social media Archives

October 15, 2012March 7, 2022

How many degrees separate you and your information?

In case you are not familiar, degrees of separation refer to how you are connected to other people.

When you know somebody directly then you are a first connection, and you are a second degree of separation from people that they are directly connected to. The theory goes that via a mix of the number of people you are directly connected to, as well as how well they are connected to others, that you are only so many degrees of connection separation from many (if not millions of people) and if you go out seven degrees, that could be billions.

If you are familiar with or use Linked In and are directly connected to somebody like myself, which is a first degree. For example in the following image, person A is a first or 1 degree connection to person B, person B is a direct or first degree connection to person C who in turn is a direct connection to person D. Person A is 2 degree from person C and three degree from person D.

The reason I bring this up is not to say or play games around who is connected to whom, or compare contacts or the number of them, rather to use the idea of degrees of separation in the context of where and how you get your information. For example, you may get your information, insight or experience directly from what you do. On the other hand, you may get information or knowledge directly from the source or person involved with it, which would be 1 degree of separation.

You could also get the information from somebody else such as a friend, coworker, blogger, analyst, consultant, media journalist, reporter, vendor, VAR or other person who got it directly from the source, which would be 2 degrees of separation. Another example would be you get your information from somebody who cites a report, study, survey or some research that came from another source that involved another party who collected and analyzed the data.

At each point, there is the potential for the information to be changed, adjusted, reinterpreted, misunderstood, or simply adapted to meet particularly needs. What if person A gets their information from person B who in turn got their information from source C, and that comes from person D who got it directly from person E? Assuming that the information was collected and passed along as is, person A should get what was given from person E to person D. However, along the way, various interpretations, more material and views can be applied resulting in a different message.

There is also another variation, which are your spheres of influence or circles of contacts. For example I get to talk with lots of IT pros around the world live in person, virtually and via different venues, those would be direct or no separation. When I hear from a vendor or PR or some pundit telling me what they heard direct, that’s 1 degree however if they heard it from their marketing who heard it from a sales rep or other source then it’s at least two.

Another example of degrees of separation is where you are in relation to technology timelines, evolution, revolution, industry adoption vs. customer deployment. For example, if you are a researcher or development engineer, you are further along on a technology evolution curve than others are. Somebody then takes the researchers work and productize it including making it manufacture able on a cost-effective basis. Along the lines there is also the different degrees of separation between the researcher, initial publicity of a technology breakthrough, general industry adoption and later customer deploy and subsequent success stories. For example, to a research something that they did many years along with those who follow at that point may view what is emerging for real customer deploy as old and yesterday’s news.

On the other hand, for customers getting ready to deploy a new technology, product or service, some breaking research may be interesting to hear about, however it may be out several years at best from customer actual use. Also on that theme, the customer of a component can be a manufacturer that in turn test, qualifies and sells a finished solution to their customers. Thus, there are different degrees of separation between industry adoption (e.g. talking about and awareness) and customer deployment (actually buying and using on a mainstream basis) in the technology supply chain.

Yet another degree of separation is between you and your information or data. Some of that data is very close in your own memory (e.g. brain), perhaps others written on note pads (physical or digital) with a copy local or remote including at the cloud. Depending on how your data and information are backed up or protected, there can be added degrees of separation between you and your information.

Thus, there are different degrees of separation between you and your various forms of information.

Your ability to learn and share information, meet and interact with various people from across different sections of environments is bound by what you are willing to engage via various mediums including social media involvement.

If you are comfortable with where you are at, or what you know, then stay in your comfort zone, or sphere of influence, otherwise, take a chance, venture out, learn what you do not know, meet who you do not know, interact and see new things, or have some dejavu and share what you have seen or experienced before.

After all, knowledge not shared with others is useless if kept only to you. Of course, for NDA material, what is not generally known about, or understood is not discussed and let us leave sleeping dogs lay where they rest. ;)

How good or reliable is your information or G2 that you might be using for forming opinions or making informed decisions around?

Feel free to expand your network getting closer by a degree or two, if not directly too different sources. You can connect with me via Twitter (@storageio), Goggle+, Linked In and Facebook among other means here. Likewise, check out the StorageIO events calendar here for upcoming virtual and live activities. These activities include seminars, web casts, video chats along with in person events while out and about in North America as well as Europe.

Ok, nuff said.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

February 28, 2012March 7, 2022

Are social media and networking a waste of time?

Are social media and networking including twitter, blogs, google+ and linkedin among other venues and mediums a waste of time or only for those who have nothing else to do?

As with most things, the answer is it probably depends.

However IMHO the answer is NO, social media and networking when incorporated as a part of doing business is not a waste unless like anything else you let it become a waste of time.

