After years spent focusing on personal technology, businesses are increasingly turning back to the enterprise. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest one is the poor economy. Individuals simply have less free cash to spend on gadgets and software, and the meagre profits are increasingly going into the pockets of a single company: Apple.

The corporate IT market is much more dynamic and competitive, with a few very large “superpower” companies discovering their power to drive purchasing decisions. If a supplier can create an integrated “stack” of hardware and software, they can push product purchases that might otherwise be overlooked or postponed. This is the main reason that enterprise IT acquisitions work so well: Where a small company must fight to sell their product, a large one can hitch it to a much more strategic sale and have it pulled along.

The old IBM model is the prototype, with that company once selling everything from office equipment to datacenter gear as well as the consulting and integration services to make it all work.

HP has spent almost two decades bulking up to become the new IBM, buying their way into open systems laptops, desktops, and servers (Compaq), networking (3Com), services (EDS), and storage (Compaq, LeftHand, Ibrix, and perhaps 3Par). HP has been remarkably proficient at executing on this enterprise plan: In talking to enterprise IT folks, I often hear IBM-esque sentiments regarding the new HP. They tell me they’re willing to give HP the benefit of the doubt when it comes to new technologies and products, buying on basis of the company’s reputation and ability to make everything work. This bodes well for the company’s post-Hurd future, and HP has the most-complete “enterprise stack” in the business.

But HP has a target on its back, pinned there by Dell. The folks from Round Rock believe they can be more efficient (and thus profitable) than HP in the same markets, and have been making moves to fortify their enterprise offerings. Dell was always more of a manufacturing than R&D business, but they have shown a desire to broaden their focus. Intrigued by the high-margin mid-enterprise storage business built from their EqualLogic acquisition and their success selling EMC storage, Dell is moving into the enterprise. They matched HP/EDS by purchasing Perot and have made smaller buys in storage (Ocarina, Exanet) as well as the big move for 3Par.

The next big emerging stack player is Oracle. The acquisition of Sun gave Oracle a strong hardware base to complement their command of enterprise software, and many expect further acquisitions. But Oracle is playing a different game than HP and Dell, focusing on the high-margin enterprise space and ignoring more competitive outlying areas. Many suspect the company might make a play in the network space (Brocade, Juniper, and F5 have been mentioned) but storage is possible as well. CEO Larry Ellison is a major investor in Pillar Data Systems, so many expect a spin-in here. But Oracle has the appetite for something much bigger, even EMC or NetApp.

Then there is Cisco, who have attempted to parlay their data center networking strength into a broader position. But Cisco’s halting moves into storage (Fibre Channel switching and SAN extension) did not displace the market leaders, and their server products (UCS) have not made much of a dent on HP, IBM, and Dell either. A solid partnership with EMC has delayed further forays into the enterprise storage market, and Cisco seems puzzlingly interested in low-margin access businesses (Linksys, Flip) and their Cius tablet.

There are other players in the enterprise space as well. EMC has diversified under CEO Joe Tucci, taking a dominant position in server virtualization (VMware) and making a strong enterprise security acquisition (RSA). But the many faces of enterprise storage remains EMC’s strength, and they seem content to partner with Cisco for a stack sale. Hitachi, NEC, and Fujitsu also offer varying enterprise hardware and software stacks, but their comparatively small sales presence in the US market limits their ability to execute. In the final analysis, only IBM, HP, Dell, and perhaps Oracle can claim to be enterprise IT superpowers at this point.

Image credit: Steam Engine by Stuck in Customs

© Stephen Foskett for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Meet the Enterprise IT Superpowers
Read more posts categorized as Featured, Networking, Server Virtualization, Storage

The following post was contributed by Dwayne Lessner (@DLink7).

While going through the release notes for vSphere 4.1 I noticed one of my favourite vSphere tools be might be going away. vCenter Update Manager (VUM) 4.1 and its subsequent update releases are the last releases to support scanning and remediation of patches for Windows and Linux guest operating systems.

