Some results of this recent activity have appeared in blog, on my web site as well as via other sites and venues. For example, activity or content ranges from Industry Trends and Perspectives white papers, reports, blogs, newsletter commentary, interviews, Internet TV, videos, web cast, pod casts (including several appearances on StorageMonkeys Infosmack as well as Rich Brambleys Virtumania), ask the expert (ATE) questions, twitter tweets, tips and columns. Then there were the many in person presentations, key note and seminar events, conferences, briefing sessions along with virtual conferencing and advisory consulting sessions (read and see more here).

Regarding having new content appearing in different or new venues, Silicon Angle (including a video), Newstex and Enterprise Efficiencies join the long list of industry and vertical, traditional along with new world venues that my content as well as industry trends and perspective commentary appear in. Read more about events and activities here, content here or commentary here.

Speaking of books, there is also some news in that The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) is now available on Amazon Kindle (click on links below) as well as having been translated and published in China not to mention having undergone another round of printing keeping up with demand to make more copies available via global venues.

As for what am I seeing and hearing, check out the new series of Industry Trends and Perspective (ITP) short blog posts that compliment other posts as well as content found on the main web site. These ITP pieces capture what I am hearing and seeing (that is of those what I can talk about that are not under NDA of course) while out and about.

Some of the cities that I have been at while out and about doing keynote speaking and seminar events as well as for other meetings have included Minneapolis, Miami, San Diego, Beverly Hills, San Jose, San Diego (again), Hollywood (again), Austin, Miami (again), New York City, Reston, Minneapolis (again), Irvine, New York City (again), Boston, Toronto, Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia, Mountain View, Mahtomedia (Minneapolis area), Boston (again) and Indianapolis, Calgary, Jasper (Alberta), Vancouver in Canada as well as Nijkerk (Netherlands) for a one day seminar covering Industry Trends and Perspectives in addition to changing planes in Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis and Las Vegas.

The Planes should be obvious, however what about automobiles you ask? How about the following taken from my rental car while driving north of LAX on the 405 after a January storm during my trip from San Diego after a morning event to Beverly Hills to do an evening keynote.

Driving north of LAX on the 405 with a rainbow after rain storm

Another car trip a few weeks later after a different event in San Diego I had a driver from a service behind the wheel so that I could get some work done before an evening meeting. Also on the car front, after flying into Indianapolis there was a car ride to Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) to do a keynote for a CDW sponsored event in gasoline alley a few days before the big race there. While we are on the topic of automobiles and technology, if you have not seen it, check out a post I did about what NAS, NASA and NASCAR have in common.

What about trains you ask?

Besides the normal airport trams or trains, there was a fun Amtrak Acela ride from New York City Penn station after a morning event in the city up to Boston so as to be in place for a morning event the next day. Other train activity besides airport, subway or commuter light rail in the US and Europe (Holland), there was also an overnight trip on VIA Rail Canada the Canadian from Jasper Alberta to Vancouver (some business tied into a long weekend). If you have never been to the Canadian Rockies, let alone traveled via train, check this one, it was a blast and I highly recommend it.

Lake Louise and Jasper area bear family in Alberta Canada

It just dawned on me, what about any out and about via boats?

Other than the Boston water taxi to Logan Airport from the convention center where EMCworld was held and that I did an Internet TV interview along with @Stu and @Scott_Lowe, boat activity has been so far relegated to relaxation.

However, as all work and no play could make for a dull boy (or girl), I can update you that the out and about via boat fishing and sightseeing activity has been very good so far this fall even with high (then low, then high) water on the scenic St. Croix river way.

Here are some scenes from out and about on the St. Croix river including an eagle in its nest tending to its young who can not be seen in this photo as well as fishing (and catching and releasing).

In between travels (as well as during on planes, trains and in hotel rooms) as well as relaxation breaks, I have been also working on several other projects. Some of these can be seen on the news or tips and articles as well as video and pod cast pages in addition to custom research as well as advisory consulting services. I have also been working on some other projects some of which will become visible over the next weeks and months, others not for a longer period of time yet and yet others that fall under the NDA category so that is all I have to say about that.

If you are not receiving or have seen them, the inaugural issue of the Server and StorageIO newsletter appeared in late February followed by the second edition (Spring 2010) this past week. Both can be found here and here as well as at www.storageio.com/newsletter or subscribing via newsletter@storageio.com.

