IBM Storage Community

Facing Your Fears about Storage Efficiency

az990tony — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:49:00 GMT

It seems I have been on the road non-stop for the past nine weeks! On my flights, I often find myself sitting next to a young adult who is flying for the first time. Many of these young adults formed their fear of flying a decade ago, in their teenage years, during the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Some are just now trying to face those fears.

(What does any of this have to do with storage? Actually, there are similar fears for enabling various storage efficiency functions like data deduplication, thin provisioning and compression, so work with me here!)

Flying from Seattle down to Los Angeles, I sat next to Michele (shown in the picture on the left). She was facing her fear of flying overseas by taking seven months off to visit Japan, China, Thailand, Laos, Ireland, England and various countries in continental Europe. Wow! She was joining up with her friend Brittney in Los Angeles, and the two will be travelling together. Since I had been to nearly every country she was planning to visit, I gave her a list of survival phrases and cultural guidance.
Flying from Los Angeles to Tucson, I sat next to Alex on his first day of flying adventures. He flew from Jacksonville, to Dallas, to Los Angeles, to finally Tucson to pick up his fiancée. He met her in Florida, but her father was re-assigned to Fort Huachuca Army Base near Tucson, Arizona. He kept in touch with his bride-to-be, and now faced his fear of flying to go pick her up and bring her back for the wedding. This was the first time he had been west of the Mississippi river.
On a short 18-minute flight from Tucson to Phoenix, I sat next to Rachel, a college student at the University of Arizona, on her way to visit her folks in Santa Ana, California. She immediately apologized to me for not wearing pants. What I mistook for bikini bottoms were actually stretchy exercise shorts she wears to play [Lacrosse]. She had sprained her ankle, then went [AMA] to wear high-heeled shoes on a girl's weekend to Las Vegas, only to trip and break her ankle completely. Her foot was in a cast, thus preventing her from driving her car, or, as it turned out, wear any pants.
Returning from a briefing in Poughkeepsie, on the short flight from Stewart Airport to Philadelphia, I sat next to Krista (shown in the picture on the right), who formerly was a [Bacardi Girl], but now decided she wants to do something more meaningful in her life than handing out prizes and free samples of spiced rum. She decided to go visit her friend in Charlotte, North Carolina, but did not want to drive 15 hours to get there. She faced her fears of flying to avoid driving by herself all that distance. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, so I suggested she get a Myers-Briggs profile analysis, and perhaps determine her strengths using Gallup's [Strengths Finder 2.0]. This might help her find a career choice that best fits her interests.

What do all of these have in common? They all faced their fear of flying, either because their situation forced them to, something more important drove them to, or they felt it was just time to do it. Good for them!

As is often the case, many fears are unfounded. Statistically, flying is safer than being on the road in car. As a result of facing their fears, they all got to meet me, and be one step closer to accomplishing their life goals.

In my talks with clients about storage, I find similar hesitation on turning on various storage efficiency features that IBM (and other vendors) have to offer. Let's examine a few of them.

Less than half of businesses have activated "thin provisioning" on storage devices that support this feature. Why? IBM introduced thin provisioning on its RAMAC Virtual Array back in 1997! The technology is well proven in the field. Don't know how to report this for charge-back activity? Charge your end-users for the maximum capacity upper limit. Simple enough!
What about Data Deduplication? IBM has had this feature on its N series since 2007, but it wasn't until IBM came out with the IBM ProtecTIER gateway and appliance models that people started to take notice of this technology. Yes, I agree Hash Collisions can be quite scary on competitive gear, but on IBM ProtecTIER we do not use hash codes, and all data is compared byte-for-byte. For those considering hash-based deduplication, hash collisions in general are quite rare. Jeff Preshing does the math for you in his blog post: [Hash Collision Probabilities]. Of course, if you want to leave no doubt in the minds of a jury of your peers, stick with byte-for-byte comparison methods in the IBM ProtecTIER.
Lastly, I have heard concerns of using real-time compression? Really? Real-time compression has been used in wide-area network (WAN) transmissions ever since IBM developed the Houston Aerospace Spooling Protocol (HASP) for NASA back in 1973. IBM has offered real-time compression on tape cartridges since 1986, the year I started with IBM, some 27 years ago. And now, real-time compression is available for file-based and block-based disk systems. All of these solutions are based on the Lempel-Ziv lossless compression algorithms introduced in 1977. One customer I spoke with was unwilling to try compression, because it requires thin provisioning as a pre-requisite. How is that for having one fear based on another one!

IBM places a high value on data integrity. For each data footprint reduction method, IBM has designed a solution that returns back the exact ones and zeros, in the correct quantity and order, as was originally stored.

For more on this topic, come see me present "Data Footprint Reduction -- Understanding IBM Storage Efficiency Options" at [IBM Edge 2013 conference] in Las Vegas, June 10-14.

Mainframe and Storage: Highlights from IBM's Technical Edge Conference Agenda

wired — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:27:00 GMT

The IBM Edge conference is June 10-14 in Las Vegas, Although the conference is held in Las Vegas this year, the sessions should bring enough expert material to divert mainframe storage managers from the gaming tables. Although mainframe isn't the primary focus, the Technical Edge agenda offers considerable material that addresses mainframe storage. Here are some of the sessions that look particularly interesting:

IBM z/OS Storage Management Ecosystem Update-provides an overview of IBM's strategy for managing the z/OS storage ecosystems. Learn how the strategic z/OS storage management product, OMEGAMON XE for Storage, fits into the strategy and how the rest of the Tivoli z/OS Storage management portfolio works together to address common z/OS storage tasks and problem resolution. The session also promises to include a short review of Tivoli z/VM storage products.
IBM z/OS + DS8K Synergy-offers an overview of the IBM DS8000 architecture and its deep integration with IBM z/OS to deliver performance, high availability, optimization, and manageability. No other storage system has the unique integration with the IBM mainframe, according to IBM. That becomes particularly apparent when you start looking at Flash storage.
Introduction to the TS7700 Virtualization Engine Grid for the Uninitiated or Those Needing a Refresher-intended to introduce attendees to the IBM TS7700 Virtualization Engine, a virtualized tape solution. This basic level discussion will start by explaining why tape virtualization came about, and then cover basic and advanced concepts, up through the latest enhancements. If you are not already familiar with virtual tape you don't want to miss this.
Retention management is an increasingly important and tricky topic these days, particularly as it ties in with compliance and even legal ediscovery. Edge 2013 offers two complementary sessions on retention management.
Untangling Retention Management under DFSMSrmm-DFSMS Removable Media Manager (DFSMSrmm) delivers a wide variety of retention controls for the z/OS tape resources it manages. Often the variety of options and the differences in how they behave can be confusing. The session promises to explain how and why DFSMSrmm does what it does so attendees can make the best decisions for their environment.
DFSMSrmm Best Practices, Features and New Stuff-DFSMS Removable Media Manager (DFSMSrmm) is one of the most regularly enhanced tape management systems in the market. Often, however, new features are overlooked. This session offers an overview of key product features that every DFSMSrmm data center should be taking full advantage of to properly safeguard their environments. In addition, it will detail several little-known product capabilities that can streamline administrator efficiency, allowing more time for other management activities.

Overall, IBM Edge 2013 will offer over 140 storage sessions, over 50 PureSystems sessions, more than 50 client case studies, and sessions on big data and analytics along with a full cloud track. In June, I'll be attending IBM Edge 2013. Look for me in the Social Media Lounge at the conference and in the sessions. You can follow me on Twitter for conference updates @Writer1225. I'll be using hashtag #IBMEdge to post live Twitter comments from the conference.

NOTE: Full disclosure: this blogger's trip to Edge 2013 and related DancingDinosaur posts are being underwritten by IBM. However, the choice of content, ideas, and opinions are my own. Hope to see you there!

