Leaving Sun Microsystems!

In Nov 2002, I entered into Sun through the acquisition of Terraspring. The goal? the Lights out Datacentre, System Provisioning, Automation and Infrastructure Agility. I was a Network Engineer joining a "Unix" company they said. I really thought it would only last 6-months, but 6-months turned into 6-years and it's been a roller coaster for sure.

During my time here I've had the privilege to meet and work with the most exceptional and outstanding group of engineers, architects, and sales provisionals I could have imagined. I've learned so much about the business and myself through so many challenging years.

It's been an extraordinary journey, with extraordinary people.

Thank You!
-InsomniacsAnonymous

Blog moving to http://vmhill.blogspot.com





























Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( April 29, 2009 10:46 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

U.S. Debt

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 06 Apr 2009 at 04:57:51 AM GMT is:

$11,137,182,866,850.84

The estimated population of the United States is 305,949,454 so each citizen's share of this debt is $36,401.88.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $3.83 billion per day since September 28, 2007! debt_clock

-InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( April 05, 2009 10:37 PM ) Permalink | Comments[1]

Terry Konich

Today, I received the sad news of the passing of our dear colleague and team member Terry Konich.

It was sudden and certainly not expected. I've known Terry a few years and found him to be a quiet, hard working, unassuming, and a smart field engineer with a passion for technology.

Terry was always willing to help a colleague or a customer in distress and will be deeply missed.

Our thoughts and prays go out to his family.

Rest in Peace....

















Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( February 26, 2009 03:04 PM ) Permalink | Comments[1]

Power Shopper Larry

Chaos in the markets, panic in the boardrooms, fat wallets and embarrassingly large war chests. But if you are a seller, you are over a barrel. VCs are loath to sell their best companies now, because they know it's a buyer's market.

Check out "Big tech goes bargain hunting" -by Michael Copeland



Wait a minute... and I'm not a finance guy either, but up until last quarter I thought Sun's cash balance was approximately $3.3 Billion?
- InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( October 30, 2008 10:22 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

Datacenter talk

If there is was still any doubt that Datacenter costs are going to exceed the acquisition of the commodity server, then check out this article by Kenneth G. Brill at the Uptime Institute

http://www.forbes.com/

“Annual facility costs will exceed the cost of a "cheap" server in two years in the best case scenario, or 14 months in the worst.”

and

“Spending $2,500 on a server really means spending between $8,300 and $15,400 in facility capital to provide the necessary space for housing the server and powering it.“
- InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( August 18, 2008 10:52 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

May the force be with us!

An incredible few weeks of announcements, launches, and product previews. Where to start? Sun announces Microsoft OEM, Sun acquiring Lustre, Citrix acquiring Xen, HP acquiring Opsware, Intel launches Caneland, VMWare announces ESXLite, AMD launches Native Quad-Core, Sun launches Niagara2? Phew! I'll take a deep breath and defer the acquisition spree for another day.


From the X64 Systems side of the house, the two that standout are of course the Microsoft OEM and AMD's Quad-Core. Both on the x64 front are arguably the most eagerly awaited, and both probably have the potential of having the biggest impact on our ever advancing x64 landscape. Intel's Caneland/Tigerton 4-socket Quad-Core is extremely exciting too.

So a big thanks to AMD for the invite to the Quad-Core launch at Lucas Films and the wonderful photo opportunity Tuesday night. My kids think I'm the coolest Dad (for one day anyway), and yes they're young.

May the force be with us!

- InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( September 12, 2007 11:35 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

A Technologist in a Technology Company.... what could be better?

When I was acquired into Sun in 2002 via Terraspring, I was told Scott McNealy had 1Q left on the job, Solaris was dead, Sun was about to be acquired, the stock was $2, oh! plus there was a ton of restructuring....

So after 5-years on the job, and a lot of ups and downs, the previous 12-months have been the most incredible and interesting in my tenure. As a Field Engineer and Architect focused on Opteron, Blades, Virtualization, and Andy Bechtolsheim's product line:

- Sun hits number #3 for Server revenue
- Niagara CMT continues to surprise the skeptics
- Solaris hits over 7M in downloads
- Sun has a successful Opteron x64 line and adding Xeon
- Scott is today Chairman of the Board
- Sun is making money

Who would have thought?

I'm a technologist working for a technology company. What could be better than this? Q.E.D.
- InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( May 07, 2007 10:50 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

...update...update...update

I started out in the late 1980s working with DEC VAX/VMS technology and sometimes life today doesn't seem any easier. Although, I'm not wire wrapping the pins to configure the hardware anymore, my job today seems just as complex as it was then.

BIOS updates, OS updates, driver updates, application updates..

Some days it feels the industry hasn't come very far ...update...update...update.

So it was nice to see a graphic showing Moore's Law and Chip Multi Threading. Not because it's Sun, but as a Technologist it's easy to forget the advancement being made by the computer industry.

Happy 25th Birthday Sun!
-InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( February 28, 2007 12:35 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

Insomniacs go online!

Another late night, but blame this one on a Starbucks I had about a hour ago.... so I'm wired. I've always viewed blogging as an engineer's answer to therapy. “Write it down, vent, you'll feel better”. But I'm trying to justify the blogging time to the wife, kids, boss, and myself. I'll be lucky to blog once a week. I can't put it on my timecard but then I guess I don't need to as it's in the dark hours. Wait a minute it's work related, or is it? Anyway, I'll let you know if I feel better at the end. Insomniacs go online! Yes, it's really true. Insomniacs launched their own website at www.iSlumber.com

Apparently, 65 million Americans struggle to get a good night sleep. Once logged onto the site, you're encouraged to take a simple multiple choice survey, which can be used to create your own Sleep Log. Maybe they mean Sleep Blog? Gosh, I'm not alone... I feel better already. Thank you America! - InsomniacsAnonymous

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( October 19, 2006 11:10 PM ) Permalink | Comments[1]

InsomniacsAnonymous

I want to send out a big thank you to HP and Dell. I'll explain why in a second, but first the blog name. I'm sure most of us can only find time to read and write blogs during the dark hours. It turns out there are three types of insomnia including transient, acute (short-term), and chronic. Goto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia for details. Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of three weeks to six months. However, after this time, the person does not experience insomniatic episodes. Insomnia is considered to be chronic, the most serious, if it persists almost nightly for at least a month, and sometimes longer.” So which one are you? I've worked for Sun for >4-years and seriously can not remember an early night. This tends to be more of an industry and cultural problem than specific to any one company. Anyway, it's gone midnight so I'll be brief. I was at a party last weekend full of Silicon Valley types and the usual question came up “and who do you work for?”. Historically, the Sun Microsystems answer typically guarantees a pitiful looking respondent expecting to deliver a therapy session for depression. Well, you can imagine the look on their faces when I explain it's a company full of amazing technical and professional talent. Obviously talking about amazing people is less interesting than discussing companies in crisis and the conversation changes direction to HP and Dell. So it's a big thank you to HP and Dell for taking all the headlines these past 4-6 weeks, the party chat is much more enjoyable. Sustained Chronic Insomnia..... that's what we have. Thank you America!

Posted by 142258 [Sun] ( October 11, 2006 12:18 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]