Gravic recently attended the EBUG (EMEA BASE24 User Group) Annual Conference in Madrid, Spain. The theme was “Beyond the Sunset” and assisted delegates in choosing their best future strategy in light of the announcement from ACI over the “sunsetting” of some of its products. ACI offered a full set of updates, roadmaps, and opportunities for discussion with senior ACI executives. We were most impressed by the quality and quantity of attendees as well as the super reception we received discussing our implementation of Shadowbase® at Royal Bank of Canada for continuous availability BASE24 replication. Our overall lasting impression is that HP NonStop is a very viable and vibrant platform for both BASE24 and BASE24-eps, and the introduction of the HP NonStop Blades platform greatly enhances this marketplace. We were also pleased that the volcano in Iceland cooperated with our travel plans!

Jim Johnson, founder and chairman of The Standish Group International, will give the Keynote Presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Tandem User Group’s Technical and Business Meeting at AOL’s Headquarters in Dulles, VA, USA on June 2.

Abstract: The industry is moving at light speed to a new era of computing based on the simple premise of pay for play. Many of these pay for play concepts are manifested in cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), business ecology, and other modern IT methods and technologies. The HP NonStop can and will play a vital role in these concepts as the industry transitions from vertical applications to horizontal business services. The purpose of the talk is to provide a roadmap to move current NonStop stovepipe applications into the fully integrated data center, or what he calls the Megaplex.

Biography: Jim Johnson is the founder and chairman of The Standish Group International. Jim has been professionally involved in the computer industry for over 40 years and has a long list of published books, papers, articles and speeches. He has a combination of technical, marketing, and research achievements focused on mission-critical applications and technology. Jim is best known as a project management expert for his research on project performance and his ability to predict and recognize technology trends. Jim is a pioneer of modern research techniques and continues as a leader in the advancement of the research industry through virtual focus groups and case-based analytical technology.

Come to the meeting to hear Mr. Johnson describe how this trend is revolutionizing computing architectures, as well as to receive an update from Dick Davis on new Shadowbase features and trends in the data replication space, particularly for application modernization purposes. To register for MATUG, please contact Susan Loeliger, MATUG Secretary/Treasurer, at sloeliger@gravic.com.

New Video: 5 Habits of a Successful Project Manager

If you haven't been to NuWave's IT Project Blog, here's a good excuse to check it out.

The blog just posted their first project management how to video, titled "5 Habits of a Successful PM".

You can view the entire video in under 8 minutes, and if you've still got time to spare, you can check out some of the other great content, like "Business Process Management For Dummies" and "3 Principles of Green Project Management".

NuWave has gotten some excellent feedback on the IT Project Blog, and especially on the new video, so be sure not to miss out!

There are many more videos to come and next week's article comes with an online tool for project managers, but that's all we're going to say.

To stay up to date on the blog and other things NuWave, or if you just want to chat with the female staff, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nuwave.

NonStop - A Running Commentary
May, ‘10

The opinions expressed here are solely
those of the now self-employed author

When you start a business, you try to be as responsive as you can to every request. Very quickly, however, managing time takes all the skills you possess as you begin to juggle assignments. It’s become clear that the old adage “instead of what?” applies equally as well to my time as it does to when I walk into any car showroom to admire the latest model! Part of my problem, naturally, is my reluctance to cut back on any of the time I spend posting to blogs and engaging in discussions on social networking sites, both IT as well as those to do with cars, of course.

A few weeks ago, I found myself committed to producing two white papers, practically in parallel, and this past week, I worked hard on building a couple of business proposals for clients with whom I really enjoy working. All of this reflects positively, of course, on what I see developing for NonStop users, as I continue to work almost exclusively in this market segment. As I am not all that certain how large a readership I have created with this “running commentary” in Tandemworld - perhaps you can email me at richard@pyalla-technologies.com – after many years of developing stories for this eNewsletter, I find it a pursuit I’m reluctant to drop.