Flash Storage Innovation: A Hot Topic at IBM Edge 2013

Mary Hall — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:45:00 GMT

In order to help attendees get a taste for some of the hot topics on the IBM Edge Agenda, IBM Edge has a made a series of videos available on their YouTube channel to give viewer a taste of the conference. The video series features IBM Experts and executives having a series of roundtable conversations about things IBM Customers are particularly interested in. Flash Storage is a hot topic with a bullet. This technology offers cost savings and increased employee productivity. Flash storage is really changing the way customers are deploying infrastructure. It is simultaneously being deployed on every layer. It's in servers, networks and storage, and it's all about how do you coordinate that using software from a management cross-domain and really driving a huge benefits.

Watch this video by clicking on the picture link above to learn more.

Social Media will be a Highlight of IBM Edge 2013

Mary Hall — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:26:00 GMT

Social Media is going to play a key role in June in the activities at the IBM Edge2013 conference. In addition to interacting in real time at the conference, IBM is encouraging attendees to interact socially via social media and to share their conference experiences. Following is a list of all the social activities at the conference. These are activities you'll want to participate in to win prizes, and to enhance your social IQ. Bookmark this blog post, and then refer to it through the conference to get the Social Edge!

Look for the Social Media Lounge at IBM Edge in the show foyer, during these hours:

Monday June 10: Social Lounge Open 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m

Tuesday June 11th Social Lounge Open 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m

Wednesday June 12th Social Lounge Open 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m,

Tweet up in the Social Lounge 4pm to 5:30 pm

Thursday June 13th Social Lounge Open 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Friday June 14th Social Lounge Open 10:30 a.m. to noon

Sharpen your social media skills in the IBM Edge Social Media Lounge. If you're new to Social Media, ask one of our Social Concierges at the Lounge to help you talk about IBM Edge on your social networks.
Join the Storage Community at www.storagecommunity.org
Join the Twitter conversations, follow @SystemsandTech @IBMSTG, @IBMTechConfs & @IBMEdge on Twitter, use Hashtag #IBMEdge
Enjoy refreshments & enter to win prizes! The lounge will be stocked with candy, snacks and coffee.

Share your #IBMEdge photos on Instagram and receive a Starbucks card

It’s easy to use Instagram, and enjoy some Starbucks coffee too! Here’s what you need to do.

1) Download Instagram as an app on your mobile phone (Android, iPhone or iPad) and set-up your account

1. Sign up for an Instagram account and choose a username that clearly represents you.

2. Add a profile photo, a biography and a link to your website .

3. Connect your account to Facebook, Twitter and any other third-party sharing sites where you have an account (Go to Profile > Edit sharing settings).

2) Share your #IBMEdge photos with us on Instagram to receive a Starbucks coffee card!

3) Simply share your picture via Twitter with the #IBMEdge hashtag, like this:

a. I’m at #IBMEdge enjoying this XXX (pick the place to describe your picture: session, tech lab, event: @FitzandTantrums/ #YoungtheGiant, dinner, etc)

b. Then share your picture on Instagram via your Twitter account, and bring it to the Social Media Lounge, for your coffee card. Look for the Social Edge signs to find the lounge. Note, you must use the #IBMEdge hashtag to be eligible.

c: Follow @IBMEdge on Instagram to see our pictures to get ideas.

Share your #IBMEdge experience on Twitter receive a Starbucks card

Send us a Tweet us @IBMEdge and tell us how you’re enjoying the conference with the hashtag #IBMEdge. Show us your Tweet on your mobile phone in the Social Edge lounge and receive a Starbucks card.

Check in to IBM Edge at Mandalay Bay from your mobile phone to receive a Starbucks card

Check in on Foursquare from your mobile phone or iPad for a complimentary Starbucks card, when you check in to IBM Edge 2013. Show us your check-in at the Social Lounge to receive a card.

Special Events in the Social Lounge: All conference attendees are invited to join us in the IBM Social Lounge on Wed, June 12th for a special Happy Hour Tweet-up the Social Lounge 4pm to 5:30 pm

All IBM Attendees are invited to join us in the Social Lounge near the registration desk in the show foyer throughout the show!

Data Protection in the “New World”

skenniston — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:24:00 GMT

Its time I get back to writing about more than just topics that surround what IBM are doing in the world of storage. For example, I am pretty passionate about data protection. Having worked for Veritas, ESG (covering data protection), Connected Corporation (sold to Iron Mountain), Avamar (sold to EMC) and EMC's backup, recover and archive group, I have spent a good chunk of my storage career in the data protection space.

The first thing that has always puzzled me is how different storage vendors define "data protection". In big companies the definition of "data protection" is usually always political. The fact that backup, archive and replication are never usually in the same group really is only due to company politics. The reality is, any "copy" (we will come back to this) of data, is for the most part, all about protecting data. Companies like CommVault may have different product managers for capabilities such as backup or archive, but they don't live in completely different organizations just because one group deals with hardware and another group only deal with software.

At the end of the day, when protecting a company's most valuable assets, the data (which is about protecting the company) then all the protection capabilities should live in one group in order to drive the best synergy between them. Some vendors may say, "Well, that is not how customers buy the solutions." In a number of situations, that may be true, specifically when it comes to archive for compliance, but isn't that another means of "protecting the business"? Additionally, by percentage, compliance archive is giving way to operational archive, as a means for removing data from the backup stream and gain back some of the backup window. These facts bring me to two points.

First, I was impressed last week when EMC came out and said that data protection is really an extension of data management. This is a reality. When I worked at EMC, we often stated that the data set that makes up data protection is 4x larger than the primary data set. Given the ever increasing pressure IT is under and when IT starts analyzing the amount of data they are responsible for, how to best protect it and keep costs manageable, they need to understand data throughout its lifecycle. It's not a popular phrase, but Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is understanding the data throughout its life and that is really data management. Knowing the value of data upon inception is key to understanding how to best protect it.

Today that solution seems to be making copies of that data until the cows come home. Between clones, snaps, replicas, backup copies, archive copies and tape copies, multiple copies of data is a way to ensure businesses do not lose their data. But does that mean business are meeting their SLA's? How does having 20+ copies of the data meet SLAs? The trouble comes, when adding a new technology such as CDP to meet a new SLA. IT is so busy keeping the wheels on the bus, they forget to update the old way of doing things. Before you know it, you have multiple protection solutions making copies of the data eating up a lot of space. At one point early in my career at EMC IT did a study and for every copy of an email anyone had, IT had more than 26 copies. This is how IT ends up managing more data than necessary which costs a lot of money. Today data protection is about managing your copies of data.

This brings me to my second point. Copy Data Management (CDM), is a new category of data management that IDC has begun writing about and has just done a marketing sizing (link). Companies such as Actifio and Delphix are two companies that are in the CDM space. CDM is about managing the number of copies of data by taking advantage of a system that knows, through a set of policies, how many copies of a piece of data need to be kept and where they need to be kept. The estimates are that companies can save up to 90% of their true "protected" (backup, archive, replicated) data space by leveraging CDM services. This will become the next wave in data protection. CDM leverages capabilities such as deduplication, compression, single instancing as well as copy or replication services to keep the data footprint optimized.

The real challenges however, and no one seems to have tackled it, is how to solve the problem of data classification. It must be that today it is still cheaper to keep unnecessary data around than it is to properly manage it. However, in order for CDM to really work, a policy needs to be set for the data that is to be copied such that the right number of copies are created and stored in the right location in order achieve the proper SLA or RPO / RTO.

So what is the real future of data protection?

I have been singing this song for at least 5 years now. It is "Time Machine" for the enterprise. It is integrated CDM driven by policy, starting at the storage array. The real vision is to get rid of cumbersome backup software and integrate the key data copy services (see figure 1) directly into the array. Additionally, a policy engine that lives in the array that asks a few questions when LUNS/filesystems are being created that allow the administrator to set a "protection" policy for data that gets written to that LUN/filesystem. The moment data is written to the LUN/filesystem, a copy of the data is created and moved to the protected copy data repository. Just like "Time Machine", the way CDP behaves today but for all data. Additionally, the CDM device leverages single instancing, deduplication, and compression capabilities to maintain an efficient disk footprint. Also a policy can be set, just as with "Time Machine" as to how many copies that you want to keep and for how long (for archive purposes) as well as where they should be kept for high availability (replicated/copied to a secondary CDM device). These copy services should become a part of the array. No more managing complicated backup agents, archive agents or cumbersome replication software. It's time to take the management out of secondary storage management and make it a part of primary storage management. Additionally it is time to reduce the burden of costly software licenses and growing storage (disk and tape) for data protection. The solution is "Time Machine for the Enterprise" but until then, the next step is CDM, Copy Data Management.