I have chosen to leverage social media networking along with traditional mediums, venues, news letters, in person events, and other means of communicating, learning and doing business vs. ignoring it.

Does that I mean I jump on or join in every new social networking medium or venue? Nope, however I’m always watching to see where to invest time and effort and find the return or benefit.

Some observations about social media and networking include:

You get out of social media and networking what you put into it: When it comes to LinkedIn, Michael Naylor told me several years ago to get involved with and you will get out of what you put into LinkedIn (or other venues for that matter). Now about eight or nine years later, even despite the spam, I completely agree how true Mikes advise has been and remains.

Engagement, interaction, discussion (or debate) are all part of the discourse in and around social media and networking. Louis Gray who got me hooked on twitter and some other mediums years ago has a great blog post that unless you are engaging or interacting, you are not social networking. What that means is simply using social networking media and mediums as a broadcast or one way communication platform is just that, talking at vs. talking with or too people. Thus get out of your comfort zone, step out from behind your pulpit or podium and engage with audiences or participants vs. talking at them to get out of what you put into it.

Dont be afraid of joining different groups or venues, listen, lurk, observe, learn from others in the same or adjacent areas online, however also keep time in perspective to get other tasks completed. This also means you can build your own castle or venue for people to come to or you can do a hybrid including your own site(s) as well as taking discussions and conversations to where other audiences are.

Let me put this a different way, I like to fish and catch. Sometimes I know where the fish are based on experience and when they might bite, then there are other times when they move. This means knowing when and where to go to different locations to catch a fish or catch a conversation.

Building on the above, don’t be afraid to get involved or start a conversation.

Sure on some venues you will get spammed and a bunch of responses that you might not like particular if venturing out away from the safety of your own castle or site. However use those conversations and engagements to learn and interact, see what is on people’s minds or that they are interested in vs. what you want to tell them.

Where wasting time can come into play is trying to be part of every discussion, watching what everybody is doing or saying in all the various venues. For the trick has been to pick which venues are useful for where I want to invest time along with what I will get out of them in addition to using different tools to help find the applicable conversations and discussions. If you are not using things as basic as Google alerts you are probably spending too much time out looking for conversations or discussions, or, you are missing out on them altogether.

I have also noticed that there tends to be a correlation between those who are involved in one way communication and comment diminishing or dismissing social media and networking as a waste of time or not practical, hmm, go figure.

Otoh, I have also noticed those who tend to be involved in one way or non interactive discussions or that limit comments and discourse tend to also have lower numbers of followers, appear on fewer lists or get shared by others, hmm, go figure.

I have also noticed that some who do very well in cyberspace may not do as well in person and vise versa, however there are many who can do both. Likewise there are those who do well in columns that support interactive comments and those who do not.

Perhaps there is a hadoop big data analytics algorithm out there for someone who has lots of time to do some research on all of this?

In the meantime, for those interested, check out Johnny Bentwood (@JonnyBentwood) and some of the things he has done around analytics and social media and metrics if so interested.

What this all means is that to each their own, that is comfort zones. If your comfort zone and sphere of influence is in one way communication via print, online, video or what ever, then play to your strengths. Likewise, if yours is as a commentator or something else, go with it.

Leverage and get involved, don’t be scared, find your voice, engage, take part, however also be ready to be challenged while increasing your network of contacts, ability to learn and get out of what ever you put into it. Otherwise, stay in your comfort zone or within your sphere of influence.

As to if social media and networking are a waste of time and only for those who have nothing to do, well, if that is the case, last year was a banner year for me and my business. That is both in terms of activity, contacts, coverage, awards and accolades not to mention increasing discussions and experience in other areas as well as being involved in traditional media and venues or activities. I guess if that is the result of being involved or investing in social media and networking it is an honor to be among those who waste time and have nothing better to do.

Why do I take time out of my busy schedule to share this?

Simple, you get out of things what you put into it, and granted some will simply take advantage as opposed to contributing back, maybe they too will evolve to give back what they take out.

Feel free to engage or simply read and lurk, that option is all yours.

Ok, nuff said for now, have to get some other work projects done now.

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

December 17, 2009April 2, 2022

Behind the Scenes, SANta Claus Global Cloud Story

There is a ton of discussion, stories, articles, videos, conferences and blogs about the benefits and value proposition of cloud computing. Not to mention, discussion or debates about what is or what is not a cloud or cloud product, service or architecture including some perspectives and polls from me.

Now SANta does not really care about these and other similar debates I have learned. However he is concerned with who has been naughty and nice as well watching out for impersonators or members of his crew who misbehave.

