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Monday, December 10, 2012

2012 - A Year End Review

As we reach then end of 2012 I just wanted to reflect a little on the momentum I have seen in the mainframe marketplace over the last 12 months and give a personal view on some of my highlights for 2012, not all of these will be mainframe related so bear with me...

2012 has been a big year for the UK:

We have won the Ryder Cup in spectacular fashion as part of European team great comeback, in my case watched on an iPad whilst in bed next to the wife trying not to wake her up but wanting to cheer so bad.

The 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, what a great few weeks to showcase all that is good about the UK and UK sport, so many great performances.

The Tour de France and Bradley Wiggins' epic ride as part of Team Sky's dominant display.

Enough about sport (unless you are Australian and then please contact me for more).

In the IT industry it has been another dramatic year:

At my former employer HP they seem to have lurched from one disaster to another, not all it seems of their own making.  This amazing company will rise again of that I am sure.  You only have to get past the press and analyst melee and look at some of the fundamentals, the storage business is strong, they have a top-5 software business (despite Autonomy), printer ink is more profitable by weight than cocaine, they are number 2 in enterprise networking kit etc... Meg Whiman will turn it around, she just needs time and to also get the analyst community to focus on the the 'real' value of the company not what they may or may not do in Tablets...

Perhaps a quote from the iconic film Wall Street needs to be applied:

"Stick to the fundamentals. That's how IBM and Hilton were built. Good things, sometimes, take time."
Lou Mannheim

What a great segue into discussing IBM:

In my 2nd full year I have seen the good ship IBM sail on without any choppy water, we transition CEO's without fanfare or fuss in a slightly boringly efficient manner...

We have seen the EC12 launched, shame about the namebut z2101 would have been no better.  I am sure they could have done have been more creative, and perhaps we should look to our PureSystems colleagues when it comes to marketing and the fanfare they have managed to create...
 
In my own personal z world we have had a very interesting year:
 
  • We have recruited 3 new z Business Partners
  • Developed a zCloud proposition and demo facility
  • Won some interesting new name, new business with non-traditional clients
  • Built a strong foundation in a new vertical
  • Worked with some interesting non-z IBMers to drive us into new client engagements
  • Lost some valued colleagues (We miss you Mr. Gadbsy)
  • Recruited 3 new grads into the z business in the UK (making 8 in total)

So as I start to look towards 2013 (if my manager is reading I will close all my deals first I promise) then I see a strong future, and watch out for these key themes in 2013:

Analytics on z - why on earth move your freshest data to another platform to analyse it, keep you master data on z and analyse it there.

zCloud - for a Linux based cloud, look no further, we are the cheapest, most secure, highest scale and the most license efficient - dare to be different.

So don't eat too many mice pies or drink too much Eggnog, have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and very prosperous New Year and please join us early in the New Year for the next #Mainframedebate









2 comments:

  1. It's silly I know but I've been thinking about that 'z2101' name. Since IBM calls the highest model not H101 but HA1 (with A standing for 10), the name should be z2A1. But even that is not correct. The name z196 is based upon the number of PUs and not upon the number of configurable engines. So for the zEC12 it should be z2120 or z2C0. I told you, just a silly comment to conclude the year . . .

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