I think it would be a mistake not to continue on with VUM. The tool can scan and remediate both powered on and powered off virtual machines (VMs). You can easily tell from a single pane of glass which VM’s are compliant or not. With a large virtual desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment it’s fast and easy to update your templates and linked clones. You can even automatically take a snapshot before you apply the updates in case there is a problem. This tool has shaved off hours on monthly change windows. If I had to do all this work manually I would have to hire extra staff which in today’s market is not going to happen.

Shavlik, the company behind the patch database that VUM relies on, seems to have a good working relationship with VMware. Last year when VMware announced VMware GO, a free web-based service that will allow a customers to set up ESXi, Shavilk was a major partner. It’s hard to believe they would just drop each other but I believe there is a cloud play. Shavlik will be providing cloud-based IT management and patching through their OPsCloud strategy. I believe with VMware’s Redwood around the corner the two companies will offer the proper hooks to each others infrastructure in the form of the appropriate cloud API’s.

It’s likely that the same tools will exist but in different forms and under different names. I am sure we will have another reason to spend the money on another upgrade.

© guest for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Is My Favorite vSphere Tool Going Away?
Read more posts categorized as All, Exclusive, Storage, Tech Field Day Roundtable Podcast

The 3Par acquisition is a slam dunk at under $2 billion. The company has great enterprise-grade SAN technology and a proven ability to sell into high-end accounts but lacked the revenue to go it alone. A major enterprise IT vendor like HP or Dell (not to mention Oracle, IBM, or even NetApp) will kick sales into high gear. Even with no further product development, any of those vendors can profit from this acquisition.

But there’s an amazing short-term win to be had for whoever acquires 3Par. According to IDC, the race for number two in external disk storage system sales is a bitter fight. IBM, NetApp, HP, and Dell are all within striking distance of each other, pulling in between $500 and $579 million dollars while big daddy EMC makes more than any two of them. The battle between HP and Dell in storage arrays is a dead heat, with just $6 million separating the two.

The 3Par acquisition creates a massive market-share shift!

It’s no wonder HP and Dell are fighting over 3Par! That acquisition is good for an easy $50 million in quarterly revenue, and a strong sales push could make this $60 million. This extra revenue cements the buyer ahead of his rival and makes him a challenger to IBM and NetApp. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see the winner vault into the number 2 spot within a year.

This is a huge win for HP or Dell and a serious egg-on-the-face moment for NetApp, IBM and the loser. Sure, $1.7 billion is a lot to pay for $250 million in revenue, but the winner gets immediate bragging rights and a serious prospect of breaking free of the second-place pack. 3Par’s technology is unique in being a real tier-1 threat. This was an issue for the company as a startup, but becomes a serious asset in the hands of HP or Dell (or, dare I suggest, Oracle or NetApp). A well-executed transition and sales execution will cement HP or Dell as the most-credible competitor to EMC within a few years.

Stephen’s Stance

The 3Par acquisition makes so much sense, one wonders why it didn’t happen sooner. Dell clearly sees this as a higher-end repeat of their success with EqualLogic and gives them a chance to earn some additional enterprise credibility. An HP acquisition makes just as much sense, giving them fresh SAN technology and letting them pull ahead of Dell once again. A big deal like this also gives HP’s Dave Donatelli some internal clout in the aftermath of the Hurd fiasco. I expect a counter-offer or two before this is done, but 3Par remains attractive at even a billion more.

Will anyone else join the fray? IBM seems happy with XIV, though the market doesn’t see that product as tier-1. I expect them to stand pat. Oracle should jump in, given the souring of their Sun-era Hitachi OEM deal. Passing on 3Par leaves them with no enterprise SAN chair when the music stops, but they might not feel that they need this kind of hardware. Cisco could use the 3Par technology to reject EMC, but they might not be ready for that move. Another idea is perennial second-place storage company NetApp, who might be able to afford to play this game and could really use a new product line.

What’s left for the loser? Not much. There isn’t another startup with credible tier-1 SAN intentions. Compellent is a great alternative in the midrange SAN market, and Xiotech has great SAN technology here, too. Everyone assumes Oracle will pick up Pillar, and then there’s BlueArc and Isilon waiting in the NAS space. But none of these are a slam-dunk in terms of market share, and the value question looms large when it comes to any high-P/E acquisition. Expect more acquisitions in the coming quarters, but the 3Par game looks like a highlight.

