IT Management 2.0

Rise of the Machines

The movie “The Terminator” paints a picture of computers and automation

Don't Panic: Machines and Automation Don't Mean Termination

 as a bad thing.  But nothing can be further from the truth…Unlike the bleak future portrayed in the movie, one thing is becoming perfectly clear:  machines do things faster, more efficiently, and with fewer mistakes.  And that’s good news - especially when you’re managing IT resources.

A Brief History

From the first time our ancestors wrapped their opposable thumbs around a stick and used it for increased leverage, reach or impact - humans have been figuring out how to build machines to make life easier.  Some will claim to miss the “good old days” but there’s a reason why everyone eventually ends up adopting forms of automation that are effective.  The most successful machines are the ones that introduce a fundamentally different way of doing things.  This is true even when it takes a long time for people to discover those new ways of doing things. 

For instance, the first cars were literally “horseless carriages.”  They looked just like a normal carriage, but instead of a horse, they had a motor with a chain driving the rear wheels.  Since you couldn’t steer the motor like you could a horse, the early cars adapted the tiller concept from a boat.  The tiller was pretty quickly swapped for a new feature - the steering wheel.  However, it took a long while for the “body-on-frame” construction technique of horse drawn carriages to give way to the more effective monocoque construction with its low weight and low center of gravity.  Computer systems, and how we build them, are no different.

A New Revolution:  Automating Computer Systems

When RAID storage arrays became the dominant storage approach, IT organizations pretty quickly stopped trying to manage and control the low-level formatting of the disks.  However, it took a long time for those same IT organizations to stop freaking out about where exactly on the disk their LUNs were located.  Honestly, it also took array manufacturers a while to figure out that striping everything to make all I/O average was not what people were looking for.  Eventually, vendors figured out that it really was better to tell the array what the I/O requirements where and let the array decide where to place the data (not coincidentally, EMC’s FAST technology takes this to a whole new level).

The Next Revolution:  Unified Computer Platforms

Unified platforms (those that combine network, storage and compute elements) represent another opportunity for doing things differently.  There are some benefits to be gained from the hardware integration alone - just like there were benefits from replacing a horse with a motor.  There are further benefits to be gained by using and automating the provisioning capabilities of the platform.  For instance, you can use software to logically configure a blade with the needed resources when it’s required rather than designing and procuring a physical server.

It’s only when you rethink your overall process of managing capacity and allocation of that capacity that you can truly achieve exponential gains in efficiency and agility.  To that end, EMC Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager 2.0is introducing a service-driven automation approach to managing and provisioning capacity leveraging the VCE Vblock Infrastructure Platform.  It allows you to “grade” your Vblock resources according to the services you want to offer, then provisions from the infrastructure according to the requirements you specify.  Not only does this execute provisioning faster and with fewer errors, it reduces the amount of time figuring out what to provision in the first place.

Wrapping it Up

As you take your journey to the next-generation of the computing infrastructure, you should embrace the revolution taking place and not be put off.  The reality is not portrayed by movies like The Terminator.  The fact of the matter is, this next-generation of automation is going to make your lives better.

And as you approach this next-generation, you really have to ask yourself - do you want a tiller, or a steering wheel?  Do you want to trade time spent executing tasks for time spent micro-managing provision decisions?  Or would you like to spend your time on more productive things like managing resource capacity. 

Whatever you do, make sure you don’t try to manage your next-generation infrastructure with an outdated approach to automation.

I’d love to know what you think.  Let’s keep the conversation going!!!

I’ll be back,

Phil

Change and Configuration, Cloud, Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Population, Data Center Automation and Compliance, Dependency Mapping, Network Management, Private Cloud, Service Management, Service Providers, Storage Resource Management (SRM), Virtualization Management EMC, Ionix, Ionix UIM, VCE, VMworld

Service Providers:  An Eye To the Cloud

In Part I  of this blog, we began to tackle the issue of infrastructure management solutions, their importance to service providers - especially in the era of cloud services.   As we stated in the first post:

The point is that new services are essential to help all service providers overcome shrinking revenues and compete effectively.  Telco providers, in particular, need to look to new services to bolster their legacy network income.

