In Every Issue

Real Time View

Richard Buckle

Not exactly an early Christmas present but all the same, it seems an appropriate time to talk about expectations. After all, it is the anticipation leading up to Christmas and to what might be under the trees is the most anticipated part of Christmas.

In Every Issue

Real Time View

Richard Buckle

There is a reason why Margo and I travel to events by car. Those that know us well and see us walking to the registration desk will often ask what car we drove to the venue this time?

In Every Issue

Real Time View

Richard Buckle

Call it juxtaposition serendipity. Unpacking my bags following this year’s pan-European E-BITUG event in Edinburgh, Scotland, I happened to place this year’s celebratory coffee mug alongside one that I scored more than two decades ago when the European ITUG Spring Conference was held in Nice, France. The dates may indeed be separated by the years, but not the sentiment. The tradition that underpins these annual events is hard to ignore.

Articles

Real Time View

Richard Buckle

For the better part of the past two centuries, there is barely a time when modernization isn’t the subject of conversation. Attend any gallery opening, any new musical or any open house and very quickly the conversation turns to whether or not the item represents modernism. In other words, is it an indicator of things to come or is it just more of the same.

Articles

NonStop TBC 22 has wrapped up. See what you’ve missed!

Richard Buckle

With his opening words, “It’s not where we are headed but how fast we will get there,” the boss of all things NonStop, Jeff Kyle, set the tone for the latest NonStop Technical Boot Camp (NonStop TBC 22). “We are a platform and not a server; the platform we are perfecting for mission critical applications. We create the data and we transact the data!”

Articles

It’s a virtual world after all … it’s a virtual, virtual world!

Richard Buckle

As I began to write this article for some strange reason these words came to mind. First heard on the Disney pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair, the song, It’s a small world after all continues to captivate audiences worldwide. It was back on this month, April of 1964 that the Fair opened with Disney supporting four exhibits and even as I was living in Sydney, Australia, my father captured the spirit of the Fair in photos he took when visiting New York in 1965.

Articles

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Connect Tech Forum: Business Integration & Analysis

Richard Buckle

Connect, together with members of the Connect community, is pleased to announce the creation of a new Tech Forum, Business Intelligence & Analysis (BI&A). We have all heard senior HPE executives refer to how data is created on NonStop but what comes next? To be valued by the enterprise data created on NonStop needs to be moved. It needs to be analyzed. It needs to lead to better business insights.

Articles

NonStop TBC21 returns as virtual event and reality sets in!

Richard Buckle

This year, as was the case last year, the annual NonStop Technical Boot Camp 2021 (NonStopTBC21) became a virtual experience. No surprises really about this even as many members of the NonStop community held out in the hope that it would be a return to an in-person event. No surprises too that even with the lateness of the transition to virtual, along with the promotion of the event being free of charges for attendees, there were 1,000 participants maybe more.

Articles

Data; it lives and it grows – with NonStop SQL, data truly has found a home.

Richard Buckle

Perhaps the most enduring character from the fictional Star Trek franchise just happens to be Data. With his positronic brain he could out-compute the likes of Vulcans and in so doing, endeared himself to viewers worldwide, given his total lack of emotion. Before Data, there had been Spock, but in Data we saw a significant upgrade albeit one with absolutely no understanding of humanity. In many ways, the mere thought of having someone like Data onboard the spaceship USS Enterprise, gave the scriptwriters that all-important way out whenever situations escalated beyond belief. With Data, there was always an option.

The 7 Best Compact Binoculars - [2021 Reviews] | Outside Pursuits
Articles

Virtualization; a world without limits now embraced by NonStop!

Richard Buckle

Virtualization, and the support of virtual operating systems, has been a part of IT for a very long time. The concepts are pretty simple; I/O has been much slower than main memory so actions taken by the processor have happened more quickly than actions directed at storage. This resulted in a lot of processor wait time and processor time was viewed as expensive; what could we do while we waited? Initially this lead to the creation of a number of partitions all sharing virtual storage (VS) so much so that it wasn’t unusual to find large systems running five, seven, twelve and more partitions that, in the case of IBM mainframes, broke processing down into online and batch.

Articles

Systems and Platforms: the lines in the sand.

Richard Buckle

Before we begin to look at HPE NonStop platform updates becoming available in 2021 it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and look at exactly what constitutes a platform. Like with every opinion, everyone has their own take on what constitutes a platform. It was so much easier when we all understood what was a computer, an operating system or an application but of late, the lines have become less clear. Can we still draw meaningful lines or have they become lines in the sand, subject to change every time a breeze disturbs their presence.

Articles

Your IT Transformation needs NonStop!

Richard Buckle

Let’s get definitions out of the way. If you have been wondering about the difference between IT Transformation and Digital Transformation (DX) then you are not alone. Many IT professionals and business commentators have stepped in to clarify what these differences boil down to, but in many cases, they have only raised more questions. As we move into 2021, enterprises are deep into projects that are designed to better align technology with business outcomes and as they do so, the idea of transformation appears with almost regular monotony.

Mission Critical

Back for More (Nov-Dec 2019)

Richard Buckle

When you consider the mileage, you oftentimes forget the passage of time – wasn’t it Harrison Ford’s character, Indiana Jones, in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark who responded to the question from the leading lady, “You’re not the man I knew ten years ago” with, “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.” When it comes to 2019 my travels reached new heights. As for someone who advocates travel by car, I spent time aboard ships, trains, planes and yes automobiles too. It was all in the name of spending quality time with the NonStop community.

Mission Critical

Insider Technologies celebrates its 30th year

Richard Buckle

Insider Technologies is a leading software development company developing mission-critical applications for the world’s most demanding customers. The firm’s DNA is in NonStop, with products like MultiBatch and Reflex firmly cemented in its client infrastructure. Now celebrating its 30th year of operations, Richard Buckle stopped by to chat with new and veteran members of the team to hear their reflections on the past and what they anticipate for the future of NonStop. Karl Gilbank (MD), Karl Todd (Product Owner), Dave Shields (Principle Consultant) joined in the discussion.