Visitors to the Real Time View blog site will have read about the number of vendors porting their products to NonStop, and this is very encouraging. While the early coverage I provided on new entrants into the financial services marketplace has been documented in several previous posts, this month I looked beyond financial services and at what’s happening in other marketplaces. In writing this post on new marketplaces, I also worked with a client who has been in the NonStop market a long time and had worked hard to add support for other platforms, yet now could see value in refocusing on marketing to the NonStop community. All the while I was tracking discussions on a number of LinkedIn groups and one discussion that I participated in gave me the idea for a post to the Real Time View a little later in the week.

The post I wrote featured a story that I worked on with folks from HP Enterprise Services (HPES), the new home for many who used to be part of EDS. In that post “What's in your container?” I looked at the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) initiative where NonStop was supporting operational data stores. I wrote of how a project, kicked off by EDS consultants, that had started with a.Net solution, found out about NonStop following the HP acquisition of EDS and recognized that NonStop was the ideal platform to house the all-important data base. I also wrote of how a vendor, PDSG, that had delivered a solution to the healthcare market with their CDX product, was able to turn it into a valuable application addition for the MDA initiative.

In case you haven’t had the time to read the post, you may have missed the following quote, “we are very excited to work in the Maritime Domain Awareness initiative with HPES. This is exactly the type of synergies that the HP/EDS merger was seeking, and it is excellent to see it happen within NonStop, Winston Prather, Vice President & General Manager emailed me. He then added, “HPES readily recognized the value that NonStop's database could bring to this initiative and we of course are very positive about the joint opportunities brought by this new solution area."

In closing the post, I remarked, “in previous posts to this blog I have looked at a number of new applications in the Financial Services marketplace but I am often asked about the applications in other markets and this one has the potential to develop a significant market presence, as no country can operate in isolation. The Maritime Awareness initiative’s engagement with the NonStop division is a very positive development for all who belong to the NonStop community.”

It’s not just about new solutions coming to NonStop, as pleasing and reassuring as it is to hear of them, there are a number of traditional NonStop partners putting more effort into rejuvenating interest in their solutions on NonStop. For many of them there’s been a lot of energy exerted in developing solutions for HP’s open platforms but as the message of converged infrastructure gains wider attention, the realization that future configurations could very well include NonStop has them, once again, excited about the NonStop server. One such partner is Integrated Research whose PROGNOSIS product is among the most widely deployed NonStop products.

Check out their website and access the link http://www.prognosis.com/white_papers/it_infrastructure/resource_center/page__2750.aspx to download a white paper I just finished as it really does take a fresh look at the value that comes in taking a second look at what can be achieved with a comprehensive solution like PROGNOSIS. What really intrigued me, however, was the work they are doing with solutions providers as they move through the complete stack, from the metal to the solution displays produced, and provide real time insight into the business services on offer.

However, the more I looked at their pursuit of real time Business Services Insight (BSI), an initiative they are aggressively promoting, it led me observe in the white paper of how, “for some among the NonStop community, it is the reports and screens first deployed out of the box, immediately following the installation of PROGNOSIS, that became the only evidence of its presence in the data center. For these corporations, and against the background of the current economic climate, it is time to return to the box, to dig even deeper into the box, and to really begin exploiting the advantages that come from its use.”

I can’t recall how many times I have written about NonStop and compared NonStop servers with the IBM mainframe but, of late, I have pretty much moved on and stopped considering the mainframe simply because, as is the case with many legacy technologies, if you don’t already have one, why would you consider one now? However, the pros and cons of the IBM mainframe continue to be debated on social networking sites like LinkedIn, where I spend considerable time promoting NonStop. Many times, the topics that prove to be popular turn into good sources for material that ends up in my blog posts and, this past week, it certainly proved to be the case.

In the post “Differences? Not so big, anymore!” I picked up on a comment made on the LinkedIn group, Real Time View, and wrote that “It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with NonStop and with Unix, and indeed with what has been happening all over the Internet, to read the latest comments posted to the LinkedIn group on Real Time View. ‘NonStop is a self-managing cluster (albeit with a few unusual interfaces), and should be positioned as such. As I recollect, most of the positioning that was done with NonStop was in terms of comparisons with IBM mainframes, which I think just aren't really that likely to be sources of new customers.’”