A question I often get asked is what am I hearing or seeing particularly with regards to IT customers as well as with vars during my travels. Here are some photos covering some of the things that I have seen so far this year while out and about.

Super TV or Visualization device at Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in Austin

Note all of the dell servers side by side under the screens required to drive the image.




Taking a walk inside a supercomputer (left) and Texas Supercomputer (Note the horns)

Microsoft Technology Center (MTC)





View from the back of the plane (left), Airplane long haul essentials: water, food, ipod, coffee, eye shades




Boats in Holland taken after dinner before recent seminar I did in Nijkerk





Dutch Soccer (Pub) food and snacks being enjoyed after a recent seminar in Nijkerk





Airport waiting for planes in AMS (left), more airplane snacks and a map (right)

As to what am I seeing and hearing pertaining to IT, storage, networking and server trends or issues they include among others (see the newsletter):

• Tiered Hypervisors and HyperV adoption
• Tape is alive, dedupe deployments continue
• Virtual storage and storage virtualization
• I/O and networking convergence
• RAID rebuild time
• Tiered storage mediums and systems
• Public and private IT clouds
• 6G SAS and shared DAS

Whats on deck and and that I am working on?

Having had a busy fun winter and spring Im going to get some relaxation time in during a couple of week period of no travel, however there is plenty to do and get ready for. The summer months will slow down a bit on the out and about travel events scene, however not to a complete stop. In between preparing for upcoming events, advisory and consulting activities as well as researching new material and topics not to mention working on some projects that you will see or hear more about in the weeks and months to come.

For example I will be a guest on a webcast sponsored by Viridity discussing the importance of data center metrics, measurement and insight for effective management to enable energy efficient and effective data centers on July 8th. In addition, I will also be doing another five city storage virtualization series in Stamford, Cleveland, Miami, Tampa and Louisville during mid to late July among other upcoming activities including VMworld in San Francisco.

Check out the events page for more details, specific dates and venues.

What about you?

What have you been doing or have planned for your summer?

Let me know what you are seeing or hearing as well as have been doing.

In the meantime however keep these hints and tips in mind:

• Have plenty of reading material (real physical books or magazines) or virtual (Kindle or other) as well as via Internet or online to read while at the beach (make sure your computer or PDA is backed up), pool side, in the backyard or elsewhere
• Remember your eye shades (sun glasses or eye wear), hat and sun screen and if applicable, inspect or bug repellant (e.g. RAID is still useful)







• Drink plenty of liquid fluids while outside in the summer heat including non alcoholic ones that do not have umbrellas or other interesting garnish
• Have a place to backup and protect all those summer photos, videos and audio clips that you record while on your out and about adventure. However, keep in mind privacy concerns when uploading them to various social mediums. After all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and what happens on the web stays on the web!

Thanks to everyone involved in the recent events which can be seen here, as well for those who will be participating in upcoming ones I look forward to meeting and talking with you.

Until next time have a fun, safe and relaxing summer if you are in the northern hemisphere and for those down under, not to worry, spring is on the way soon for you as well.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)

twitter @storageio

Follow via Google Feedburner here or via email subscription here.

With the formal release and availability of the Apple iPad (See previous post here) along with networking capabilities including 3G and WiFi, needless to say there has been plenty of buzz in the tech sphere and beyond on both what you can do, as well as what you can not do with the new Apple iProduct. Similarly, there has been buzz from Apple co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs defending why there is no Adobe flash capabilities on the iPad or perhaps a different way, attaching flash as a non standard which is ironic for those who see many Apple products as being non standard.

What has also been getting some buzz and discussions is if the iPad is a business iTool or iToy including a recent discussion on the StorageMonkeys Infosmack 48 podcast with hosts Greg Knieriemen @Knieriemen, Marc Farley @3parfarley, guest emeritus Mark Twomey @Storagezilla and Chris Weil LeBlanc @c_weil .

Also check out the StorageMonkeys weekly Tuesday Tech Fight for May 4, 2010 (May require registration which is free)

Granted like any other desktop, portable or handheld display device with a real or virtual keyboard and some type of networking interface combined with creative programming or hacks, almost anything can be used as a monitor or display or management tool interface to a variety of technologies.

That also begs the question along with others mentioned in a post a few months ago of what is the real value for the iPad today?

