Suggestions on how to save HP

As an ex-HP guy of 10-years standing, who is now an IBMer just want to put forward a simple plan for how to 'save' HP.

Sell the PC business to Samsung, Lenovo or Google
As IBM did with the PC business a few years back HP needs to get out of PC's.  HP has retained the Compaq brand for shelf space in large retailers, so my advice is to sell the PC business under this name which makes single digit profit margin to the likes of Samsung, Lenovo or Google.  The funds would right the balanace sheet and allow the business to exit the consumer market.  HP needs to retain the workstation and thin client business and scale down to focus on these high margin elements of the PC segment.

Get out of Printers!!!
Again being in the slowly declining but highly profitable printer business leaves HP exposed to the consumer market.  HP needs to retain printer maintenance and services, but exit the hardware and cartridge business.  The funds from this business would again aid the balance sheet.

What is left?
The business that is left is squarely focused on the corporate sector and has a healthy balance sheet.  With the war chest from the divestments HP can then go spending on acquiring software businesses in the space of Big Data, Analytics, Security and Cloud.  This would leave IBM focused on datacenter servers, storage, networking, consulting and outsourcing as well as software.

What to buy with the money?
Get serious about another segment in the software business, my suggestions would be:

• Symantec
• SAP
• Salesforce

These would all be expensive, but with the war chest from getting out of printers and PC's these acquisitions would be possible.

A hardware/software alternative would be to buy EMC/VMWare this would consolidate HP's position as number 1 in Enterprise Storage and they get the highly profitable VMWare...

In Summary
HP needs to be an enterprise focused IT player that innovates, rather than a dual focused enterprise/consumer company, because at the moment they are failing to execute on both fronts...

Language Barrier

Given all the recent press coverage of IBM's latest set of annual financial results and the prominence of the mainframe within these, figures the analyst coverage over the last couple of months around System z seems to be have in the main positive.  I have even had good feedback from a Enterprise Data Architect at a first meeting, following his recent attendance at a Gartner event. So against this largely recent positive backdrop I would like to focus on what I see as one of the barriers to the 'mainframe going mainstream' namely the language barrier.

What do I mean by the 'language barrier'?  Well as former colleague put it very succinctly when describing this issue - "we worship different gods and speak in different tongues" when we describe the characteristics of the mainframe than our distributed brethren.  Let me give you a few examples to illustrate my meaning:

OSA Cards Vs NIC
Now I am not going to attest to be a techie or a former hardware engineer, but why oh why do us z guys have to come up with a completely different TLA (Three Letter Acronym) for a network connector, namely an Open Systems Adapter when the whole industry called them Network Interface Controllers.  Check out IBM's very own website:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zos/basics/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.zos.znetwork/znetwork_25.htm

The first sentance for me completely encapsulates the issue I am discussing in this post:

Although the OSA card is the only NIC for z/OS, this is a bit of an understatement. The OSA card variants support Ethernet in all of its current implementations.

 If the OSA card is the only NIC for z/OS then call it a NIC and address the following issues which get replayed back to every mainframe advocate when they engage with senior IT management:

• Mainframe skills are in short supply
• Training people on the mainframe is time consuming and expensive
• Re-skilling existing staff will take too long

Now I fully appreciate to take a Windows admin and retrain him/her to be a Sys Prog will never be a 2-day training course, and rightfully so, do we really need to make it so hard?  At the end of the day the mainframe is only another server that connects to storage and a network?  If we want to make the mainframe mainstream again and attract the Gen Y'ers to the platform then we need to focus not only on GUI interfaces as is so often the discussion point, but make the underlying hardware concepts in-line at least in language terms with the rest of the industry. 

Take for example the area of storage, us mainframers talk ECKD and DASD when the whole rest of the industry talks SAN.  Now I am not going to open the debate here about what is better FICON, ESCON etc... but I raise it just to highlight that in every large shop I go to there is a mainframe storage team and distributed storage team, why? If as I say the mainframe is only a server (bear with me) then to have a separate storage team to administer it, can only be seen by the CIO as reinforcing any perceptions they may have (however correct or not) that the mainframe is expensive.

What am I proposing as the answer?
Well IBM can look through the lexicon of the mainframe and when it launches a new model (the z114 replacement for example) and take the bold step of proposing a Language Harmonization Program or LHP to bring in line mainframe terms with distributed terms.  If IBM changes what it calls the components of the box and the various interfaces the whole industry will come on board and within 3-years gone will be esoteric 'z-only' phrases and the mainframe again will have moved closer to becoming mainstream...

Feel free to comment here  for other LHP suggestions or raise them at the next #mainframedebate on the 8th April at 4-5pm GMT | 11-12pm EST. Or as always please don't hesitate to get in touch directly via my Twitter account @StevenDickens3

Febuary 5th Announcements for Systemz

If you haven't already seen the IBM announcements relating to System z let me give you my thoughts (for what they are worth) and why you should care:

zCloud
It really amazes me that Cloud on z or the much more snappily titled zCloud isn't getting more press.  Take for example:

US organisation Nationwide’s private cloud on IBM zEnterprise has replaced thousands of standalone servers,eliminating both capital and operational expenditure. The initial #consolidation exercise is estimated to have saved thecompany some $15 million over three years.