© Stephen Foskett for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Everyone Loves 3Par – Here’s Why!
Read more posts categorized as Storage

A detailed look at the Big, Hot and Heavy Ethernet Switches with a large crew to talk about their practical experiences on design, selection and performance of Cisco Nexus switches. The result ? We don’t think the Nexus switches are very exciting.

Due to people commitments we recorded a double length show which will be released in two parts. This is Part 2 and Part 1 was released next weekend.

What You’ll Hear…

• On the increase in 10GbE in the Data Centre and what’s driving that. And looking at why we aren’t comfortable with the HP Flex-10 networking module for their blade servers.
• We are planning on using IP Storage, after consulting with the Server team. The cost of FC doesn’t work for us, and FCoE still isn’t here.
• A look at transient traffic loads and how the deployment of VMware DRS changes the way our backbone looks. The importance of dynamic traffic flows to VMware and what we need to do to support that.
• We take a detailed and critical look at what Cisco doesn’t tell you about the Nexus 7000 – the bad things, the missing features such as QoS, MPLS and lack of value. Not to mention the generally underwhelming performance of the product. Also, it’s big, it uses a lot of power and runs hot.

You can find Jeremy Filliben at http://jeremyfilliben.com and @jfilliben.

You can find Steve Rossen on @steve

You can find Ivan Pepelnjak at http://ioshints.info and on @ioshints.

IOS Hints Live – San Jose September 2010

You can book to join the event at ioshintsdatacenter.eventbrite.com/. There are only a limited number of seats at this unique event where Ivan Pepelnjak and Greg Ferro will both be available to discuss, review and develop your designs.

Feedback

Follow the Packet Pushers on Twitter (@packetpushers | Greg @etherealmind | Dan@rovingengineer | Ethan @ecbanks) and send your queries and comments about the show to packetpushers@gmail.com.  We want to hear from you!

© Etherealmind for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Show 17 – Big Hot and Heavy Switches – Part 2
Read more posts categorized as Favorites, Networking

© Stephen Foskett for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Podcast 8: Symantec Application HA, VirtualStore, and NetBackup 7
Read more posts categorized as Exclusive, Featured, Server Virtualization, Storage, Tech Field Day Roundtable Podcast

I was lucky enough last week to be involved in a Gestalt IT conference call with Symantec.  The conference call was designed to give us all a sneak preview of what Symantec were planning to announce at VMworld 2010 in a couple of weeks.  Unfortunately it was under embargo, that is until today!

There were a couple of announcements being made, Symantec introduced a new NFS storage product called VirtualStore and made some further announcements about NetBackup 7 and new VMware specific features.  However the most interesting announcement on the call for me was the release of Symantec Application HA for VMware.

Symantec have been looking at why customers are not going “the last mile” with virtualisation.  Why are customers not deploying their Tier 1 applications on their virtual platforms? Symantec’s view on this was that customers still have issues with application level failure within guest VM’s.  This product has been designed to fill that void and at present is a product with no real competitors.

As the call progressed the current HA options were described by Symantec and discussed by the group. The obvious one is VMware HA which covers a physical host failure event. Within the VMware HA product there is also VM monitoring which covers you in the event of an OS level failure event, such as a  blue screen.  Then you can of course employ other technologies such as OS level clustering, however you then have to take heed of caveats that hinder the ability to use features such as vMotion and DRS.

I’m always sceptical when I see new virtualisation products, one of my fears is that companies are attempting to just jump on the crest of the wave that is virtualisation. Symantec are obviously a bit more established than your average company, but as always the jury is out until we see a final product doing the business for real.  It transpired during the call that the product is actually based on Symantec Veritas Cluster Server,  a product with a long history in application availability.