Certainly there are some business or organizations that simply need a very thin client for accessing public or private cloud applications, entertainment or other web content in addition to being a personal information device or digital assistant along the lines of a traditional iPod or similar device where a PC or Mac is not needed.

Likewise down the road as pointed out here, there could be other use cases (e.g. build it and they will come).

However today for business, the question remains, is the Apple iPad a business iTool or iToy or do you simply iDont Care?

Here is a link to a related post along with poll where you can cast your vote as well as see what others are thinking about the iPad.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)

twitter @storageio

Technorati tags: iPad

Apple iPad via www.apple.com

Is it a phone? No, its not an iPhone

Is it a PC? Well, not in the context of the traditional PC or Mac book

What is the iPad or more importantly, what is the possible business angle?

First as to what is it, it might be easier to describe what it is not.

As mentioned above, it is not an iPhone, granted you can get an iPad with 3G or WiFi for data access (similar to how iTouch has WiFi). Likewise, the iPad is not a PC in the context of running applications traditionally found on Windows PCs or Mac devices.

Does that mean the iPad is simply an iTouch or iPod for entertainment on steroids? Well, Maybe!

What is it?
As far as what is the iPad, here is a link to its specifications, some of which have resulted in confusion. For example, I have seen many comments about how the iPad does not have a camera. Well, not built in however there is an optional external camera if you need one.

As a side note, Im curious as to the net effect of how many PBytes of storage, TBytes of network bandwidth, and ExaHertz (I made that one up) of processing cycles were consumed via downloads or people watching the news of the iPad launch?

However, Im seeing additional uses for the iPad compared to the iTouch given its larger physical screen size and data access options, even if it is not a phone. For example, I can see scenarios in education where if the publishers get on board, can make a real transition from text books to eBooks to Goggle scanned books, however given the economics involved, and the already Amazon (e.g. Kindle) vs. Apple (iPad) Elephant wars, it will be interesting to watch.

Yet another area where I can see iPads being used closer to business will be as an internet, web or cloud content access on ramps, or, portals to access cloud based applications including office suites, email, calendaring payroll, shopping among others.

Likewise I can see where iPads may have custom applications ported to them, or, made accessible via safe secure connections. In other words, there is a scenario where iPads could catch on as a truly thin lightweight multifunction PC alternative.

For some additional thoughts on possible iPad use cases, I recently did a podcast with Andrew Burton of SearchSMB at TechTarget that can be accessed here or here.

iPad receiving mixed responses
Back to the iPad which is getting mixed responses.

There have also been comments about lack of Blue tooth capabilities for the iPad. Again, there is Blue tooth support on the iPad, however the question is really about what that can be used for, or, not used for. For example, there is an optional external keyboard that is attached via docking port, however, there is still no support for Blue tooth enabled deices like my Stowaway folding keyboard. Another question I have is how would the iPad work in my Sync Blue tooth enabled F150 including for use as a turn by turn, or large screen version of moving maps similar to iPhone?

Other iPad knocks include discussions around lack of a camera, that is, if you do not buy the optional external camera. There is also talk of a lack of an Adobe Flash player (at least initially), not to be confused with some headlines that say iPad lacks flash confusing with a perceived of lack of flash SSD memory or storage (iPad actually relies on flash aka SSD memory for storage).

Yet another knock has been that while it looks like an oversize iPhone, and that it will have an optional version with 3G cell technology for communicating with web or data services, it will not be usable as a phone per say. Hmm, wonder how long it will take for Skype, Vonage or others to appear on the iPad?

One of the questions or discussion points that come up regarding iPhones and now the iPad is the impact on what some already describe as an overloaded wireless network for ATT customers which includes me. Here (and here and here) are a couple of links to recent announcements and news about what ATT has done, and will be doing including investing $2B USD to upgrade their networks.

via www.att.com

General observations:
There appear to be a couple of bandwagons with this announcement:

• The usual its Apple or iSomething so its very significant
• The its a SNT (Shiny New Toy)
• And, then others who are not quite sure where it fits or why.

Of course, there are the cynics along with skeptics (not to be confused with being one and the same). Some are cynics and discount anything from Apple like their counter parts who discount anything from Microsoft or others that are not part of their preference. However there also seems to be some skepticism among traditional Apple or iSomething fans regarding the iPad, needless to say, they are not doing iCartwheels over the announcement.