Check out the detail at http://ibm.co/13KWqeW

If you are doing Linux at scale (and by scale I mean more than 400 Virtual Machines) then the cost case for z is massively compelling.  If you want to throw enterprise software into the mix from the likes of Oracle or even IBM's DB2 and WebSphere, then the license savings alone can pay for the underlying tin twofold within a year.

The IBM Enterprise Linux Server platform as an underlying platform for a private/public Linux cloud is a great message and doesn't come with the 'legacy' bagage oft associated (incorrectly IMHO but don't get me started...) of System z.  For heavens sake it is a large virtualised server than runs Linux, how complex can that be.

Operational Analytics
As I have previously blogged, having a 'system of record' and then proliferating copies of this data to a myriad of distributed servers, just so you can do complex analytics against this data appears to me to be folly.  When organisations are taking between 8 and 12 copies of their core data and squirting this via a multitude of various ETL methods out to other platforms and then having to manage these disparate systems, then the costs, not surprisingly spiral out of control.  Not to mention the data management and consistency and operational decision making challenges this poses.  Why oh why not just keep your data where it lives and breathes i.e. in your core system and analyse it from there?  Surely this approach must be cheaper and not lead to a proliferation of data models...

Check out this Forester whitepaper for a banking discussion on this topic:

In today's dynamic economy, analytics delivers the new competitive advantage. Financial Services firms count on a consolidated, secure platform to perform real-time analytics. This Forrester Thought Leadership Paper, commissioned by IBM, examines global financial firms' perceptions on rapidly changing data - as well as the analytics landscape - and their plans to meet the challenges head-on.

Link to the paper: http://ibm.co/Xm5P7y

2013 The Year of the Mainframe

As we start to get up to speed in 2013 and following a week in IBM's Montpellier lab I thought I would kick off the year with some musings on two trends we should be looking for in 2013.

Analytics
As Big Data looks to replace cloud as the next buzz word in the IT industry, equal focus is also being placed on how you analyse this data.  From a mainframe perspective the box has always been the biggest data server in the datacentre and typically is the source of the organisation's most trustworthy data.  As the system of record or master data server the mainframe typically holds the one version of the truth when it comes to customer accounts or operational data.  The prevailing trend over the last 20-years has been to ETL data off the mainframe to distributed systems so that it can be analysed.  This logic was sound when the mainframe was unable to process long complex queries in a cost effective manner without buring excessive MIPS.  However as offload engines have matured and overall z core chip speed has increased this logic has eroded.  With the launch of IBM's DB2 Analytics Accelerator then the logic has been turned on its head.

Imagine if you will, the development of graphics accelerator cards in PC's and the rise of more complex games to take advantage of the underlying hardware capability.  Well imagine the IDAA (and I don't mean these guys http://www.idaa.org/) as a graphics accelerator card for the mainframe where graphics = analytics and you get the picture. Why take anywhere between 9-11 copies of your mainframe data on average and spread it around your distributed estate and then have to pay for the storage to store it, back it up and generally manage data that is at least a day old.  Especially when you can query 'fresh' operational data in-situ and trust its origin and security.

Cloud
Without wishing to labour a point the mainframe was the first 'Cloud' server and all my more 'senior' z colleagues will go misty eyed at the word 'bureau' and the parallels with the latest hip and trendy craze of Cloud.  So before I begin to sound like the metaphorical industry Dad let me elaborate on why zCloud should be a trend in 2013.  Looking at any industry definition of a cloud terms like; available, virtualised, scalable, secure and multi-tenant are central to a platforms claim to be a cloud.  Well the mainframe has had these attributes for the last 40-years.  However I fully get that this heritage has been based on z/OS and its predecessors and whilst there is still life in the old girl yet other O/S' are widely available.  So lets focus on Linux and particularly the likes of SUSE and RedHat in particular.  If you want a platform to handle extreme scale Linux consolidation and in particular handle workloads such as high I/O databases look no further than the mainframe.

In one recent RFI that my team responded to we positioned that a EC12 was able to easily accommodate 80 Virtual Machines per Core and in so doing be the cheapest platform for providing virtualised Redhat guests.  I know the last statement is up there with "the world isn't flat its round" but look at the numbers £131 per VM per month Vs £290 per VM per month for a comparable x86 and VMWare service...

If the above have whetted your appetite for exploring the world of z and how the mainframe continues to evolve in 2013, join me and my colleagues at the next #mainframedebate on Twitter on the 7th Febuary between 4-5pm GMT and 11-12pm EST to find out more.  Even if you think the above is heresy and you want to go 10-rounds on the numbers for zCloud join us and lets make it a lively #mainframedebate or contact me directly at @StevenDickens3...

