Managing Change: More Notes from the Field

Companies are still facing an era of unprecedented and continuous change. In fact, perhaps the most striking feature of today’s business environment is its dynamic nature. While change is often unexpected and disruptive, companies that adapt quickly can gain a competitive advantage. I’ve said this many times in the past, and it still rings true …

VMware: Was VMworld Barcelona a Swan Song or a Rally to Arms?

VMware’s VMworld conference season is now over. Its Barcelona shindig has just finished and everybody has flown home, is flying home, or is winding down on the beaches of the Catalonian coast pending the upcoming OpenStack summit. I did not attend the Las Vegas event; however, from what I have gathered from speaking to folks who attended and …

Software-Defined Storage or Data Services

Software-defined storage (SDS) is about data services. Many think it is about automating storage. Yes, I can see that, but it is about what storage can deliver. So, what is the basis for SDS? There are four critical components. These components are analytics, augmentation, aggregation, and security. These four elements wrap storage to become data …

Pulling from vs. Pushing to the Cloud

Ask anyone if they have adopted the cloud, and the answer will likely be yes. Whether it’s Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce.com, Google Docs, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or any of the myriad other cloud services, almost everyone will cheerfully admit to using the cloud in some form. Does the definition of cloud imply pulling …

VMware's Hybrid Cloud Is Spanning the Globe

As we hear more about VMware, AWS, and IBM, a new story emerges. VMware is talking about cross-cloud management. VMware is also talking about cloud-native applications. VMware is also talking about how you go from the data center to the cloud. VMware is talking about how to transform into a hybrid cloud. It appears there is an …