House Hearing - FDCCI And Cloud Get Skooled

Steve O'Keeffe — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:03:00 GMT

OMB promised $3 billion in FDCCI savings by 2015. Cloud was to reset IT economics. It's time to separate the talk from the truth. House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Mica and Ranking Member Connolly are holding a hearing on May 14 at 2:30 p.m. to call in the marker. OGR Chairman Issa has a strong hand in the proceedings - significant implications for FITARA. GSA tells us that we've shuttered 420 data centers.Longitude and latitude - but no dollar-savings data. So, the law makers want to know how much we have saved. What are the bottom-line benefits? Which agencies are doing it right? What do we need to accelerate savings?

Considering cloud, the Hill wants to know what's with the traffic jam on FedRAMP?

Given the topics, it's a pity neither OMB nor GSA can make the hearing...

The IT police at GAO are releasing a new report - "Data Center Consolidation, Strengthened Oversight Needed to Achieve Cost Savings Goal." MeriTalk's also releasing a new study - "The FDCCI Big Squeeze."

Here's who's testifying:

-Bernie Mazer, CIO, Department of Interior, and co-chair of the Federal CIO Council FDCCI Taskforce

-Dave Powner, Director, IT Management Issues, GAO -Teresa Carlson, VP Public Sector, Amazon Web Services

-Kenyon Wells, VP of U.S. Federal, CGI

-And, yours truly

We're all going to school to learn about IT cost savings - and the current state of play on FDCCI and cloud - so it's only fitting that the hearing takes place at George Mason University. Hosted in Connolly's district, the setting underlines the Congressman's commitment to data center optimization.

Federal IT operators are working hard to deliver results in the sequestration squeeze. There's no new money to fund data center closures and the cloud transition - and they're not free. Hope you can join us. Space is limited - so plan to arrive early.

Mainframe and Storage: Highlights from IBM's Technical Edge Conference Agenda

wired — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:39:00 GMT

IBM z/OS Storage Management Ecosystem Update—provides an overview of IBM’s strategy for managing the z/OS storage ecosystems. Learn how the strategic z/OS storage management product, OMEGAMON XE for Storage, fits into the strategy and how the rest of the Tivoli z/OS Storage management portfolio works together to address common z/OS storage tasks and problem resolution. The session also promises to include a short review of Tivoli z/VM storage products.
IBM z/OS + DS8K Synergy—offers an overview of the IBM DS8000 architecture and its deep integration with IBM z/OS to deliver performance, high availability, optimization, and manageability. No other storage system has the unique integration with the IBM mainframe, according to IBM. That becomes particularly apparent when you start looking at Flash storage.
Introduction to the TS7700 Virtualization Engine Grid for the Uninitiated or Those Needing a Refresher—intended to introduce attendees to the IBM TS7700 Virtualization Engine, a virtualized tape solution. This basic level discussion will start by explaining why tape virtualization came about, and then cover basic and advanced concepts, up through the latest enhancements. If you are not already familiar with virtual tape you don’t want to miss this.
Retention management is an increasingly important and tricky topic these days, particularly as it ties in with compliance and even legal ediscovery. Edge 2013 offers two complementary sessions on retention management.
Untangling Retention Management under DFSMSrmm—DFSMS Removable Media Manager (DFSMSrmm) delivers a wide variety of retention controls for the z/OS tape resources it manages. Often the variety of options and the differences in how they behave can be confusing. The session promises to explain how and why DFSMSrmm does what it does so attendees can make the best decisions for their environment.
DFSMSrmm Best Practices, Features and New Stuff—DFSMS Removable Media Manager (DFSMSrmm) is one of the most regularly enhanced tape management systems in the market. Often, however, new features are overlooked. This session offers an overview of key product features that every DFSMSrmm data center should be taking full advantage of to properly safeguard their environments. In addition, it will detail several little-known product capabilities that can streamline administrator efficiency, allowing more time for other management activities.

NOTE: Full disclosure: this blogger’s trip to Edge 2013 and related DancingDinosaur posts are being underwritten by IBM. However, the choice of content, ideas, and opinions are my own. Hope to see you there!

About these ads

CIO Council - VanRoekel's Version

Steve O'Keeffe — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:23:00 GMT

While the flash and sizzle of Vivek's velocity have fizzled, the Federal CIO Council has not stalled. Here's the skinny on VanRoekel's version - it's insightful to get a peak inside the tent.

Dynamic Duo - SS&SS

The CIO Council's getting beyond IT. Bigger than the IT function, Strategic Sourcing is all about better procurement. Headed by Joe Jordan at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Strategic Sourcing working group brings together agency leadership, procurement officers, and yes of course, CIOs. And, running alongside Strategic Sourcing, we have the other big bet - Shared Services. Yes, this is where cloud and FDCCI hype meets cold-hard steel. This is the CIO Council's response to GAO's duplicate systems report - Uncle Sam certainly doesn't need 777 supply chain or 600+ HR systems. And, speaking of reports, the CIO Council is working on a report of its own on Shared Services - it's all about how to go from talk to transactions. The truth of the matter is that Shared Services success is all about leadership - that's code for conflicts among agency CIOs, component CIOs, and agency mission owners. Yes, there's pain ahead.

Mobilization

No one can ignore the allure of mobile computing - cost efficiencies and popular acclaim. The CIO Council's engaged with NIST, DoD, and NSA to drive use-case architectures for mobility. Logically, the working group's looking at security - HSPD-12 app anyone? - and BYOD/policy. Mobile development's another key focus - how do we get government to write native mobile apps, rather than bolt them on later? As the tech's moving so fast, Feds don't want to buy the cow - they're more interested in getting their mobile milk as a service. And, speaking of milk as a service, Shared Services is getting an early start in mobility. The CIO Council's looking hard at how to deliver a mobile shared service - before agencies build out their own redundant platforms.

Continuous Monitoring

John Streufert's not trying to take the hill on his own. The CIO Council's hosting a Continuous Monitoring working group. Chaired by Jeff Eisensmith at DHS and Kevin Dulany at DoD, the group's meeting every fortnight. With 150 participants from across government, it's clear there's strong interest in the new security paradigm.

CIOpedia - Best Practices

All sounds good - but don't forget the block-and-tackle information sharing. How's the CIO Council helping new recruits that don't speak government IT? The CIO Council has set up a best-practice exchange to help bring new Feds up to speed. And yes, it features a wiki - CIOpedia, structured in 13 segments. This government-only resource comes online in June.

Pub With No Beer?

It's difficult to talk about the CIO Council without asking about the viability of agency CIOs' authority and control. Shared Services and Strategic Sourcing certainly aren't gimmies. Mr.VanRoekel has some impressive initiatives and working groups in place. That said, the CIO Council without empowered, motivated CIOs is like the pub with no beer - who'd want to come back?

IBM Edge2013 Session Highlights and IBM Customer Speakers Announced!

Mary Hall — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:01:00 GMT

As most of our Storage Community members know the IBM Edge event is coming on June 10-14th in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Last year's event was so well received, it sold out.

As a result, IBM Edge has been greatly expanded for 2013. The event now includes much more than IBM storage, The week long event will feature an extensive curriculum that covers storage, cloud, IBM® PureSystems™, x86 servers and converged infrastructure.

At IBM Edge, IBM customers and IBM Business Partners will be able to get educated on industry directions, new innovations, discover best practices and get certified.