I think there is an even larger audience out there waiting to see, hear and learn if there is a play for the iPad, or, if new markets and opportunities will evolve around it for example as an alternative to Kindle, as an alternative to PCs for schools, or as a cloud content on-ramp. In other words, for markets where a PC is not needed. I think that there will be custom applications written for it, similar to those seen on custom platforms used by FedEx, UPS and many others.

There is also going to be the giveaway market where vendors will use iPad as a GUI display for their systems to be more hip that the PC or alternative to giving away Kindles.

PC and Mac People Via www.apple.com

Whats the verdict?
I think the jury is still out, Im not going to race out to the first in my neighborhood to have the shiny new toy (SNT), however I see a place for using it down the road as a content access device or running apps currently on iPhones where that platform is too small.

For example, a medical device maker who runs certain apps on iPhones yet their doctors or support staff find the iPhone to be smaller than desirable may like the iPad. However, apple may need to support .NET or other open or pseudo open interfaces for the platform lest they end up with a simple browser platform.

Given that Im going to skip the first generation of iPad waiting for the next version, similar to what I have done with the original Mac, the initial Apple Mac notebook, Newton, iPod and iPhone, its going to be awhile before I have my own iPad.

Whats your take on the iPad? Cast your vote and see what others are thinking in the following poll.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)

twitter @storageio

Technorati tags: iPad

Going rogue on Acadia
Going rogue on Analysts
Going rogue on Archiving
Going rogue on Automated tiering
Going rogue on Backup
Going rogue on Blade servers
Going rogue on Bloggers
Going rogue on Clouds (public or private)
Going rogue on Compliance
Going rogue on Consultants
Going rogue on Dedupe
Going rogue on Disks drives
Going rogue on FCoE
Going rogue on FLASH or SSD
Going rogue on Green IT
Going rogue on Hosting
Going rogue on IOV
Going rogue on iSCSI
Going rogue on Kindle
Going rogue on Managed service providers (MSP)
Going rogue on Media venues or reporters
Going rogue on Networking
Going rogue on OSD
Going rogue on Performance
Going rogue on Polls and surveys
Going rogue on RAID
Going rogue on Security
Going rogue on SOA
Going rogue on Social media
Going rogue on Tape
Going rogue on Testing
Going rogue on Thin provision
Going rogue on Training and certifications
Going rogue on Twitter
Going rogue on VCE
Going rogue on Vendors
Going rogue with Virtualization
Going rogue on Virtual machines
Going rogue on VMware or HyperV
Going rogue on VoIP
Going rogue on Windows
Going rogue with XaaS

Alright, enough is enough for now at the risk of being perceived as snarky, after all, this is also just in fun.

Lets sit back and see who comes up with something about going rogue from an IT perspective.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – StorageIO, Author “The Green and Virtual Data Center” (CRC)

Technorati tags: Going Rouge

In other activity last week, HP made several announcements including:

• Improvements in sensing technologies
• StorageWorks enhancements (SVSP, IBRIX, EVA and HyperV, X9000 and others)

EMC and Cisco were relatively quiet this week on announcement front, however HP unleashed another round of announcements that among others included:

• Quarterly financial results
• SMB server, storage, network and virtualization enhancements (here, here, here and here)
• Acquisitions of 3COM (see related blog post here)
  

The reason I bring up all of this HP activity is not to simply re-cap all of the news and announcements which you can find on many other blogs or news sites, rather I see as a trend.

That trend appears to be one of a company on the move, not ready to sit back on its laurels, rather a company that continues to innovate in-house and via acquisitions.

Some of those acquisitions including IBRIX were relatively small, some like EDS last year and the one this week of 3COM to some would be large while to others perhaps as being seen as medium sized. Either way, HP has been busy expanding its portfolio of technology solution and services offerings along with its comprehensive IT stack.

Cisco, EMC and HP are examples of companies looking to expand their IT stacks and footprint in terms of diversifying current product focus and reach, along with extending into new or further into existing customer and market sector areas. Last weeks EMC and Cisco signaled two large players combing their resources to make virtualization and private clouds easy to acquire and deploy for mid to large size environments with a theme around VMware.

This week buried in all of the HP announcements was one that caught my eye which is a virtualization solution bundle designed for small business (that is something smaller than a vblock0), something that was missing in the Cisco and EMC news of last week however one that Im sure will be addressed sooner versus later.

In the case of HP, the other thing with their virtualization bundle was the focus on the mid to small business that fall into the broad and diverse SMB category, not to mention including Microsoft.

