Real Time View

Settled back into daily routines, the NonStop TBC 2024 Conference has quickly become just a memory. In my last column, I wrote about how, at that time, there was little I could convey back then. I also noted that for the NonStop customer, when it came to predictions, it was safe to say that we will still have access to conventional NonStop systems while bringing the cloud experience to each of us was very much in play.

How things have changed, and how fortunate we are. Elsewhere, I wrote in commentaries and posts immediately after the conference about the product roadmaps that interested me. In particular, the roadmap for the hardware. It turns out that the NonStop team does pursue due diligence when it comes to finalizing plans for NonStop systems. Listening to what are truly the real customer needs has always been a forte of NonStop development, and, in this case, what was floated as trial balloons early in the year appears to have deflated quickly under the astute eyes of major NonStop customers.

Such a dialogue is good news for NonStop. How the broader NonStop customer community would warm to systems delivered with pre-installed hypervisors was unclear. It was envisioned earlier this year that KVM would prevail. While such an approach to virtualization had its attractors, it seems that the majority of NonStop customers didn’t want to have anything to do with such product offerings.

At TBC 2024, it was now looking like the future of NonStop would include numerous options. Still, for the traditional NonStop customer familiar with the current line of Converged Systems, it would become more a case of preserving the status quo. Not exactly, mind you, but with backward compatibility being yet again preserved across changes to the hardware, NonStop customers would benefit from the NonStop team embracing the latest ProLiant Server packaging. As some would note, with amusement, that Starship had landed.

There is nothing Alien about these new converged systems, mind you. Rather, Starship will be a follow-on to the current converged systems, NS4 X4 and NS8 X4. As was stated, now coming in 2025 with the latest ProLiant Gen 11 servers leveraging Intel Xeon x86 Sapphire Rapid’s microprocessors means that these enhanced Converged Systems will continue to be the primary workhorse for today’s mission-critical applications. Again, as was also stated, virtualization, hypervisors, virtual machines, etc., have their place, and we will be hearing more about further options in this regard as 2025 unfolds, but for now, life is once again good for the NonStop customer.

There was a lot more covered with SQL along with all things Data-related, extremely topical, and security-related. With further mandates imminent, it was no surprise to find the NonStop community acutely aware of the steps needed to preserve its key attributes. Not just availability and scalability, but data integrity and security gained a higher profile and it was clear that almost every NonStop vendor present at the Conference had something positive to add to this conversation.

However, something more interesting took place. Solutions vendors were upping their game. Lusis Payments, OmniPayments, and ACI, even though there were many references to abat+. Bringing solutions to this conference is a surefire way to attract more prospects as they build a buzz around NonStop. If you develop a solution for Linux, it isn’t unrealistic to anticipate it running on today’s NonStop systems. Just ask the team from Lusis as, according to Brian Miller at Lusis, “We develop in Linux where tools are better; then we compile for Nonstop (and for deployment) we are 100% OSS!”

This is a message I am planning to carry to the IT community at large. Irrespective of the Linux distribution you embrace and the development you perform, enterprise IT is looking for a major vendor-supported solution if only so they know where to point the finger when something appears to be amiss. Personally, I would like to see NonStop present in today’s modern supply chains, in part or in whole, but it appears this would require even more lobbying of major software companies than just a couple of vendors working in isolation could do.

Of late, I have been paying particular attention to the IBM zLinux market. When it comes to IBM Z, then you will find a mix of RedHat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. And when it comes to virtualization and hypervisors, IBM promotes just two – their own z/VM and KVM. Surprised?

IBM continues to pitch a marriage of traditional Z applications with Linux – look at how IBM describes “Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL); a processor that is dedicated to Linux® workloads on IBM Z® and LinuxONE. It is supported by the Linux operating system for IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE, IBM z/VM®, and KVM. All part of IBM’s pursuit of Hybrid IT – sound familiar?

It is a long shot, I know, to think in terms of addressing the IBM Z as a market, but with IBM viewing its Linux program as an integral part of its platform modernization program, it might be possible for one or two enterprise users of IBM mainframes to look more kindly on alternate platforms to anchor their pursuit of modernization. If the description of hybrid IT implies a duopoly of platforms, then NonStop can certainly extend a helping hand, you would think.

As for solutions that make sense to be run on NonStop, look no further than smart frontends and gateways. It may be all about connectivity where TCP/IP is the vehicle but monitoring, security, encryption, replication, and distribution might be viable targets and, ultimately, solutions by themselves. For as long as I can recall, I have always considered system and application monitoring, particularly in the world of hybrid IT, as a solution focused on the needs of IT end-users.

Furthermore, for me, the other big news item coming out of this year’s conference was the imminent availability of Kernel Level Threading (KLT). A much-requested capability stretching back years. Could this be one more catalyst that convinces solution vendors to validate the possibilities as a result of the support for KLT, something every NonStop supporter may want to keep on their radar following NonStop TBC 2024?

The bottom line here is that NonStop TBC 2024 encouraged many conversations about how to expand the footprint of NonStop in the global enterprise marketplace. No single initiative should be depended upon to do just this. My consideration of the mainframe marketplace may be way out there and not even feasible, but where the importance lies is for all of us, as a community, to keep thinking, keep coming up with fresh ideas, and most importantly, be bold and start conversing. What’s important is to encourage the creative minds of the NonStop community to keep thinking about the possibilities and to start as many conversations across the enterprise marketplace as possible.

And for the first time in many years, these conversations took place and, most important of all, were not followed by speculative laughter but rather with real deliverables in mind. Participating in groups of passionate NonStop enthusiasts confirmed that NonStop is very much alive and will continue to prosper well into the next decade. If you missed this year’s conference, know that NonStop TBC 2025 will be held in Houston, so get to work; think of how you can contribute to the broadening appeal of NonStop.

There’s a time to change and a time to look deeper at your options. Maybe, just maybe, you can capture a solution running elsewhere in your IT organization and reimagine it on NonStop. Now, that would guarantee an invitation to participate and an opportunity for a presentation. Isn’t that what we all would like to see? As for myself, you would find me sitting in the front row, pen in hand, writing pad open, with a renewed sense that together, we make things happen for NonStop!