Session highlights:
Here are just a few of the sessions offered at IBM Edge2013. These are some of the hot topics on the agenda!
	•	Overview of IBM’s Big Data Strategy
	•	Where to Put the Flash in the Data Center
	•	The Dark Side of the Cloud
	•	Hadoop: It's Not Just About Internal Storage
	•	The Future of Analytics Infrastructure
	•	Introducing IBM Storwize® V3700 Entry Level Virtual Storage System
	•	Introducing IBM PureFlex™ Express, Standard and Enterprise
	•	How the IBM FlashSystem™ Architecture Delivers Differentiated Business Value
	•	Simplifying the Tivoli Storage Manager Administrative Experience with the New Interface
	•	IBM PureApplication System Technical Overview
	•	The Emerging IT Threat Landscape
	•	For more information, download the agenda.

At Edge2013, you can also hear from IBM executives and innovators, along with more than 30 client guest speakers. Check out some of the IBM customers who will be sharing best practices at Edge,

The list of logos is super impressive.

Featured IBM speakers:

Watch the Pushing the Edge video series to catch the excitement, check out the week-at-glance and plan to attend IBM Edge2013… at the beautiful Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV.

Heavens Above - Augmented Reality

Steve O'Keeffe — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:51:00 GMT

Some idiot saw the World Wide Web in Santa Cruz in 1993. He sniffed, who's ever going to want this toy? That idiot was yours truly. Twenty years older - and perhaps a few wiser - I'm not going to look another gift horse in the teeth. Sorry Cassandra.

Can You Hear Me Major Tom?

Tom Soderstrom, CTO at NASA JPL, tech clairvoyant and all-around good guy, presented to the Big Data Exchange in December. Fascinating stuff, but at the end of his presentation, he flashed the gathered big data big brains a glimpse of the future - Augmented Reality. If you haven't heard of AR, rest assured you will.

Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Hope

Remember the first Star Wars - or as my kids tell me the fourth Star Wars? R2D2 - don't think I need to spell out that acronym - plays the hologram video of Luke's sister - please keep that a secret - asking for help. Well, that's AR - and while hologram video's just around the corner, the video AR's here today.

Buckle Up

But seeing is believing. Want to try it for yourself? iOS and Droid only, sorry Berrys. Click here to download Layar - it's a free AR app. Print this page. Then point your smart phone camera at the page. You'll see Mobile Work Exchange's very own Princess Leia - Cindy Auten - welcoming you to the April 30th Town Hall Meeting. Mobile Work Exchange is MeriTalk's sister organization. If it's too much to print and point, just go ahead and register for the Mobile Work Exchange Town Hall Meeting - join 1,000 other Federal mobile maniacs. You can just point your phone at the program guide to beam up to AR.

The program has celestial "mobilenauts" as speakers, including keynotes Tonya Schreiber, Deputy CAO at FEMA; Kevin Cox and Robert Palmer from the Mobile Technology Tiger Team for the Federal CIO Council; and Major General Robert E. Wheeler, Deputy CIO for C4IIC at the DoD. Orbit the full program guide online here. It's all about transforming the Federal government with mobile IT and telework - register to attend now.

It's Life Jim...

Okay, enough space travel, let's try time travel for the dismount. What has this idiot learned since 1993 - don't sweat the application. Just jump on and buckle in to the tech rocket - some bright spark will define the mission. I've had a few conversations with AR astronauts - they've got some doozies. Only real chance of cratering - terrestrial thinking. AR - brace yourself, 3-2-1, we have ignition...

Special Offer: Register by April 28, 2013 Save 15% on IBM Edge

Mary Hall — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:44:00 GMT

The IBM Edge conference promises to be a great event. The conference features many benefits for IBM Customers and Partners. Over the course of a week in Las Vegas, IBM will feature customer case studies, technical labs and hands-on product presentations. A few of the conference highlights include:

350+ technical sessions and hands on labs geared for novices to experts, with the ability to test drive the latest technology.

Exciting general sessions focused on Smarter Computing innovations and real-world success stories.

World class certification available on-site to validate your skills and demonstrate your proficiency in the latest IBM technology and solutions.

A comprehensive and expanded Solution Center giving you access to the latest storage, System x and PureSystems solutions from IBM and our sponsors.

Check out the list of IBM Customers coming to speak at this year's conference. Impressive doesn't even begin to cover it! Customers like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kroger ,Trinity Health & Prudential will be sharing best practices on stage on at IBM Edge.

So, if you're interested in attending, we have a special offer for you. If you register online by April 28th, you'll automatically receive 15% off the registration fee. There is no discount code to input. When you register, you will automatically get the savings.

That's a $345.00 savings simply for registering before April 28th. To learn more about IBM Edge, see the agendas and get more details, visit the IBM Edge website.

Designing Storage Architectures at FedScoop 2013

skenniston — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:31:00 GMT

An interview about designing new storage architectures I did while at FedScoop this year in Washington, DC.

Inspired or Ex-Spired?

Steve O'Keeffe — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:20:00 GMT

I come here not to praise Richard Spires, but to bury the Federal CIO...

DHS is a tough place to work - some say toxic. Richard Spires is not dead. I don't know all the details associated with his leave status - but the way that our community has chased rumors and reported half news is shameful. The allegation as I understand it, he created a hostile work environment - what does that mean at DHS? What I do know is that Richard Spires worked tirelessly to put sound business practices in place at an agency that is pulled in many directions by conflicting priorities and yes, dare I say it, egos. He wrestled to rope and tie the $5.8 Billion IT beast - to break silos, enhance mission support, and realize real cost savings. And, despite his hectic calendar, Richard Spires made time early and late to explain the business case.

I've often criticized OMB, GSA, and yes, even DHS for failing to follow through on bold IT reform statements. But, Richard Spires' leave status makes me wonder if the whole IT reform agenda is merely an illusion. Does anybody in IT really have any control? FCW reports that Spires clashed with DHS components as he tried to centralize control of IT - and that Janet Napolitano backed the components. If agency leadership isn't going to back IT, how are we ever to make any change?

Let's consider IT reform initiatives a foot. Jeff Zients' latest memo tags empowering the CIO as the first step for changing IT outcomes. FITARA and S.801 fancy bulking up the CIO role - providing for executive control over the IT spend. Doesn't Clinger-Cohen already provide this authority? If the Hill wants to change the failing IT equation - and really give the tax payer more for Uncle Sam's $80 Billion IT spend - shouldn't they do something about Richard Spires?

Again, I don't know any more details on the factors that precipitated Richard Spires' leave status. I do know Richard Spires and I do know it's a high-stress work environment. And, one thing I know for sure - no Federal CIO is going to step up and assert control over IT, no matter the "legislative empowerment," over Richard Spires' dead body. Rather than diminish his stature, it seems to me Richard Spires' fall makes him the most interesting and relevant executive in Federal IT reform. Inspired not ex-Spired.

Consolidation, Shared Services, and Strategic Sourcing are divisive, difficult issues. In most cases, someone walks away with less than they want - even when everyone walks away with more. They simply aren't going to make everybody happy.

Given the timing for Richard Spires going on leave - the net takeaway is that IT reform and Federal CIOs should beware the ides of March...

SDN - Infrastructure to Go?

Steve O'Keeffe — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:46:00 GMT

What does IT really need? "A new TLA," I hear you cry. After cloud and big data, seemed we'd consigned our old friend to the obit pages. But wait, it appears there's still a spark of life in the old girl. Enter SDN - Software Defined Networking. It's poised to both turn IT economics upside down and ensure nobody in the real world has any idea what we're all rabbiting on about.

SDN ABCs

Here's the skinny. SDN makes large enterprise and cloud networks cheaper and easier to run - it's like virtualization for the network. And, it makes the network more nimble - accelerating time to delivery and putting the brakes on cost for fielding new applications. It promises to cut our addiction to expensive switches, routers, and software. Read more here - but best I can tell, it comes down to open vs. proprietary and software vs. hardware.