As always, the issue is helping customers overcome the challenges associated with launching new services and managing this ever-expanding

The Big Question: Service Providers and the Cloud

 and increasingly complexIT infrastructure.  Now we’ll look at how EMC Ionix approaches the situation and offers a solution for service providers.

EMC Ionix Can Help

1. EMC Ionix Eliminates Errors:  Automation allows service providers to remove the manual process from their day-to-day activities as they are both error-prone and time-consuming.  It will help them eliminate the cost of manually making the relationships between components on network and entire service infrastructure, including servers, applications and storage.  This becomes even more important within a growing and highly dynamic infrastructure.  Automation can save up to 70% of the time to isolate the problems, and these resources can then be re-deployed from fire-fighting to supporting the business.
2. EMC Ionix Accelerates Infrastructure Management:  By automating infrastructure discovery and problem identification, service providers can reduce the length of many management tasks by upwards of 90%.  Having a holistic approach to discovery, configuration management and fault management dramatically speeds finding and fixing problems on the infrastructure.  And by being able to execute day-to-day changes on the infrastructure, service providers are able to deliver new services much more quickly and easily.
3. EMC Ionix Optimizes Infrastructure:  Service Providers are able to optimize their infrastructures by avoiding unnecessary outages and service downtime due to mis-configurations and unplanned changes in their environment.  Manual change management causes more than 80% of infrastructure problems, so it’s essential to prevent configuration errors, such as mis-typing or interoperability issues by validating changes before execution.  In addition, it allows them to run “what-if” scenarios to understand what impact a particular configuration change might have on the infrastructure.
4. EMC Ionix Consolidates Silos:  By having a management platform that can work across silos, service providers are able to consolidate toolsets for server, network, storage and application configurations to avoid finger-pointing and a swivel-chair management style.  Proactive fault management allows benchmarking of normal network behavior so that action can be taken if it deviates from the norm.  In addition, the information will be useful to help different entities within the service provider to collaborate together, see their impact and make support handover easier.
5. EMC Ionix Helps in Compliance with Internal/External Regulations:  Finally, automated configuration checking will allow the service provider to ensure their infrastructure is in compliance with both their own IT policies but also with regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, and SOX.  It allows them to improve security by having automatic policy

Participate and See For Yourself

Hopefully by now you have a better idea about infrastructure management and its importance to service providers - especially in the era of the cloud.  But don’t just believe us.  We have some great customer testimonials from such companies as Swisscom and Interoute to better illustrate our point.  In addition, we’re opening up to service providers to tell us what they think.  If you’re a European service provider, we encourage you to take our survey here.

Additionally, I’d love to hear what you think.  Please feel free to send comments and feedback.

Suhela

Cloud, Private Cloud, Service Management, Virtualization Management EMC, Ionix, IT Management, Private Cloud, Virtualization

Ionix:  The New Frontier

Late last week, EMC and VMware announced a major milestone in the

The Evolution of Ionix

 evolution of Ionix.  Announced February 25, VMware and EMC announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for VMware to acquire certain software products and expertise from EMC’s Ionix IT management business.

Under terms of the agreement, VMware will acquire all of the technology and intellectual property of:  Ionix Application Stack Manager (FastScale), Ionix Application Discovery Manager, Ionix Server Configuration Manager, and Ionix Service Manager.

EMC will retain the Ionix brand and have full reseller rights to continue to offer customers the products acquired by VMware.  Additionally, EMC will continue to develop the Ionix portfolio, and will focus on such products as:  Ionix for IT Operations Intelligence (Smarts),  Ionix Network Configuration Manager (Voyence), Ionix Data Center Insight, Ionix ControlCenter, Ionix Storage Configuration Advisor and Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager.

