often guided by the threats. A difference in attitude that is often caused by the organization. All kinds of rules about compliance are to blame for the many information we have to cough up daily.

Benefit the Cloud markt

Forced by the market, no one can afford to ignore the changes. Even at Unisys, among many, probably best known as the "mainframe company ', the focus is on Cloud Computing as a delivery model. The demand for faster, cheaper and more efficient use of ICT can not be answered with a monolithic system.

It is therefore obvious that we do not come with a product, but set our focus on the processes. Even though many IT vendors promote cloud computing as 'revolution', without convergence of vision and purpose the gap between business and IT will not be closed. The only real revolution is that today the business determine what applications and services are needed. And as result of the many delivery models it has a huge choice.

Frustration leads to innovation

That (part of) the problems outlined in my contribution "Release or relationship management" was recognizable for a lot of people as came clear from the responses I received. I don’t pretend to have the right and appropriate solution but asked attention for a number of shortcomings. So a the invitation of Wilko Fisher, owner of ValueBlue, I discussed this issue with their Enterprise Architects. The additional insights seem to me a justify for part 2.

During this "pizza session" there were discussions on a number of possibilities to provide IT visibility. One such possibility is the Enterprise Architecture discipline which models are used to describe IT. A picture is finally telling more than 1000 words so it provide you quickly with insights. Subsequently, these models should allow us to model a future state which are then translates into architecture principles.

ICT Fraude

That the government is looking for the best solution at best price is commendable but this legislation seems questionable. I pull in doubt that, if I believe media reports about failing government projects, these tenders lead to better projects. Now of course I'm not a 'accountant' but surely a tax payer.

Because the threshold for tenders is each year lower, we will face increasingly more often large bidbooks. Remarkably, these are often written by outside consultants, who apparently are being paid per page. Relatively simple projects with at end small commissions sometimes deliver more than 100 pages! And beside the specifications there are also the conditions under which the contract is done. So I estimate activities at both sides costs more than ever can be saved.

Social engineering

Writing a new post for Computable, I am used to ask some comments in front of publication. And who you can use best if you're going to write about Social Media? Yes, friends in your network. So discussing title, keywords and message we came about the patterns.  

So why not do the same to get some pieces of information that can be helpfull in finding the 'sound bites'. Monetizing large scale at these Social Networks is not in our reach but the 'crumbs' are still interesting. And after being accused as 'Nasty Social Engineer' the title for this post was found. Afterall it's about the pattern that we should have seen before. 

Start to create infrastructure visibility

Of course, every organization has a formalized process that kept record what was purchased. This process is known as configuration management, with associated Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as central register. A system which worked fine in those days of monolithic systems, but now starting to show cracks.  

Not only due to change of  technology but also as result of mergers between companies. As a result, data from the configuration management became slowly distributed and an overall view at the infrastructure is complicated. 9 out of 10 organizations have a greater or lesser degree of burden and make decisions that are not entirely founded at the real state and value of their infrastructure.

Combat the new virtual server sprawl

Today many organizations already virtualized a great amount of their servers or are in the process of doing it. But the pitfall of converting a physical machine into a virtual entity, which can be done with ease, is a lack of attention to processes.  

Result, many projects seem to follow the road of  'garbage in, garbage out' without actually doing something about the waste. Benefits like faster provisioning and less underutilized systems are undisputed but technology alone will not align IT to the business. At the end the net profit is often not as expected. 

Cloud Computing as business enabler

Every supplier of ICT services and tools used nowadays the term cloud computing as a business enabler in offers. But just like the weather there are many variation and characteristics. So it needs an ICT meteorologist to see the sky through the clouds. All things considered, cloud computing is the successor of utility computing, and not as revolutionary as some vendors would have us believe. It is primarily a delivery model that goes beyond the binary choice between “do it yourself”' or “outsourcing”.

But it takes a different view of the infrastructure than we actually used these days. So whether the flight into outsourcing is actually taken on economic grounds is questionable. Due to missing possibility to weigh costs and benefits of a service (chain). At best, there is a tradeoff on the basis of cover but it is usually for organizational reasons. That's like trying to outsource your problems where Cloud Computing is only about technology.

Green IT

A survey by Dell in 2006 found that more than half the power consumed at datacentra is not used for ICT services. Only Two fifths went to ICT resources, one third for cooling and the rest disappeared in such things as lighting and emergency power. For benchmark energy efficiency of a data center, the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)-formula is quite common.

According to figures from Dell, the average PUE in the pre-virtualization year 2006 was 2.5. Which means that for every Watt spent on ICT there is a loss of 1.5 watts. In the meantime most companies start virtualization to save power, space and cooling. But recent charts shows that there is still an upward trend in the total power consumption of computer centers. Not illogical as our dependence on ICT is also increased.