Metrics & Meaning

But a few stats are worth a thousand blandishments. Not disinterested SDN evangelist trumpet that organizations can lop a cool half mill off set up and running cost for a rack of 40 blade servers - FDCCI anyone? And, try this on for size - a chance to cut 50 percent off your networking bill.

The Federal Case

If SDN performs like the package, the payoff could be huge. Let's say networking accounts for 10-15 percent of the total IT budget. Cutting that figure in half could save Uncle Sam $6 billion off the top - $80 Billion x 15 percent = $12 Billion, x 50 percent = $6 Billion. Blood in the NetworkNo wonder Cisco's chagrined... As Cisco and other "swouter" - switch/router - giants gnash, Brocade and VMware taste blood in the network. Anthony Robbins' rowdies snapped up Vyatta and Aileen Black's backers dropped a cool $1.3 Billion for Nicira. So be on the lookout for an SDN pitch in a mailbox near you.

Three questions for the dismount:1. Bling Thing - Will SDN live up to the early hype?2. Switch Sides - Will Cisco, Juniper, and the like turn cannibal to assuage the carnage?3. Federal Franchise - How quickly can Uncle Sam cash in? Register now for the MeriTalk Federal Forum focused on the Future of Federal Networks - August 6^th at Reagan Building. Learn where we're headed and how to save - coz savings make Uncle Sam happy.

IBM FlashSystem Remakes Data Center Economics

wired — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 21:30:00 GMT

Yesterday IBM announced the IBM FlashSystem, to drive Flash technology further into the enterprise. The IBM FlashSystem is a line of all-Flash storage appliances based on technology IBM acquired from Texas Memory Systems.

Flash can shorten the response of servers and storage systems to data requests from milliseconds to microseconds – an order of magnitude improvement. And because it is all electronic—nothing mechanical involved—and being delivered cost-efficiently at even petabyte scale, it can remake data center economics, especially for transaction-intensive and IOPS-intensive situations.

For example, the IBM FlashSystem 820 is the size of a pizza box but 20x faster than spinning hard drives and can store up to 24 TB of data. At the high end, you can assemble a 1 PB FlashSystem that fits in one rack and delivers 22 million IOs per second (IOPS). IBM calculates you would need 630 racks of high capacity hard disk drives or 315 racks of performance optimized disk to generate an equal amount of IOPS.

Mainframe shops already are familiar with Flash mainly in the form of cache and SSD. The zEnterprise makes extensive use of cache to boost performance and to ensure reliability and availability. The DS8000 storage line has been SSD capable for several years. The IBM System Storage DS8870, for example, comes equipped with IBM POWER7- based controllers. In a tiered storage environment it can automatically optimize the use of each storage tier, particularly SSD and now Flash, through the free IBM Easy Tier capability.

The IBM FlashSystem changes data center economics. One cloud provider reported deploying 5TB in 3.5 inches of rack space compared to deploying 1300 hard disks to achieve 400k IOPS and it did so at one-tenth the cost. Overall, Wikibon reports an all Flash approach will lower total system costs by 30%; that’s $4.9 million for all flash compared to $7.1 million for hard disk. Specifically, it reduced software license costs 38%, required 17% few servers, and lowered environmental costs by 74% and operational support costs by 35%. At the same time it boosted storage utilization by 50% while reducing maintenance and simplifying management with corresponding labor savings.

For data center managers, this runs counter to everything they learned about the cost of storage. Traditional storage economics starts with the cost of hard disk storage being substantially less than the cost of SSD or Flash on a $/GB basis. Organizations could justify SSD, however, by using it in small amounts to tap its sizeable cost/IOPS advantage for IOPS-intensive workloads.

IBM reversed traditional storage economics with the new FlashSystem storage by adopting a different approach to understanding the storage investment. Forget about cost/GB; even forget about cost/IOPS. Instead, focus on a systems perspective by considering all the costs involved in the total solution, from energy consumption to hard disk failure to labor to the cost of server software licensing. Then factor in the economic benefits of handling more transactions faster, more responsive systems, faster analytics, and more.

As reported in PC World, Steve Mills, IBM Senior Vice President put it this way at the introduction: Right now, generic hard drives cost about $2 per gigabyte. An enterprise hard drive will cost about $4 per gigabyte, and a high-performance hard drive will run about $6 per gigabyte. If an organization stripes its data across more disks for better performance, the cost goes up to about $10 per gigabyte. In some cases, where performance is critical, hard-drive costs can skyrocket to $30 or $50 per gigabyte. A solid state disk from IBM runs about $10 per gigabyte and can be filled to capacity, so they actually are less expensive in many cases.

And Mills was only talking from the cost/GB perspective; when you take a full systems perspective Flash looks even better. Said Ambuj Goyal, General Manager, Systems Storage, IBM Systems & Technology Group in the announcement: “The economics and performance of Flash are at a point where the technology can have a revolutionary impact on enterprises, especially for transaction-intensive applications.” But this actually goes beyond just transactions. Also look at big data analytics workloads, technical computing, and any other IOPS-intensive work.

As far as z data centers go, the IBM FlashSystem appliances, aimed primarily at open systems, are off in the future. However, mainframe data centers can continue to leverage SSD and Flash as they have and even expand it since it is increasingly easier to justify the investment, especially with an IBM enterprise-class SSD running about $10 per gigabyte. IBM further extends the value of SSD/Flash through the use of Real-time Compression and thin provisioning, which stretches your bang for the buck. So, using your workloads as the guide start thinking about cost-effectively working more SSD/Flash into your data center to lower costs.

Flash is Really about Economics

skenniston — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:56:00 GMT

Kudos to IBM! For the first time since I can remember, they have come out, loud and proud about storage technology and capabilities that truly do trump anyone else in the industry. And they didn't just brag about the fact they have better technology. They made it abundantly clear that this announcement is about providing significant customer value. IBM has made a very bold statement about their all flash systems and what they will do for customers, TODAY.

While doing a bunch of work over the last few months on flash, it is nice to see that other storage brethren still like to portray a tremendous amount of FUD, especially when they don't have real GA (general availability) products shipping (EMC). I also saw a number of tweets from NetApp's CIO, who genuinely believes that they have the best "all flash" storage products available and that their announcement a month or so ago makes them the leader in Flash (well, maybe in 2014 when the actually have a product to ship). Don't get me wrong, it's good to be a cheerleader for your products, just do it with some shred of truth (Oracle, trust me your not faster by any stretch).

Today IBM specifically announced 3 things:

1) Basically the rebranding of TMS (plus some other all flash systems) will now be IBM FlashSystem

2) A One Billion dollar investment in flash through 2015

3) Twelve CoCs or centers of competency around the globe helping customers migrate to an all flash environment.

But what I find more interesting is not "what" they announced, but the "why" this announcement is more important than other flash announcements as well as the fact that they had 4 customers on a panel, hosted by David Vellante (@dvellante), Founder of Wikibon, an independent analyst, who have all transformed their data centers leveraging IBM all flash systems.

One of the main reasons we are seeing such a deluge of flash conversations recently (a month ago, NetApps Flash Array Announcement, two weeks ago, Violin, Fusion I/O and EMC all had flash announcements during what the industry termed "flash week") is that when IT takes a step back and looks at all of the components that make up their environment (see Figure 1), they see that in the last decade, CPU speeds have increase as much as 10x, DRAM speeds have increase 7x to 9x, networking speeds have increase 100x, Bus speeds have increased 20x but disk speeds have only increase 1.2x. Disk is the slowest component in the environment and something has to change. Now this will require some data center redesign (which is why IBM is investing in the CoCs), but this redesign is necessary if customers want to have a competitive advantage over their peers.

Figure 1

Another interesting thing about this announcement is that, while everyone else (vendors) are talking about performance; the real conversation about flash is economics. Yes flash is fast, everyone's flash is fast, but that is only a part of the reason why corporations deploy flash. In the end, flash just makes much more economical sense.