In the spirit of the holidays, how about a quick look at how SANta leverages cloud technologies to support his global operations.

Many in IT think that SANta bases his operations out of the North Pole as it is convenient for him to cool all of his servers, storage, networks and telecom equipment (which it is). However its also centrally located (See chart) for the northern hemisphere (folks down under may get serviced via SANtas secret Antarctica base of operations). Just like ANC (Anchorage International Airport) is a popular cargo transient, transload and refueling base for cargo carriers, SANta also leverages the north and South Pole regions to his advantage.

SANtas Global Reach via Great Circle Mapper

Now do not worry if you have never heard about SANta dual redundant South Pole operations, its one of his better kept secrets. Many organizations including SANtas partners such as Microsoft that have global mega IT operations and logistics centers have followed SANtas lead of leveraging various locations outside of the pacific northwest. Granted like some of his partners and managed service providers, he does maintain a presence in Washington Columbia river basin which provides a nice PR among other benefits.

Likewise, many in business as well as those in IT think that SANta leverages cloud technologies for cost savings or avoidance which is partially the case. However he also leverages cloud, hosting, managed service provider (MSP), virtual data centers, virtual operations centers, Xaas, SaaS or SOA technologies, services, protocols and products that are transparent and complimentary to his own in house resources addressing various business and service requirement needs.

What this has to do with the holidays and clouds is that you may not realize how Santa or St. Nick if you prefer (feel free to plug in whoever you like if Santa or St. Nick does not turn your crank) extensively relies on flexible and scalable resilient technologies for boosting productivity in a cost effective manner. Some of it is IT related, some of it is not. For example, from the GPS and Radar along with recently added RNP and RNAV enhanced capabilities to his increasingly high tech bio fueled powered sleigh, not to mention his information technology (IT) that powers his global operations, old St Nick has got it together when it comes to technology.

The heart or brains of the SANta operation is his global system operations center (SOC) or network operation center (NOC) that rivals those seen at NASA among others with multiple data feeds. The SOC is a 24×365 operations function that covers all aspects from transportation, logistics, distribution, assembly or packaging, financials back office, CRM, IT and communications among other functions.

Naturally, like the Apollo moon shots whose Grumman built LEM Lunar lander had to have 100% availability in that to get off of the moon, their engines only had to fire once, however it had to work 100% of the time! This thought process is said to have had leveraged principles from SANtas operations guide where he has one night a year to accomplish the impossible.

I should mention, while I cannot disclose (due to NDA) the exact locations of the SOCs, data or logistics centers, not to mention the vendors or the technology being used, I can tell you that they are all around you! The fully redundant SOCs, data and call centers as well as logistics sites (including staff, facilities, technology) leverage different time zones for efficiency.

SANtas staff have also found that the redundant SOCs, part of an approach across Santa entire vast organization has helped to guard against global epidemics and pandemics including SARs and H1N1 among others by isolating workers while providing appropriate coverage and availability, something many large organizations have since followed.

Carrying through on the philosophy of redundant SOCs, all other aspects of SANtas operations are distributed yet with centralized coordinated management, leveraging real-time situation awareness, event and activity correlation (what we used to call or refer to as AI), cross technology domain management, proactive monitoring and planning yet with ability for on the spot decision making.

What this means is that the various locations have ability to make localized decisions on the spot. However coordinated with primary operations or mission control to streamline global operations focus on strategic activity along with exceptions handling to be more effective. Thus it is not fully distributed nor fully centralized, rather a hybrid in terms of management, technologies and the way they work.

For example, to handle the diverse applications, there are some primary large processing and data retention facilities that backup, replicate information to other peer sites as well as smaller regional remote office branch offices close to where information services are needed. To say the environment is highly virtualized would be an understatement.

Likewise, optimization is key not just to keep costs low or avoid overheating some of SANtas facilities that are located in the Arctic and Antarctic regions that could melt the ice cap; they are also optimized to keep response time as low as possible while boosting productivity.

Thus, SANta has to rely on very robust and diverse communications networking leveraging LAN, SAN, MAN, WAN, POTS and PANs among other technologies. For example, his communications portfolio is said to involves landlines (copper and optical), RF including microwave and other radio based commutations supporting or using 3G, 4G, MPLS, SONET/SCH, xWDM, Microwave and Free space optics among others.

SANtas networking and communications elves are also said to be working with 5G and 100GbE multiplexed on 256 lambda WDM trunk circuits in non core trunk applications. Of course given the airborne operations, satellite and ACARS are a must to avoid over flying a destination while remaining in positive control during low visibility. Note that Santa routinely makes more CAT 3+ low visibility landings than most of the worlds airlines, air freight companies combined.

