Posts by celticnomad

One (storage) protocol to rule them all?

The proposition is Nonsense.

For Protocol read transport and for mechanism read destination.

Mapping this to the physical human world I'd say a comparison is that we either travel everywhere by Space ship (even to the corner shop) , or foot (even to the moon) , complete bonkers .

The protocol/transport and destination/mechanism choices should be determined by what best fits the requirements of the data usage (application, latency requirements, etc) .. until we get the equivalent of instantaneous matter transfer for humans, multiple solutions will (and should) exist.

Filer funfest: HDS buffs up its VSP product on four fronts at once

Oranges and Pears

Block into cloud doesn't go you need to get to Object to get to cloud ... . and HNAS to cloud is not really anything new either. HNAS has tiered to HCP for some time and that to all intents and purposes is a cloud service (Object based, REST, AWS etc) ...

RBS must realise it's just an IT biz with a banking licence

Good Article - 2 key mindsets that have assisted in creating this scenario.

This article pretty much sums it up. There are however 2 other issues that were touched on but which I have drawn my own conclusions over the years.

1 - Pretty much all organisation consider IT as only a cost centre (as opposed to a profit centre). They therefore continually press for reduction in operating costs. The lack of real intelligence is startling as there seems to be little appreciation of the fact that without IT the organisation will cease to be. In the RBS case it would be very interesting to see the figures provided for the cost savings of the IT restructure and how that stacks up against the financial impact of this one incident (I'm sure there are others that have costs the organisation but have not been so widely publicised)

2 - The change management regeime at RBS has (for many, many years) been driven with the wrong philosphy. It is run like a police state. They use it to create fear and to enable isolation of staff at fault. The change management process SHOULD be a service for the IT function (as well as other business areas) to facilitate change. I should assist in ensuring change is implemented in the correct manner , with the correct considerations and as efficiently as possible. As intimated in the article, the process is so complex @ RBS that the staff involved in change spend so much time on the administration that (given difficulties with obtaining change windows and the volume of change that is required to keep the operation running), that administration takes away focus from the technical detail. Again as the article indicates each time there is a change related technical incident , the WHOLE of the IT business endures increased process/admin, in most cases complete lock down. Which again creates backlog of mandatory change (either technical to remain on supported versions, or regulatory to ensure tha bank is allowed to operate). The whole situation creates inevitable failure and only does more so as time goes on and a multiplier effect takes hold.

Both of the above can be explained by the management style at the bank, where it's extremely rare for management to be challanged by their direct reports once you get past the front line technical staff.

O2's titsup network struggles to find its feet

Doesn't really describe what is offered

Whilst I can't disagree with most of the content I do have to disagree with the inferred presumption of choice. Whenever I have taken a service from a Mobile Phone company as a consumer I have never been asked if I want a best effort or guaranteed service ... therefore the point is mute.

Similarly mobile services purchased by large organisations, who spend vast amounts on building stable , redundant IT infrastructure, use the very same service ... I know which they would choose if there were different services offered.

If the TelCo's infrastructure has been built less in a less stable or redundant manner , that is purely their choice. It's a business choice, drive down costs and accept the possibility of service loss and disaffected customers , or not ...

Re: Mission Critical Kit vs Bonus Culture

Completely agree. The key to it all is the evil tower of accountants. In virtually all companies the provision of IT services is seen as ONLY a cost centre, the imbeciles counting their magic beans try and cut funds to any department that is not a Profit Centre (except their own in most cases .. holders of the golden keys) ... This combined with management who don't really know their business creates this mess ... Whilst there is little to ague with the desire to run any department efficiently, the constant erosion of investment leads ultimately to failure...

The dimwits at the top who have got there through lies and self promotion need to wake up and see that without a good , reliable IT infrastructure their businesses will not survive ... Going for the cheapest option on IT eventually leads to reduced income/profi in the long term