While it is true that flash/SSD drives are about 3x more expensive than regular high performance HDD, the overall savings you obtain in the datacenter by lowering your utilities, reducing your server count, which reduces your software license costs, all play a part in the total economics within the data center.

Let's take a look at just of a few of the economic savings. First, think about your storage utilization. If you have 100 200GB HDDs that you are short stroking in order to increase your database performance, you are probably only getting 25% storage utilization which means you are wasting valuable space. This means that if your drive is $100/GB, you are really paying $400/usable GB. You could replace those 100 HDD with 12 SDDs drives AND get better performance and at a much lower overall cost. Power, cooling and floor space all go down. SDD's would allow you to use 100% of the drive giving you much better utilization. On top of this, you can leverage IBM's Real-time Compression capability (the only compression in the industry that can be used for active data, in real time) to further cut your number of drives in half for even greater savings. Combine this with the management time and hassles that are saved by not having to short stroke and rebalance HDDs. This frees up the administrator to do more innovative tasks.

To further substantiate these claims, and to get a better and more quantitative understanding on how much companies could save, David Floyer (@dfloyer) of Wikibon, and perhaps the best researcher in the industry, has done a tremendous amount of research on this topic. David claims that in a 25TB environment, running Oracle, companies could save on average, 30% by moving to an all flash array. (See Chart 1)That is pretty significant. In addition, a company can become 20% efficient which really drives competitive advantage as well as overall share holder value.

Chart 1

To be clear, while this is a bold announcement from IBM, I personally don't think any of us believe that a company is going to wipe the floor of all of their HDD to go to SDD. As my dear old dad would say, "Son, you don't understand how the system works." Which is his way of saying; you can't change a tire on a moving car. While the IT engine is running, you can't just rip and replace, too many things hinge on stuff that is going on today and leverages the data where it is.

However, from an economical perspective, as new storage is required, it does make overall economical sense to deploy SDD for new storage needs. That being said, until customers get comfortable with the "all flash" approach, I do believe we will see a hybrid approach to the deployment of flash storage. This is where the use of PCIe cards, network flash arrays and hybrid SDD/HDD storage arrays and the use of intelligent tiering technology such as EasyTier to get the most important data as close to the CPU as possible.

Chart 2 below shows that over time HDD deployment will go down, and SDD deployment will go up significantly. This then begs the question of an even further redesign of the data center that includes data in cloud and data on tape (specifically with technologies like LTFS). This was the subject of a post I had done recently and more forethoughts by David Floyer about a "Flape" or "Floud" infrastructure, where data, as it becomes "stale" (less useful, but you don't want to delete it) is migrated to tape (in a file system format) or to the cloud, hence giving us a Flash and Tape or Flash and Cloud infrastructure. This could have some significant cost savings while providing the data availability users need.

Chart 2

I am proud of IBM. First, they opened the day with a pretty rocki'n video by Centerline entitled, What Can You Do in A Flash. Next, in the midst of the FUD being shot around the industry regarding flash, IBM Storage has come out, very boldly and put a line in the sand. They demonstrated they have much better performance than its competition with much lower latency. They demonstrated the economic benefit for customers, which is of huge importance. They demonstrated the durability and reliability of there eSLC Flash, which is the best in the industry. Finally, they put 4 customers on stage and referenced 3 others all who have developed all flash storage environments based on IBM flash technology. So in a time where IBM has been known for being late to the game when it comes to their storage technology, in true fashion, IBM may not have had an announcement two weeks ago when Fusion, Violin and EMC did, however, the technology, capabilities and client value of this announcement are far superior to others in the industry with real product available today.

IBM Announces the FlashSystem family of flash storage appliances

Mary Hall — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:41:00 GMT

IBM has announced the IBM FlashSystem family of flash storage appliances -- technological innovations that promise to change the landscape of computing forever -- and in a flash. These solutions unleash the power of performance, accelerate critical applications, and deliver bottom-line results in microseconds -- all with macro efficiency.

Flash, a highly efficient re-writable memory, can speed the response times of information gathering in servers and storage systems from milliseconds to microseconds – orders of magnitude faster. Because it contains no moving parts, the technology is also more reliable, durable and more energy efficient than spinning hard drives.

Such benefits have led Flash to pervade the consumer electronics industry and be built into everything from cell phones to tablets. Today, as organizations are challenged by swelling data volumes, increasing demand for faster analytic insights, and rising data center energy costs, Flash is quickly becoming a key requirement to enable the Smarter Enterprise.

“The economics and performance of Flash are at a point where the technology can have a revolutionary impact on enterprises, especially for transaction-intensive applications,” said Ambuj Goyal, General Manager, Systems Storage, IBM Systems & Technology Group. “The confluence of Big Data, social, mobile and cloud technologies is creating an environment in the enterprise that demands faster, more efficient, access to business insights, and Flash can provide that access quickly.”

To help lead this transformation, IBM has announced that it is investing $1 billion in research and development to design, create and integrate new Flash solutions into its expanding portfolio of servers, storage systems and middleware.

As part of that commitment, the company today also announced plans to open 12 Centers of Competency around the globe. These sites will enable clients to run proof-of-concept scenarios with real-world data to measure the projected performance gains that can be achieved with IBM Flash solutions. Clients will see first-hand how IBM Flash solutions can provide real-time decision support for operational information, and help improve the performance of mission-critical workloads, such as credit card processing, stock exchange transactions, manufacturing and order processing systems. IBM is currently targeting Centers of Competency in China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, South America, U.K., and the U.S to all be operational by the end of the year.

IBM also announced the availability of the IBM FlashSystem line of all-Flash storage appliances, which are based on technology acquired from Texas Memory Systems. The IBM FlashSystem provides organizations instant access to the benefits of Flash. The IBM FlashSystem 820, for example, is the size of a pizza box, is 20 times faster than spinning hard drives, and can store up to 24 terabytes of data – more than twice the amount of printed information stored in the U.S. Library of Congress.

Flash systems can provide up to 90 percent reductions in transaction times for applications like banking, trading, and telecommunications; up to 85 percent reductions in batch processing times in applications like enterprise resource planning and business analytics; and up to 80 percent reductions of energy consumption in data center consolidations and cloud deployments.

Sprint Nextel Corp., an early adopter of Flash, recently completed a deal with IBM to install nine flash storage systems in its data center, for a total of 150TB of additional Flash storage. The company was looking for a way to improve the performance and efficiency of its phone activation application. When performance rose and energy consumption dropped, the company began to expand the technology to other parts of the data center. According to Sprint officials, this latest installation is part of the company’s new strategy to move its most active data to all-Flash storage systems.

The new IBM FlashSystem joins the company’s growing stable of all-Flash and hybrid (disk/Flash) solutions which include IBM Storwize V7000, IBM System Storage DS8870, and the IBM XIV Storage System. Learn more about IBM solutions for flash storage on the IBM website.

April 24th: IBM Webcast: Optimizing Cloud Computing through Exceptionally Elastic Storage

Mary Hall — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:56:00 GMT

For optimal agility in cloud compute environments, IBM Enterprise Smarter Storage offers easy scaling, high service levels for dynamic, heterogeneous workloads, and tight integration with hypervisors and, significantly, the OpenStack platform. And with the IBM XIV Storage System, IBM offers a unique architecture providing exceptional elasticity for reaping the benefits of cloud computing. Storage and the use of the cloud for storing data is a hot topic at the moment. That's why IBM is sponsoring a live webcast on April 24th to interactive with customers and partners. Here are the details:

Webcast: Optimizing Cloud Computing through Exceptionally Elastic Storage
Speakers: Thomas Peralto, STG Senior Storage Engineer, IBM; Oded Kellner, XIV Senior Product Manager.
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Time: 1 PM ET, 12 noon CT, 10 AM PT

Register to hear a quick overview of the latest cloud-enabling Smarter Storage announcements by IBM and take a deep-dive into how XIV high-end storage can meet your data growth and cloud challenges with hotspot-free high performance and game-changing ease of use. Hear about XIV cloud elasticity and its beneficial impact on customers’ IT operation, and why customers are going on record with statements such as: “XIV is ideal for cloud delivery of services. It’s very, very elastic; it’s very, very scalable. All of the things that cloud defines in terms of reactivity and responsiveness to requirements.”