Veritas Cluster Server has a lot of in built trigger scenarios for common products such as Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange Server and  IIS.  On top of this built in, out of the box support Symantec also have a VCS development kit allowing for custom scenarios to be written.  I like this approach,  it reminds me of F5 Networks use of the customer community to support the writing of custom rules and features for their product.  If a custom rule or feature has enough demand then they spend the time developing it into their product range.    Perhaps Symantec could look at leveraging their customer base and community in this way and improve the support around VCS trigger scenarios.  One other potential use of the VCS SDK that springs to mind is for application vendors who are making specialist software, CRM, ERP, Finance systems, etc.  They could look to build in Application HA into pre-configured virtual appliances, that would be a great selling point for any software vendor.

The deployment of the product itself takes the form of a guest deployment / agent. Technical deep dive information on the exact integration between the Symantec product and VMware was thin on the ground.  However there was mention of Symantec’s integration with the VMware HA API,  something that I don’t think has been announced by VMware just yet.  The description given to us during the call was that if Symantec Application HA failed to restart the application it could send a downstream API call to VMware HA and ask it to restart the VM’s Operating System.  An interesting concept, something I am sure we’ll hear more about at VMworld.

Licensing for this new product is quite competitive, $350 per virtual machine, a small price to pay for ensuring your Tier 1 application recovery is automated.  Symantec have promised full integration with vCenter Server and the screenshot below shows Symantec Application HA in action monitoring a SQL 2008 server, click on the thumbnail to see a full size image.

If you would like to learn more about Application HA, then get along to VMware and Symantec’s break out session at VMworld. – http://www.vmworld.com/docs/DOC-4658

Alternatively you can listen to a Podcast from Symantec’s Niraj Zaveri discussing the new product.  – http://www.symantec.com/podcasts/detail.jsp?podid=ent_application_ha

© Craig for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Symantec Application HA for VMware – VMworld 2010
Read more posts categorized as Featured, Server Virtualization, Top Story

The Content

We talked briefly about MIMO antennas for 802.11n when used outdoors.

And then how to start learning about Wireless Networking. The most important thing to learn is a working knowledge of Radio Frequency and signal propagation.

The best place to start to learn is cwnp.com. It’s vendor neutral and highly recommended. Other recommended blogs and podcasts can be found at:

wlanpros.com

www.my80211.com

One of the best blogs is Jerome Henry wirelessccie.blogspot.com who is a Cisco Wireless CCIE.

And we touched on some common mistakes that people can make when they are starting out in wireless networking.

The Guests

Craig Schnarrs is at thewifiguy.net and @the_wifi_guy

Jeff Russell doesn’t have a Twitter account or a blog. Yet.

The Hosts

Jennifer Huber is @jenniferlucille and her blog jenniferhuber.blogspot.com

Greg @etherealmind and EtherealMind.com

Feedback

Send your queries and comments about the show to packetpushers@gmail.com.  We want to hear from you!

© Etherealmind for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Unplugged – Show 1 – Lugging That Damn AP
Read more posts categorized as Favorites, Networking

The storage industry got a lot more competitive this morning, as Dell announced plans to buy 3Par. This is the latest round in a well-established race for the enterprise storage dollar, challenging superpower (and Dell partner) EMC in the high-end SAN space. What does this acquisition say about the industry as a whole? Where are we headed?

I’ve long wished for a new enterprise storage superpower. Competition is good for everyone, and the enterprise storage space has always been highly competitive. Traditional SAN storage powers (EMC, HDS, HP, and IBM) have been under continual attack from tech-heavy upstarts like EqualLogic, LeftHand, Compellent, Xiotech, and 3Par. The smaller (revenue-wise) NAS market has been more serial, with NetApp knocking off Auspex, then challenged by EMC. Yet innovators have been thick there as well, from Exanet to Ibrix, Isilon to Onstor.

Through it all, one thing has been clear: The major companies, though perhaps lagging in technology, were usually able to withstand the attack of the upstarts through sheer strength of salesforce. Storage is a strategic investment, and selection of a storage platform is much more far-reaching than many IT product decisions. The inertia of an installed storage environment makes it a real challenge to switch vendors, giving the established players massive leverage.

