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Life in the world of
computing has changed, as we all know. The glory days are gone. Retrenchment,
layoffs, cutbacks, and refocusing are all now the norm. And the vendors have
reacted by upping the stakes and putting more emphasis on their core
technologies, and trying to get their customers and partners to get closer to
selling solutions based on these technologies.
If I had to make a list,
it would go something like this: IBM and Tivoli network management software.
Microsoft and SQL Server. Novell and eDirectory. HP and OpenView. Cisco and
IOS. Symantec and Norton Anti-Virus. You could add plenty of others, and
hopefully get where I am going here.
These core technologies
are critical to the company's success. Each vendor is making it harder for
partners and customers to do without these technologies if you are going to continue
to do business with them.
Curiously, in discussions
I have had with these vendors, this is never explicitly said. But the subtext
is clear, at least to me. If you ignore these core technologies, go do business
elsewhere.
It is a risky strategy, in
these dark times. There isn't room in most IT shops to support multiple core
technologies -- after all, how many network management platforms, database
servers, et al. can you support? But vendors have to pick their partners more
carefully these days. If you aren't central to their core business, you aren't
going to get the best levels of support, the best discounts, the best
mind-share and attention.
Take IBM, for example. Sam
Palmisano is placing a big bet on the future of computing and his company. The
head of IBM, in a presentation I saw yesterday here in New York, claims that
he'll spend up to $10 billion over the next year in support of a new wave of
computing he calls “on demand.” Think a combination of just-in-time
inventories, flexible production lines, and the ability to react and reallocate
resources all in Internet time. Sam calls it "touchless
manufacturing," the ability to make stuff and ship it out without having
to constantly touch the merchandize. It is ambitious, it is interesting, and it
may just work.
What does this have to do
with Tivoli software? Lots. In order to execute their strategy, IBM needs the
capabilities that Tivoli provides to manage a distributed network. Sam's idea
is to think fast, respond faster. Keep up with changing markets and suppliers.
Have end-to-end integration in your supply and demand systems to react quickly,
and understand when demand changes to be able to adjust supplies accordingly.
This isn't all that new – biz schools have been teaching these concepts
for years now.
But what is new is how IBM
is going to pull this all off. At the heart of Sam's proposal is a set of four
key technologies: open systems, higher levels of software integration,
virtualizing everything, and autonomic computing. And Tivoli touches all four
areas in critical ways, making it their core technology and making it essential
that if you are going to get involved with IBM, you'll need to know about this
stuff.
IBM has taken on the open
systems rubrics with a vengeance.
They claim that Linux is the fastest growing server platform in their
universe, and I would believe them. Their own business runs on over 1,000 Linux
servers, just so you know they eat their own dog food. (There was a time when
running any production application on some non-IBM operating system was
considered heresy until relatively recently.) Tivoli software manages open
systems networks with ease.
Virtualization is nothing
new: IBM has had virtual machine operating systems longer than I can remember,
and they have extended the concept to storage, processing, and other components
as well. Sam harped on a familiar theme: all those idling desktops out there in
corporate America, with CPU power to burn. If only someone could harness that
power to do more than search for intergalactic life. Sam says, “Hotels
can't operate on 95% vacancy rates, why should our computing
environments?” I wish him luck. And Tivoli can also make virtualization
easier, especially with some of the storage management software tools.
Autonomic computing is
perhaps the most out-there of the four concepts: the ability to self-heal, to
self-protect, to self-configure and diagnose. It is happening to some extent in
a variety of competitor's products as well as within the IBM product line, and
I think we'll see more of this as time goes on. It is a natural fit for IS
departments of limited means, and IBM is spending half a billion bucks on
R&D just in this space alone. I dare say Tivoli will be playing in this
space as well.
IBM is no stranger to the
Big Idea. Remember Systems Application Architecture? That so defined the 1990s:
an overarching, proprietary, and bloated set of code with a shelf full of
manuals, going nowhere fast. The company probably blew several billions chasing
that dream. Of course, the whole issue here is whether or not IBM can pull off
these grand plans, or if this is just the 2002 version of SAA. I can't tell you
that answer yet.
Understanding the core
technologies is critical. You need to pick your vendor partners carefully. If
their core technology don't match yours, you are setting yourself up for
trouble down the road.
Self promotions dep't
Last weekend I and 250
other hardy souls were out in Death Valley and together we raised over a
million dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. While I wasn't
able to do any bike riding because my shoulder is still recovering from an
accident earlier this summer, I did manage to meet plenty of people who did
ride, including some parent/child teams that rode over 50 miles on the total
105 mile course. We had terrible weather for riding: strong headwinds, intense
rain, and colder-than-normal temperatures, but everyone was in good spirits and
I enjoyed meeting people from all over the country involved in this wonderful
cause. I wanted to thank those of you who supported my efforts this past year,
and you'll be hearing from me next year when I plan to participate in those
events.
I will be heading out west
again in a few weeks' time for Comdex and moderating a panel on Monday afternoon
Nov. 18th on wireless networks with several industry executives.
Those of you that are also going and want to spend a quality 20 or 30 minutes
together during the week please let me know.
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Entire contents copyright 2002 by David Strom, Inc.
David Strom, dstrom@cmp.com, +1 (516) 562-7151
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