Storage can – and should – be the elastic pillar of your cloud that makes the difference. Join us to find out how.

IT Gerrymandering?

Steve O'Keeffe — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:09:00 GMT

No tea last week, so here's a double pour - or a full teapot to be more accurate. And, be careful, it's hot. OMB launched a data center consolidation initiative in 1995. Clearly that was a huge success... Did anybody else see OMB's March 27^th memo? The title certainly was designed to bury it - "Fiscal Year 2013 PortfolioStat Guidance: Strengthening Federal IT Portfolio Management." Seems FDCCI is dead again - and it's not the only Fed IT accountability casualty. Don't be put off by the length of the memo - pages 8 to 11 are an addendum, you don't need to read it to get the gist. And, if you don't have time to read the memo, I quote from it extensively - consider this the Cliffs Notes.

Transparency Troubles

Where to start? Let's go with page one. "The results of the PortfolioStat so far have been significant - agencies identified and committed to nearly 100 opportunities to consolidate or eliminate commodity IT." Who? What? How much? When? In this era of open government, would it be reasonable to expect OMB to publish the list? I'll return to this theme time and again. "Evidence suggested that many agencies are managing IT in a decentralized manner, missing opportunities to leverage enterprise scale and leading to inefficiencies and duplication in the allocation of IT resources." And this is new news - how? Believe OMB raised these issues with the abacus.

FDCCI -- Under the Carpet?

OMB's pushing together PortfolioStat with FDCCI. The memo tells us FDCCI is supposed to close 40 percent of Uncle Sam's data centers by FY2015. It asserts that agencies closed 420 data centers by February 2013. Congratulations to OMB and GSA - there's even a site that lists the closures. It's not listed in the memo, but should be. It tells us the latitude and longitude of the defunct data centers - but sadly not the hard cost savings associated with the closures. And, here's the kicker in the very next paragraph. "To more effectively measure the efficiency of an agency's data center assets, effective immediately, agency progress under the FDCCI will no longer be solely measured by closures." Wow. And, it gets better. The new yard stick is TCO. But, OMB will not make public its TCO model - open government anybody? "To enable this [efficiency measurement], the FDCCI Task Force shall develop energy, facility, labor, storage, virtualization, and cost per operating system metrics." Wow. Again, how far are we into this FDCCI thing? Yes, it kicked off in February 2010. And OMB says we have no metrics? Don't they know there's no point in looking at energy costs - data center owners don't pay the bill... And again, we know OMB already has a data center TCO model.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs...

Intel 286 chip anybody? The memo contains the acronym IRM. We're supposed to be going forward. I haven't heard anybody use IRM since Karen Evans weighed anchor at EOP... Maybe it's part of the '80s revival? The "new data collection" approach looks suspiciously like the old data collection approach - except the lines have been moved to give the illusion of movement. The Integrated Data Collection process promises a cornucopia of new intelligence and insight on agencies' progress in saving money - the baby's due May 15^th. But hold the cigars - haven't we heard this stuff time and time again? Is it me, or is the reveal always a disappointment? And here's the classic rebaseline. Agencies no longer need to report commodity IT consolidation plans under PortfolioStat or as part of the Enterprise Roadmap. And, saving the best for last - no more FDCCI reports.

Forcing FedRAMP?

Each April 30, agencies are required to "provide the Federal CIO with a written certificate with a listing of all cloud services that an agency determines cannot meet the FedRAMP security authorization requirements with appropriate rationale and proposed resolution." Apparently this too will be rolled into the Integrated Data Collection initiative. Will this list be public? What are the implications of failing to do this? What if the required cloud services are not available under FedRAMP? Does it apply to private clouds? Is DoD going to play ball?

Definition of Insanity

Assume the same behavior and expect a different outcome. OMB's recommendations to realize real efficiencies and cost savings: -Empower CIOs - we all hope FITARA and/or S.801 can succeed where Clinger Cohen failed-Strengthen IT Portfolio Governance - does anybody remember CPIC and EVM? I'm actually speaking at the CPIC Forum-Advanced Service Delivery - which agencies are doing this? How much have they saved? TQM, BPR, Zero-based Budgeting - sounds like the same old cocktail that gave us the hangover in the first place.

Mark Your Calendar

And, here's the dismount, mark your calendars:-May 15^th - Agencies will submit to OMB draft versions of their IRM Strategic Plans and Roadmaps-June 19^th - OMB will "complete its analysis, use the data submitted by agencies to prepare metrics used at PortfolioStat sessions, determine the state of an agency's IT portfolio management, share feedback with the agencies, and develop an agenda tailored to the unique findings of each agency" -July 31^st - Agency PortfolioStat leads will take a two-hour PortfolioStat review session. And, everybody's invited - COO, CIO, CFO, CAO, CHCO, PIO. Inclusive is a good thing. Goal to review the draft Strategic IRM Plan, Enterprise Roadmap, and the first Integrated Data Collection report-August 31^st, November 30^th, February 18^th and the last day of each quarter thereafter - agencies shall update their Integrated Data Collection reports "No later than two weeks after the transmittal to Congress of the President's Budget for FY2015, agencies shall document and catalog successes, challenges, and lessons learned through the process, submit a consolidated document to OMB, and update their IRM Strategic Plan." Will these documents ever see the light of day?

Blah, Blah, Woof, Woof

The net takeaway - other than the Big-Bang theory, which is beyond my ken, from nothing comes nothing. We need to listen to the operators in the agencies to understand how to reprioritize Federal IT to make a real difference. It's not about handing down mandates. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. We know that there's no new money to invest in Fed IT - so we need to generate savings from the existing base in order to reinvest to make a difference. FDCCI's dead, like its ancestor in 1995. Dare I ask, what about the promised $3 billion in FDCCI savings by 2015? The smart kids will wait OMB out. You just have to wait a year or two, and they'll change their minds.

To SAN, to NAS or neither? – That is the ultimate question!

dsluvrb — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:15:00 GMT

For everyday users of data via desktops, phones, tablets, cameras and many other data storage devices, it is always a juggling act to determine where to store the information that we receive and create.

Storage demands are on the rise. In the 80's, the first desktop computer, the IBM PC XT, included an internal standard 10MB hard disk drive and soon thereafter, internal hard disk drives proliferated on personal computers. Today the norm is to have at least a 500 GB hard disk drive or even up to 1 Terabyte. We never could have imagined today's big numbers(once taught only in school) would become part of our daily language and lives.

Suddenly, we have the terabyte drives that can hold 250,000 photo images or 128 full DVD movies or even 20 full Blu-Ray Movies. What are we to do when we start having issues with disk storage in a small to medium sized company that relies on data being stored and kept safe at all times?

Here comes the question: SAN or NAS or not?

The new storage solutions can be very enticing. The newer technologies relating to SAN and NAS can bring a major performance and capacity boost to a company at a very affordable price. There are SAN devices on the market today that can scale to about 36 terabytes of storage at a price point of around $11,500. There can be a mixture of different drive capacities and configurations from SATA drives, ISCSI Drives, Fibre Channel drives and SSD drives.

It really depends on the needs of the application or the organization. With the new technology come tools that can make a storage environment much easier to manage and can help companies focus on the business and not the data storage issues that might stare them in the face. Things like:

De-Duplication
Storage Optimization
Thin Provisioning
Data Replication
Disk Tiering

Making sound decisions about storage needs are important but it does not have to be difficult. Doing a little homework and looking at what options are available can make all the difference.

Don't be scared to try different options out. Storage vendors are keen to help and will provide you with the best solution that fits your needs which includes the price tag.

By no means am I trying to say that you have to move away from local internal storage but the options available can make life so much easier.

SAN and NAS are here to stay for a while! Try it and be amazed!!