It became clear to me and many others that the best way for upstart companies (and, by extension, technologies) was to be part of an established vendor’s sales process. OEM relationships were a big part of this (witness the success of BlueArc and even NetApp and HDS) but acquisition was a much stronger proposition. If customers were warmer to OEM products than independent sales, they are much hotter when it comes to acquired technology. HP, Dell, IBM, and EMC have all demonstrated the power that comes when an established company buys a startup and puts the power of their sales force behind these new products.

This explains Dell’s fantastic success with EqualLogic. They took a product that was emerging as dominant in its niche (midrange iSCSI SAN) and blasted it into the market, while at the same time optimizing manufacturing and deployment. EMC did the same with Clariion and DataDomain, and HP is showing strong signs of health with LeftHand and Ibrix. Then there is IBM, who took XIV out of Israel and made it a source of irritation to the rest of the industry.

Many industry watchers have long wondered what would happen if the smaller guys got together, forming a new superpower of their own. Would 3Par, BlueArc, and Sepaton be a real challenger? What about Xiotech or Compellent and Isilon or FalconStor? Is mixing and matching some smaller companies a recipe for success? The answer was often a counter-question: What if someone like Dell, who knows how to manufacture and sell, picked them up instead? This seemed much more like a sure-thing, since the established management and financials stave off potential integration issues.

It appears that this is the future. Established players will pick up smaller companies, fortifying their offerings and accelerating sales in a way the little guys weren’t capable of. Dell’s billion-dollar acquisition of 3Par reportedly headed off a similar offer from HP, and will likely spark another acquisition. I imagine the management teams at Compellent and Xiotech just got a lot busier…

Clearly, Dell and HP are playing this game. IBM and EMC are in it, too. But what about Cisco and Oracle? Could they be planning storage acquisitions of their own, to the detriment of partners like EMC and Hitachi? What about the strong contingent from Japan, NEC and Hitachi? And who gets picked up next? We shall see!

© Stephen Foskett for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Dell + EqualLogic, Exanet, Ocarina, 3Par = What?
Read more posts categorized as Storage

A detailed look at the Big, Hot and Heavy Ethernet Switches with a large crew to talk about their practical experiences on design, selection and performance of Cisco Nexus switches. The result ? We don’t think the Nexus switches are very exciting, HP Flex10 modules are a problem, and so much more.

Due to people commitments we recorded a double length show which will be released in two parts. This is Part 1 and Part 2 will be released next weekend.

VSS & vPC – the real experience

We started with a look at the differences between Cisco’s Virtual Switching System (VSS) and their Virtual Port Channel (vPC) implementation of Multi-Chassis Etherchannel and what our preferences are for choosing and implementing. We like vPC both from a design and implementation perspectives but our experiences of VSS have been very poor and we don’t choose to use it in the Data Centre. In practical way we don’t like the way that VSS is conceptually the same as a stackable switch.

We also don’t have much time on the Catalyst 4500 because they aren’t used in our designs. Also, there are too many modules and Supervisors, and the technology is confusing. The lack of architecture information is poor.

Cisco Fabric Extender switches

We had a short look at the QoS implementation on the Cat6500, and expressed our dissatisfaction with the configuration and consistency of the implementation and some surprising tips on how to solve the QoS problem.

Service Modules

We discuss the use of Service Modules in the C6500 chassis and our experiences.

The Guests

You can find Jeremy Filliben at http://jeremyfilliben.com and @jfilliben.

You can find Steve Rossen on @steve

You can find Ivan Pepelnjak at http://ioshints.info and on @ioshints.

IOS Hints Live – San Jose September 2010

You can book to join the event at ioshintsdatacenter.eventbrite.com/. There are only a limited number of seats at this unique event where Ivan Pepelnjak and Greg Ferro will both be available to discuss, review and develop your designs.

Feedback

Follow the Packet Pushers on Twitter (@packetpushers | Greg @etherealmind | Dan@rovingengineer | Ethan @ecbanks) and send your queries and comments about the show to packetpushers@gmail.com.  We want to hear from you!

© Etherealmind for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Show 16 – Big Hot and Heavy Switches – Part 1
Read more posts categorized as Favorites, Networking