My sources also tell me that SANta has virtual desktop capability leveraging PCoIP and other optimizations on his primary and backup sleighs enabling rapid reconfiguration for changing workload conditions. He also is fully equipped with onboard social media capabilities for updates via twitter, Face book and Linked In among others designed by his chief social networking elf.

Consequently, given the vast amount of information needed to support his operations from CRM, shipping, tracking not to mention historical and profiling needs, transactional volumes both on the data as well as voice and social media networks dwarf the stock market trading volume.

Feeding SANtas vast organizations are online highly available robust databases for transactions purposes, reference unstructured data material including videos, websites and more. Some of which look hauntingly familiar given those that are part of SANtas eWorld Helpers initiative including: Sears, Amazon, NetFlix, Target, Albertsons, Staples, EMC, Wall mart, Overstock, RadioShack, Landsend, Dell, HP, eBay, Lowes, Publix, emusic, Riteaid and Supervalu among others (Im just sayin…).

The actual size of SANta information repository is a closely regarded secret as is the exact topology, schema and content structure. However it is understood that on peak days SANtas highly distributed high performance, low latency data warehouse sees upwards of 1,225PBytes of data added, one that is rumored to make Larry Ellison gush with excitement over its growth possibilities.

How does SANta pull this all off is by leveraging virtualization, automation, efficient and enabling technologies that allow him and elves (excuse me, associates or team members) to be more productivity in their areas of focus that is the envy of the universe.

Some of their efficiency is measured in terms of:

How many packages can be processed per elf with minimum or no mistakes
Number of calls, requests, inquiries per day per elf in a friendly and understandable manner
Knowing who has been naughty or nice in the blink of an eye including historical profiles
Virtual machines (VM) or physical machine (PM) servers managed per team member
Databases and applications, local and remote, logical and physical per team member
Storage in terms of PByte and Exabyte managed to given service level per team member
Network circuits and bandwidth with fewest dropped packets (or packages) per member
Fewest misdirected packages as well as aborted landings per crew
Fewest pounds gained from consumption of most milk and cookies per crew

From how many packages can be processed per hour, to the number of virtual servers per person, PBytes of data managed per person, network connections and circuits per person, databases and applications per person to takes and landings (SANta has the top of the list for this one), they are all highly efficient and effective.

Likewise, SANta leverages the partners in his SANtas eWORLD Helpers initiative network to help out where of course he looks for value; however value is not just lowest price per VM, lowest cost per TByte or cost per bandwidth. For SANta it is also very focused on performance, availability, capacity and economic efficiency not to mention quality with an environmentally friendly green supply chain.

By having a green supply chain, SANta leverages from a responsible, global approach that also makes economic sense on where to manufacture and produce or procure products. Contrary to growing popular belief, locally produced may not always be the most environmentally as well as economically favorable approach. For example (read more here), instead of growing flowers and plans in western Europe where they are consumed, a process that would require more energy for heat, lights, not to mention water and other resources. SANta has bucked the trend instead relying on the economics and environmental benefit of leveraging flowers and plants grown in warmer, sunnier climates.

Granted and rest assured, SANta still has an army of elves busily putting things together in his own factories along with managing IT related activities in a economically positive manner.

SANta has also leveraged this thinking to his data and information and communications networks leveraging sites such as in the arctic where solar power can be used during summer months along with cooling economizers to offset the impact of batteries, workload is shifted around the world as needed. This approach is rumored to be the envy of the US EPA Energy Star for Server, Storage and Data Center crew not to mention their followers.

How does SANta make sure all of the data and information is protected and available? Its a combination of best practices, techniques, technologies including hardware, software, data protection management tools, disk, dedupe, compression, tape and cloud among others.

Rest assured, if it is in the technology buzzword bingo book, it is a good bet that it has been tested in one of SANtas facilities, or, partner sites long before you hear about it even under a strict NDA discussion with one of his elves (opps, I mean supplier partners).

When asked of the importance of his information and data networks, resources and cloud enabled highly virtualized efficient operations SANta responded with a simple:

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

As you sit back and relax, reflect, recreate, recoup or recharge, or whatever it is that you do this time of the year, take a moment to think about and thank all of SANtas helpers. They are the ones that work behind the scenes in SANtas facilities as well as his partners or suppliers, some in the clouds, some on or underground to make the worlds largest single event day (excuse me, night) possible! Or, is this SANta and cloud thing all just one big fantasy?

Happy and safe holidays or whatever you want to refer to it as, best wishes and thanks!

BTW: FTC disclosure information can be found here!

Me on a break during tour SANta site tour

Ok, nuff said.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
twitter @storageio

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