Yes, that is right, while a VMware based solution from HP would be a no-brainer given all of the activity the two companies are involved in as joint partners, Microsoft HyperV was front and center.

Is this a reaction to last weeks Cisco and EMC salvo?

Perhaps and some will jump to that conclusion. However I will also offer this alternative scenario, 85-90 percent of servers consolidated into virtual machines (VMs) on VMware or other hypervisors including Microsoft HyperV are Windows based.

Likewise as one of the largest if not largest server vendors (pick your favorite server category or price band) who also happens to be one of the largest Microsoft Windows partners, I would have been more surprised if HP had not done a HyperV bundle.

While Cisco and EMC may stay the course or at least talk the talk with a VMware affinity in the Acadia and VCE coalition for the time being, I would expect HP to flex its wings a bit and show diversity of support for multiple Hypervisors, Operating Systems across its various server, network, storage and services platforms.

I would not be surprised to see some VMware based bundles appear over time building on previous announced HP blade systems matrix solution bundles.

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, that is the on-going server, storage, networking, virtualization, hardware, software and services solutions game for enabling the adaptive, dynamic, flexible, scalable, resilient, service oriented, public or private cloud, infrastructure as a service green and virtual data center.

Stay tuned, there is much more to come!

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – StorageIO, Author “The Green and Virtual Data Center” (CRC)

Technorati tags: HP, EDS, Microsoft, EMC, Cisco, VMware, 3COM, Server, Storage, Network, Virtualization, Public Cloud, Services, Private Cloud

Have you already taken the jump to be the first on the block or neighbored to be on Windows 7, getting ready to make the leap, have it on the back burner for next year, no plans, or perhaps already dumped Windows for Mac or Linux or getting ready to pull the plug?

Cheers – gs

Greg Schulz – StorageIO, Author “The Green and Virtual Data Center” (CRC)

Photo by Nancy Kuehn – MSP Business Journal

What can I say, I’m flattered and appreciate the coverage. Besides seeing the finished article in the special report, the real fun was doing the photo shoot with the props including the heavy swords, those were not plastic (Hummm, Iron Chef?)!

The photo shoot with the other two "Eco-Warriors" Tom Diamond of New Boundary Technology, and Travis Pakonen of Encompass Solutions along with Nancy Kuehn our photographer as well as the artistic and project management folks from MSP Business Journal were an absolute blast to work with.

For those of you looking for policy management as well as energy management tools for desktops, workstations and PCs, checkout Tom Diamonds New Boundary Technologies and their solutions. Likewise, I hear good things from friends who have used the services of Travis Pakonen and N’Compass for their data center projects.

Cheers – gs

Technorati tags: Trends, MSP, Business Journal, N’Compass, Tom Diamond, Greg Schulz, StorageIO, Travis Pakonen, New Boundary, Nancy Kuehn, Eco-Tech, Policy Management

Why the concern about safely and securing personal digital documents? Digital created or stored data ranges from income tax, social security, mortgage and fiance, on-line and electronic bill payments, credit cards as well as banking and retirement information that is being stored on personal computers in place of, or in addition to printed hardcopy forms.

Many organizations are encouraging consumers as well as business to shift from printed hardcopy invoices and bills towards using electronic and paperless bill payments. In some instances, organizations offer discounts for switching to electronic bill payment or transactions while others apply service fees for using traditional non electronic payment methods.

So again, why the concern about storing safely and securely your digital receipts, invoices and payment records, after all, since they are on-line, why not simply rely on whom ever you are dealing with to maintain those records? The answers are many ranging from simple availability of having ready access to your documents similar to why you would have copies of important hardcopy documents available in addition to being in a safe place. Another answer is for compliance, long thought to only the realm and area of focus for large financial institutions.

So what is one to do? Simple, protect important electronic documents as you would protect important hardcopy documents by making copies and storing them in safe secure places including off-site archives in a different location.

Some general tips, technologies and techniques for safely storing digital documents include:

Of course there is the question of how do you know what is important and what is not important, again, what has value to you either from a financial or legal perspective as well as soft value for example priceless digital or scanned photographs, video and recordings among other sentimental documents.

Check out Cindy’s article here and learn more at www.storageio.com.

Cheers – gs

Technorati tags: CNBC, Cindy Waxer, Digital Document, Bankrate.com, Personal Finance, Banking, Economic, Archive, Compliance