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

Read more: http://www.finestquotes.com/movie_quotes/movie/Wall%20Street%20/page/2.htm#ixzz2Ef8OobVp

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

Cloud Computing and the Cult of Intel and x86

So firstly apologies, I have been a bit lazy of late on my own personal ramblings, and have been cut and pasting rather than being original, well that is going to change...

Over the last couple weeks I have observed a worrying trend in my interactions with clients and on the Twittersphere i.e. the cult of x86 and it's hold over the world of Cloud Computing...to quote a recent Twitter interaction, after asking a recent follower (you know who you are) for their views on cloud on z, I got the following response:

"Technically magnificent - totally impractical - won't run Intel Binary products. Chocolate teapot. (PS - I love Z and wish it were not so)"

 Well you can imagine my response!!!  For those with no imagination it went something like this:

 If cloud = intel and x86, then agree. What about Linux? (RHEL & SLES), we are seeing adoption for a Linux cloud on z

I met with a large global outsourcer recently who has an x86 based cloud offering (which is losing money by the way) and we positioned DBaaS to them based on Linux on z.  Well after much mudslinging and a verbal battle they begrudgingly agreed that databases don't usually play nice with x86 virtualization and that there may be an alternative, especially since the approach we proposed was approx 40% cheaper!!!

It amazes me in this cash strapped times, that when you present a solution that is patently cheaper and has numerous other benefits such as industry leading security, availability and scalability, that you still get push back.  So let’s explore why we get pushback for Cloud on the Mainframe:

• Mainframe as a word has a dark meaning, in some languages it is a substitute word for old, in others it translates to proprietary.  Well my response to this is:

•  $5bn of R&D investment since 2010, and $1bn in the latest EC12 alone does not equal an ‘old’ platform and as for proprietary how does a server that runs 7 different operating (2 of which are Linux) systems and 13 databases sound?

•  Skills are hard to find – well there is some truth in this, but only because the box runs so damn efficiently that you don’t need and any army of IT Staff!!! I met with an energy supply company that has over 2 million active customers who has a mainframe team totalling one sys prog the other week and they only have their core billing system running on z, so nothing important…

• x86 is what everybody else is doing – well where do I start, have you heard the one about the lemmings? Or the one about the PC manufacturers who thought that Apple would never get a hold in the home computing space…I can go on but you get the picture.

So let’s be clear for all those x86 cult members who have found their way to the darker recesses of the blogsphere, namely here, read this whitepaper:

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/advantages/virtualization/platformmatters.html

And then contact me on Twitter at @StevenDickens3

Details of zTechnically Speaking in the UK

2012 zTechnically Speaking is a stream in the November IBM Smarter Computing conferences
which you and your colleagues in your organisation are invited to register and attend.

Roger Fowler/ Iain Neville from the IBM UK Hardware Technical Team will be covering the
recently announced zEnterprise zEC12 hardware which is a key part of IBM’s Smarter Computing
revolution. It is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to understand these recent announcements.

At the Manchester and Edinburgh events Jeff Biamonte will give an insight on zEnterprise chip design,
manufacture, direction and futures. Jeff is the Manager for the System z Processor Design & Verification
Group based at the IBM  Poughkeepsie, USA manufacturing plant.

At the London event Howard Rogers from Tesco will provide an insight to their 2012 zEnterprise
hardware refresh  replacing all their Escon connections with Ficon while keeping their legacy Escon equipment.

Speakers from IBM's z Software technical team will explain how recent IBM software announcements enable IBM middleware to exploit the new zEC12 technology to deliver data analytics and cloud services, with even greater security. 

During the breaks and lunch there will be a chance to see live zEnterprise systems and talk to experts
from IBM Software and Hardware Groups.  These events are planned to start around 9am and finish around 4:30pm. Agendas will be sent to registered attendees nearer the time.

I look forward to meeting you at a z Technically Speaking stream. These events are very popular so please register today to secure a place at your preferred location. There is no charge for these events so please feel free to invite a colleague, but remember these will be very popular and places are limited.

These are the scheduled events with the webpages for you to register:

Thursday, 1 November – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London 

Tuesday, 6 November – Manchester - The Lowry Arts and Entertainment Centre

Thursday, 8 November – Edinburgh - Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa hotel


These are the webpages to Register for each event if you choose use cut and paste.

Please ensure you cut and paste both lines to work in your Browser

LONDON REGISTRATION
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp019.nsf/v16_enrollall?openform&seminar=BCBCJDES&locale=en_GB&lang=&S_TACT=102JH7WE&MATTACT=102JH7WE&CONT=43242.0

MANCHESTER REGISTRATION
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp019.nsf/v16_enrollall?openform&seminar=92FD54ES&locale=en_GB&lang=&S_TACT=102JH7WE&MATTACT=102JH7WE&CONT=43242.0

EDINBURGH REGISTRATION
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp019.nsf/v16_enrollall?openform&seminar=9CFAS4ES&locale=en_GB