This focus will enable EMC to concentrate on on providing ground-breaking solutions that simplify the management of the information infrastructure - specifically for network, storage and private cloud environments (including Vblocks). 

There’s a great post from Chuck Hollis on the announcement and what it means.  Stay tuned to this blog for more exciting updates on the evolution of Ionix.  Much more to come…

Would love to hear what you think…Please post some comments to keep the conversation going…

Change and Configuration, Cloud, Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Population, Data Center Automation and Compliance, Dependency Mapping, Service Management, Storage Resource Management (SRM), Virtualization Management EMC, Ionix, Ionix Application Discovery Manager, Ionix for IT Operations Intelligence, Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager, Vblocks, VMware

Times are tough…There’s no denying that despite the recovery predictions  of many economists, businesses are still being extremely conservative with their investments.  Investments in IT are no exception.  This is why nearly every IT vendor that walks through your door will claim to save you money — You just need to buy what they’re selling!!!

Needless to say, this trend has created a boatload of skeptics.  Vendors that take a careless approach to “IT cost savings” can find themselves at the receiving end of these skeptics’ barbs.

At EMC, we have a healthy respect for our customers’ skepticism.  So, when we decided to put together an EMC Ionix virtualization management cost savings and benefits assessment tool, we knew it would have to produce figures that were realistic as well as “tweakable” for individual scenarios.  It would have to quantify the value of being able to virtualize faster, to manage more efficiently, and to reduce risk.  It would have to be a useful tool for evaluating your current state of virtualization management — not just an Ionix marketing tool.

So, what’s the right way to look at a cost savings calculator?

1. Recognize Each Solution is Different:  Peer case studies can be a great tool for understanding the potential benefits of a product or technology.  However, you need to take into account that each IT situation is unique.  When you are reading a case study, ask yourself how closely that customer’s situation mirrors your own.  How large is your IT organization?  How many servers are you managing?  What are your labor costs?
2. Evaluate Your Current State:  Unless you’re a startup, you are
   

   Can Effective Virtualization Management Save You $$$ ?

   not starting from ground zero.  Most IT organizations have standardized and consolidated some of their tools, have implemented some degree of automation, and have at least attempted to implement some form of IT service management.  If you were to grade the maturity of your IT management tool usage, where would would you like to be on the curve?

3. Don Just Throw Product at the Problem:  Despite what the ad implies, simply buying the weight lifting machine will not turn you into Mr. Universe.  IT management tools - whether they provide IT operations monitoring, compliance validation, or service management - are all very tightly integrated into your operational processes, policies, and organizational structure.  An IT management solution for managing a virtualized infrastructure will only deliver value if you are also willing to adjust your processes to leverage virtualization.
4. Work With Trusted Advisors:  Whether it is your EMC account team, EMC consulting (which btw has an excellent VMware consulting practice), another IT consulting firm, or colleagues at a peer company - learning from experience of an outside advisor can be invaluable as you work to manage the complexities and capabilities of virtualization.  Keep in mind, we’re all on this same journey together.
5. Keep a Scorecard:  Don’t just calculate the anticipated savings - track them over time.  Often this will require capturing metrics that you don’t capture today.  If you are not realizing the savings and benefits you anticipated, ask yourself some hard questions - Have you made the changes to your processes you need to?  Have you implemented tools on the timeline you planned to?  Ask your vendors these same hard questions (sounds strange coming from a vendor?).  You may discover that there are opportunities for some mid-flight corrections.

With all that said, I invite you to try our “EMC Ionix Virtualization Management Cost Savings and Benefits Analysis” calculator to see how management of your virtualized infrastructure compares with your peers and how EMC Ionix can help.

I’d like to hear what you think.

Phil

Service Management, Virtualization Management EMC, Ionix, ITSM, Virtualization