Moving forward....
Friday Jan 18, 2008
Shot heard around the world..
What a way to start the new year and a new blog! It has been an interesting time to digest the responses, emails, and phone calls. Would say a majority of folks have been supportive and interested in this Data Center of the future approach. Criticism has ranged from vague to “what the hell are you thinking” but then everyone has an opinion, which is what makes this discussion so great!
Where do we go with this journey? Columbus was aiming for China/India and look where he landed. I find this journey analogous. My former mentor used to tell me: “Tell them what your going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.”. With my last blog, I think I succeeded in the first part. The challenge remains, what do I plan on telling you? What is the most effective way? The audience so far has a wide range of interest, some want views of implementation details of consolidation and others want opinions on where we are going with the notion of the “Network is the Data Center”. Given the range of request I have a proposal for you... Demand Based Blog.
A football club in England really caught my attention with their approach on making a selection with a wide audience. This methodology is an approach I propose here. I will put it up to you on what you want me to write about. Topics will be determined by blog comments, emails, etc. I will keep topics within scope of the data center consolidation efforts. I can not comment nor do I wish to comment on topics that are not related to this vision.
Another topic that I have been scratching my head and that has to deal with “whats the right answer?”. There is no right answer and I do not pretend to sit at my desk and act like I do have all the answers because I don't. In all honesty no one has all the answers there will be some great success stories, there will be some failures but we will dust our selves off and continue forward. Which brings me to my next proposal.. OpenIT. Information and knowledge are not limited to a company nor a specific zip code/country code, knowledge is everywhere and I want to hear from you. If you see something on the blog that brings passion to you, add a comment or email me. Lets get the knowledge out there and lets have a conversation on the future of corporate Data Centers in the 21st Century. I suppose I could start a wiki on this, lets see where this journey goes.
Some clarification has been requested of me via email and the blog comments. Is every data center ready to consolidate infrastructure and become more efficient? I would say yes. Is every corporation ready to accept SaaS today? I can not answer that question but I can make a personal observation. I challenge you to look at your data center today. Is there an eco-system within your data center eco-system? What the hell am I talking about? The observation is, not every application is directly tied or is a boundary system to your “important” product or application. I say “important” in quotes as its all relative. Ask a user and that application is the most important, ask the CxO and you may get a different answer. Don't go running off and saying: what only non important application can be SaaS'ed out? The answer is NO. What I am saying, in general, is its human nature to resist change. In general, people eventually accept change and that acceptance is to start off slowly (crawl, walk, run approach) and progress from there. Yes there are some fantastic examples of corporations going direct to the run phase but each corporation can be different from one another. That corporate personality is a factor with regards to the acceptance rate of the cloud model.
Odds & Sods Section:
Influences. I have heard some comments that I am rehashing chapters from several well known books: Does IT Matter and the Big Switch. I have not read either books, but I really do want to. My opinions are just that, my opinions – go ask my wife; she lets me have my own opinion between 10pm and 6am.
As also I can be reached at brian dot cinque at sun dot com.
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Tags: demand_based eco-system futures openit saas
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