IBM, I.R.I.S.-ICT, Belgium, Storage, Expo, System x, Ans America, DFSMS, z/OS, System z, mainframe, Veeam, Arrow, Huawei

az990tony — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:07:00 GMT

Wrapping up my coverage of the 2013 IT Security and Storage Expo in Belgium, I noticed some interesting things in the other booths.

The EMC booth had a whiteboard so that clients could do some one-on-one collaboration. All of their cocktail waitresses were wearing sharp pin-stripe coats with matching mini-skirts.

Another booth had a "virtual graffiti wall". Using a "digital spraycan", you could write on the wall. I am not sure what connection this had with anything the company had to offer, but perhaps they also wanted to collaborate with attendees on solutions. In either case, it was very cool, and brought a lot of traffic.

(FTC Disclosure: I work for IBM. I was not paid to mention any of the other companies, their products or people on this blog post. Mentioning other companies is not to be considered an endorsement of any kind.)

There were some interesting costumes. Leila from [Aerohive] wearing a "bee costume" complete with black wings. Hans from STS in a bright orange business suit. (Orange is the national color of Belgium). Sophie from Fortinet handed out champagne. The plastic glassware were cones that snapped onto her tray, but they had no flat bottom to rest your glass down, so you had to hold it the entire time until you finished drinking it. The Homer Simpson sticker eating the Apple logo shows the Belgians have a sense of humor!

The NetApp booth had a huge banner claiming that "Data OnTap" was the #1 storage OS. Obviously Windows, AIX, Solaris and Linux aren't consider "storage Operating Systems" per se. Is NetApp claiming they outsell FreeNAS, the only other storage OS that I can think of?

While IBM and I.R.I.S-ICT easily won the "Best Looking Big Booth" award, I have to give the "Best Looking Small Booth" award to my friends at Hitachi Data Systems. Like EMC, the Hitachi team did not have any equipment on the floor, but they made use of their tiny space by having a Japanese theme, with cocktail waitresses in kimonos.

IBM Edge Pushing The Edge Video Series - "Betting on Big Data"

Mary Hall — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:52:00 GMT

In June, the IBM team will be hosting the IBM Edge conference in Las Vegas. Last year, the conference sold out and was well-received by our customers. To respond to customer requests, this year's conference has expanded to include more than Storage. The conference will cover best practices for managing storage growth, accelerating and optimizing x86 server and cloud deployments,from big data and secure critical information. To help our customers and partners better understand the conference, we've developed a series of five videos to offer previews of various topics on the IBM Edge agenda. This is the first installment of the Pushing the Edge series, where IBM experts discuss topics surrounding IT innovation and optimization. This video features renown IBM experts, like IBM Fellow & Researcher Jeff Jonas, discussing the issue of how to handle the ever expanding problem of data storage, known as "Big Data." As Jonas humorously remarks in the video, "If it fits in a spreadsheet bro, it ain't Big Data." Everyday, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.

So what is Big Data? Technically it's a group of data that becomes so large, it becomes challenging to work with and store. Big data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. This data is Big Data. How do you deal with your Big Data? Watch this video roundtable discussion from IBM experts for insights on big data. I think you'll enjoy the candor and the humor of the video in approaching one of the biggest issues in IT today.

Learn more about Big Data at IBM Edge2013 June 10-14 | Mandalay Bay | Las Vegas, NV. For more information visit us at the IBM Edge website. Storage Community members can receive 15% off IBM Edge Registration when they register before April 28, 2013.
For IBM Edge updates in real-time, follow @IBMEdge on Twitter and join the conversations with the hashtag #IBMEdge.

SDN - Cisco Chagrin?

Steve O'Keeffe — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:38:00 GMT

SDN ABCs

Metrics & Meaning

But a few stats are worth a thousand blandishments. Now disinterested SDN evangelist trumpet organizations can lop a cool half mill off set up and running cost for a rack of 40 blade servers - FDCCI anyone? And, try this on for size - a chance to cut 50 percent off your networking bills.

The Federal Case

Blood in the Network

No wonder Cisco's chagrined... As Cisco and other "swouter" giants gnash, Brocade and VMware taste blood in the network. Anthony Robbins' rowdies snapped up Vyatta and Aileen Black's backers dropped a cool $1.3 Billion for Nicira. So be on the lookout for an SDN pitch in a mailbox near you.Three questions for the dismount:

1. Bling Thing - Will SDN live up to the early hype?

2. Switch Sides - Will Cisco, Juniper, and the like turn cannibal to assuage the carnage?

3. Federal Franchise - How quickly can Uncle Sam cash in?

Meet the Experts Reception at the Belgium IT Security and Storage Expo

az990tony — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:06:00 GMT

Continuing my coverage of the IT Security and Storage Expo in Brussels, Belgium, we had a nice reception Wednesday evening.

Clara handed out Ceasar Chicken salads. Joelle handed out small rolled up pieces of duck.

Ilsa is an IBM expert in System x, VMware and the PureSystems family on hand to help with the demos and any client questions. I.R.I.S.-ICT employee Ans is only in her 20's, but is recognized as one of Belgium's leading experts in System z mainframe. I used to be the lead architect for DFSMS on z/OS, so we had plenty to talk about.

Of course, the best time for the press to ask for interviews is during the reception, where everyone is relaxed and ready to speak. I am "media-trained" which allows me to speak to the press about IBM matters. I do a lot of these interviews either over the phone, or on camera.

I took a picture to capture the typical setup. Mandy on the left is asking me questions, while camera operator Lisa focuses on my body language. The trick is to spend 80 percent of the time focused on your interviewer, and then 20 percent looking into the camera for strategic pauses. If Mandy decides to use any of the footage, she will be sending me the YouTube video link!

(If you are interested in Media Training, I recommend fellow blogger Brad Phillips' post [21 Most Essential Media Training Links])

Hans and Sophie from Veeam stopped by the IBM booth to say hello. (See 2010 Aug 27 blog post comparing Veeam to Tivoli Storage Manager). These two DJ's kept the IBM and I.R.I.S-ICT booth hopping.

Belgium is a small country, and many of the IT storage people know each other. This made for quite the party! Our group closed up the booth around 8:30pm and we went over to join their friends at Arrow and Huawei. Here is Maiva from Huawei.

Storage Solutions at the IBM and I.R.I.S.-ICT Booth for the Belgium IT Security and Storage Expo

az990tony — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:04:00 GMT

Continuing my coverage of the IT Security and Storage Expo in Brussels, Belgium, we had some great storage solutions on display at the IBM and I.R.I.S-ICT booth.

Here my IBM colleague Tom Provost is showing the front of the "Smarter Office" solution. The second photo gives the view from behind. While I always explained the solution from the front of the box, many of the more technical attendees at this conference wanted to inspect the ports in the back.

This sound-isolated 11U solution combines the following:

The [IBM Storwize V3700] with 300GB small-form-factor (SFF) drives provides shared storage for the servers.
Two [IBM System x3550 M4 servers] that can run VMware, Hyper-V or Linux KVM server hypervisor software for your Windows and/or Linux applications. These are two socket servers that can have up to 16 x86 cores each.
An [IBM System x3650 M4 server] pre-installed with backup software and an integrated [IBM RDX] removable disk cartridge system. (see 2010 Sep 27 for RDX reference)
A Juniper EX2200 switch to network the servers and storage together.
A Local Console Manager (LCM) with rackable keyboard, video, and mouse.

In this next example, the IBM team combined a BladeCenter S chassis that can hold six blade servers, with a Storwize V7000 Unified which offers FCP, iSCSI, FCoE, NFS, CIFS, HTTPS, SCP and FTP block and file protocols.

If those configurations are too small for your needs, consider the Flex System chassis or full PureFlex system frame. The rack-mountable 10U chassis can hold the Flex System V7000 and 10 compute notes. The PureFlex frame can hold up to four of these chasses.

IBM and I.R.I.S-ICT also had an IBM XIV Gen3 and a TS3500 Tape library on display.