Perhaps the best-known reprimand by Grace Hopper is “We’ve always done it this way,” as it was a cautionary note when it comes to technology adoption. As has been reported in a post to the website of AudienceView, consider how safety and predictability have led some venerable businesses to stagnate where such practices led to the “demise of Blockbuster. Kodak, a brand synonymous with film, has spent billions (with a B!) on failed attempts to right its ship because its team failed to innovate.”
This has been the subject of a number of posts and articles of late in the lead up to NonStop Technical Boot Camp 2024 (#NonStopTBC24), where this famous quote has been referenced. It continues to resonate with IT communities all these decades later. However, joining Grace Hopper’s reprimand, updated for these times, comes the promotional line from Google with the introduction to it’s Pixel 9 Pro phone, “It is what it is … until it isn’t!”
Catchy phrases are all well and good and yes, there’s definitely plenty to go around, what’s perhaps most important of all that none of this is being lost on the NonStop community. An appreciation of just how far and how quickly HPE has pivoted NonStop to where it now comes in many different flavors or versions continues to surprise the industry. It may be too early to predict that HPE will get behind the message that with NonStop, HPE can save you from not just outages but from scammers and hackers.
Failure to innovate can plague many companies but at TCM, innovation continues to drive our pursuits and has been responsible for some of the more recent developments at the company. When the NonStop community gathered in Monterey, California, for the NonStop TBC 2024 conference that many NonStop community members view as the highlight of the year.
However, what might be overlooked is just how diverse the experiences are likely to be when such a gathering takes place. International diversity? Product variances? Personal networks? It’s all showcased at these events. More importantly perhaps is that it is innovation together with resilience and the presentation of new, modern approaches to tackle current requirements that attracts the most attention.
“For as long as we have supported the NonStop community, there has always been the need to promote new ideas,” said Daniel Craig, TCM Managing Director. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise to the NonStop community that with the projects we do and to the NonStop customers with whom we interact, we are perhaps the best resource to access when looking at how best to capitalize on the value provided by NonStop systems today.”
It hasn’t gone unnoticed among NonStop community members that numerous NonStop vendors have introduced complementary products to their service offerings. The best example has been the direction taken by those with security products. Providing consulting services in support of compliance has been the mainstay of many of these NonStop vendors, so witnessing their progression to offering products that automate this examination of compliance came as no surprise.
For TCM, the opportunity to translate our knowledge of how best to configure NonStop, its resources, and its operational properties into a product came easily. To date, NonStop customers have warmed to the idea that the mapping of expertise gained through practical experience can be readily exploited through a product that simply gives them a broad-brush illustration of all that has been done, together with suggestions as to how to achieve even greater benefits from their NonStop.
“It is what it is … until it isn’t” should resonate with us all. Looking back at how we approached deploying our NonStop system, I see that it isn’t necessarily relevant to what today’s NonStop system delivers. With TCM InSight, you get to see the ramifications of overlaying a modern NonStop system with practices forged years ago. The documented demise of industry heavyweights like Kodak and Blockbuster is a reminder that revolving along with product demands is imperative for all enterprises. However, having said that it’s not something that comes naturally to all NonStop customers who might be simply following scripts or the practices of existing personnel.
“So often we see a new NonStop system being installed, data being replicated from the old to the new, and the same strategies, processes, and scripts in use on the older system simply transferred to the new system,” said TCM’s Andy Vasey. “It may not be obvious at first to the NonStop customer, but at TCM, we have likely already completed a number of refreshes involving the new system and are in an ideal position to better inform the NonStop customer about new capabilities that, in all likelihood, offer them a better way to do their job. And don’t forget too, when it comes to modernization projects, few companies can match the skillsets TCM has developed.”
TCM was privileged to have been given the opportunity to present to the NonStop community. Across the three days of the conference proper, it was TCM that provided updates on experiences and expectations following the introduction of a much-needed update to NonStop. In their presentation, Unleashing Performance: The Future of NonStop with Kernel-Level Threading (KLT), it was once again the voice of TCM’s Shiva Subramanian sharing his experience to date that proved extremely popular.
TCM was among the earliest NonStop vendors to recognize the potential value afforded the NonStop community should KLT become a reality. Such a capability is fundamental to how developers generally approach coding for open platforms such as Linux. The NonStop team and many in the consulting community have argued that simply targeting TS/MP (Pathway) to do the equivalent was an option. Still, this argument fell flat when it comes to attracting new solutions to NonStop. Now, with KLT, the whole issue arising from “problems with porting to NonStop” disappears, presenting NonStop with the potential to support many more new applications. New applications on NonStop are sure to happen, given the industry-wide changes we have already seen shaping so many conversations among the NonStop community.
The world of IT is experiencing change on a scale, unlike any time in the past. Preparing for an explosion in AI usage, building protective barriers against scammers and hackers, and unprecedented levels of errors and omissions, where glitches and miscues have been elevated to levels significant enough to generate headlines across all media channels. The proliferation of increasingly more powerful edge solutions combined with cloud computing moving in-house will challenge even the most experienced NonStop technician.
With this in mind, TCM continues to invest in its own people, build additional services, and provide access to experiences it has gained through delivering products. We trust that this was the takeaway from the latest NonStop Technical Boot Camp 2024, even as we know there will be many more conversations taking place where TCM will be involved. Should your own experience highlight the need to engage with TCM, but you missed the sessions or an opportunity to talk to us on our stand, then reach out to us, as we would be only too happy to continue these conversations in a positive manner. After all, no longer can we proceed in any fashion on the misguided perception that it will always be a case of it is what it is!
nonstop@tcm.uk.com www.tcm.uk.com
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