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If you're interested in Cloud Computing I'd encourage you to listen to "The Cloudcast (.net)" podcast here, or go over to The Cloudcast website and get connected to the feeds via iTunes, Stitcher, Facebook, YouTube or RSS.

The Changing Feel of VMware PEX

In my 20 years in the technology industry, I've found that there are three types of product/service strategy discussions that companies (vendors) have:

1. "Our new product/tool will change the world." - Occasionally this happens, but more often that not it's just a feature that could be implemented on any existing platform.
2. "Our new product delivers immediate value to customers and solves an existing (widespread) problem". Companies will typically pay money to solve problems, especially if it saves them money or unlocks a new market opportunity. Typically this creates a new market for the vendor. VMware ESX did this for many years. Consolidate servers, save money.
3. "Our value is no longer distinct, so let's embed it into a suite/bundle with other things, and hopefully take a larger piece of the pie (customer's budget) that is currently allocated to somewhere else." 

I've had the privilege to attend many VMware events in the past 4-5 years (PEX, VMworld, VMUG, etc.), and the theme of those events always seemed to fall into the #1 or #2 buckets. It's what created such a passionate following for the products and the company. It created a very unique, "wow, if I do this, then something better happens" moment for many companies.

But this year's event was different. It had a #3 feel to it. Many of the themes that had been critical to VMware (VDI, virtualizing Mission-Critical Applications, etc.) were now buried within "suites". 

Overall, the value proposition to the customer was no longer obvious. Most notably by the VMware people that were presenting solutions like "vCloud Suite". The theme had shifted from "buy for value" to "buy for potential value, if we can unlock it". 

Here's an example. I sat through a "How to sell vCloud Suite" presentation, given by the Director of Product Management for vCloud (apologies, I didn't catch the presenter's name). The audience was VMware partners, primarily their go-to-market partners (VARs/SIs). After introducing the pieces of the vCloud Suite, his pitch went something like this (paraphrased):

1. Great job selling vSphere. 30-40% of most applications are virtualized. Sometimes more.
2. We're not going to call it "Cloud" anymore. It's now called "Software-Defined Data Center" (SDDC). vCloud used to be the answer to "how to get to Cloud?". vCloud is now the answer to "how to get to SDDC?".
3. Getting to high-levels of virtualization was a CAPEX story. Inefficient hardware. Save customers hard costs. Getting to SDDC is an OPEX story. Inefficient people and processes. Save customers unknown/soft costs. 
4. IT still isn't very efficient, mostly because storage and networking aren't virtualized and controlled (via VMware) like server virtualization. Get your customers to virtualize those things. (NOTE: How to do that is not covered in this presentation).
5. Overall, IT still isn't operating very efficiently. Sell them vCOPs to figure out where there are more inefficiencies, like stranded VMs, poorly provisioned storage, poorly configured networks, etc.

Engineers Unplugged

Last summer, I was having lunch with my friend Amy Lewis (@CommsNinja) and we were discussing some ideas about how to better engage the Cloud Computing technology communities. As a whole, there is quite a bit of change happening in this space (technology, market dynamics, business models) and it can be difficult for people to keep up with all that's going on. I don't recall all the details of that lunch, but the central idea was that it would be interesting if we could capture the passion and insight that happens when technologists get together around a whiteboard and talk shop.

Another colleague, Simon Seagrave (@Kiwi_Si), did a nice interview with Amy about the program.



Needless to say, a few months later, Amy took her network connections and social media prowess and turned that initial idea into a very cool series of videos called "Engineers Unplugged". It's now moved into Season 2 and covers topics from Cloud Computing to Data Center design to Networking to Virtualization and everything in between. And more impressive than the technology breadth is the cast of ubergeeks that share their knowledge on the shows. I've been lucky enough to be on two episodes (below), but luckily most of the technology discussions are much more interesting than my sessions.

2013 Predictions

Since the world is ending in a few days, it's important to make predictions about things that nobody will be able to verify if they occurred or not. Since I made a few in 2011 and 2012 (and 2012+), I suspect I can't do anymore harm making a few in 2013 as well. A couple of the sites that syndicate my content have published them (here, here)

What Will You Do for FREE in 2013?

The most frequent conversation I had this year was with colleagues who asked for advice on their "career path". How should they stay motivated? How do they take on new or bigger responsibility? How do they earn more money?

A year ago, I wrote that people looking to advance their career should have at least one (if not a few) projects that they do for "free". Something outside their day-to-day work that lets them explore new skills or new ways to address challenges in a new market. It's not an easy thing to do, as we all live busy lives, but I continue to believe it's critical for anyone wanting to have greater control over their career and their future.

I thought it would be useful to highlight a few examples of people doing things for "free" that not only helped them learn new things, but opened new opportunities for their "career paths".

What is Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC)?

At VMworld this year, both in San Francisco and Barcelona, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger introduced the concept of the Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC). This builds on the concept that as more and more of the Data Center becomes virtualized (servers, desktops), delivering greater cost-savings and agility to customers, software-defined automation and functionality (network, security, storage, backup) become the next logical steps to help IT deliver greater value to the business.

As with any new technology or vision, there are often many questions about how this will impact the market, how it will affect IT organizations. Wikibon did a nice job providing their view on "Software-led Infrastructure". It's one of many attempts that I've seen to start trying to put a scope around this concept. Some portions are agreed upon, while others are creating some headaches.

I created this short FAQ to help answer some of those questions:

1. VMware is using a new term, “Software-Defined Datacenter” (SDDC), at the center of the 2012 conference. What is Software-Defined Datacenter?
[Steve Herrod blog].  Software Defined Data Center is VMware’s vision that greater business value can be created from IT when intelligent software is abstracted from standardized hardware.  In the simplest technical definition, it is the separation (or abstraction) of the “control plane” (configuration, topology awareness, management, operations) from the “data plane” (moving data, storing data).

It's DevOps, or it's the Wrong Conversation

As I was watching this thread develop, with various comments from people that live and breathe IT, one thing kept coming to mind. IT people often try and justify new technology with technology reasoning. It's analogous to answering a question with another question.

Far too often, because IT has almost always been looked at as a cost-center and measured for ROI based on cost-reduction or productivity improvements, technologist feel the need to drive the justification for a new project based on cost.

• How will it be cheaper than the last project? 
• How will it reduce spending for the business in some way? 
• How can this eliminate something that isn't as effective as this new technology?

The right answer is DevOps. 

Huh? Why would I use a technology term, "DevOps", as the answer to the question when I just got done saying we shouldn't use technology to explain technology? Because the technology use of "DevOps" (short for the combined model of Development + Operations)  has created the wrong way to shorten the appropriate words. To answer the question, "How to Connect IT and Business?", think of "DevOps" as Developing + Opportunities.