To which I responded in the above blog post of how, “to be fair, some 35 years ago, when NonStop was born, nobody viewed Unix as a candidate for the deployment of a business application: these were servers mostly used within the academic world - inexpensive, not secure, and not stable enough to use for the serious stuff! Fair enough, but probably of more interest are the comments that immediately followed. ‘NonStop can compete favorably with UNIX clusters (the Google, Facebook and Yahoo models; loosely-coupled, cheapo, Linux servers are tougher to compete with price-wise, but it takes a lot of interns, late nights and non-standard programming (i.e. no sql) to make those things work at scale) … It's certainly possible to go from a cluster like this to a NonStop cluster …’”

Last week it was hard to escape the news about the first shipments of the new Itanium chips, “Tukwila”. It was also hard to miss the news of the new program AllianceONE that brings together many different alliance programs that had previously operated across HP. HP bidding for Palm also caught many off-balance and follows on the heels of HP’s success in purchasing 3Com. As I look back on the past few weeks no wonder I had difficulty maintaining my priorities but then again, from where I sit, with mission critical and real time once again providing the back drop for discussions about NonStop, I couldn’t be any happier!

Richard Buckle

Founder and CEO

Pyalla Technologies, LLC

Email: richard@pyalla-technologies.com

Real Time View blog: http://real-time-view.blogspot.com

Buckle-Up blog: www.buckle-up-travel.blogspot.com

LinkedIn - Real Time View user group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878133&trk=hb_side_g

LinkedIn - Pyalla Technologies User Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2396887&trk=hb_side_g

New Crystal Point reseller

Kapiti Technologies is pleased to announce that agreement has been reached with Crystal Point to resell the Crystal Point range of products and services in the Australia and New Zealand region.

This provides Kapiti Technologies with additional products and services to add to the range of complementary NonStop products already sold and supported by them in the region.

Crystal Point is the leader in connectivity software for NonStop servers. The connectivity solutions range from OutsideView for terminal emulation to AppViewXS that enables publishing modern, fully integrated host applications over the web. The Security Suite products include NSSL, NSSH and HTTPS Tunneling to ensure your data remains private.

If you would like to:-

ü know more about Crystal Point products and services

ü have a free evaluation copy of OutsideView release 8.0

ü find out upgrade prices from OV 7.x to OV 8.x

please contact us:-

info@kaptek.co.nz

knixon@kaptek.co.nz

call office +64 49052400 or mobile +64 21 564966

Brightstrand Health Check Service

Maximise your hp NonStopÔ Server environment.

The BrightStrand International hp NonStop Server Health Check Service has been created in order to provide users of hp NonStopÔ Servers with a situation report as to the status of their hp NonStop systems and service environments.

The service has been designed by BrightStrand, to assure customers that they are getting the optimum from their current hp NonStopÔ Server environments. The Health Check will provide a guide to assist customers in making improvements to various service areas. It can also be used as a tool to aid the decision making process in such key areas as hardware purchasing, system migration and Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning.

The service will take into account a number of factors depending on the pre-defined scope of the service. These may include - procedures, strategies, system performance, configurations and security. The service will involve the monitoring of system metrics, an assessment of general procedures, review of software revision levels and a general check of the installation.

Service Objective

The objective of the Health Check is to provide high quality reviews of service areas that have been identified, by the customer, as being of concern or of interest. The main goals of the service will be:

· - To advise on compliance with standards.

· -To report on efficiency and performance.

· -To Identify possible problem areas and recommend solutions.

· -To advise on current or future strategy.

This will be achieved by engaging a fully qualified and experienced BrightStrand consultant that will work closely with the customer to agree the scope of the engagement and to identify areas of special interest or concern, use BrightStrand tools and solutions to gather the necessary information and documentation, analyse the information and deliver the agreed reports. Consultancy will be provided in the areas of Performance, Capacity Planning, Disaster Recovery, Operations, Database Management, System Security, System Management and Hardware Maintenance.

For further details please contact Dave Stewart today on +44 (0)7831 775115 or email him on dstewart@brightstrand.com.

Availability Digest Probes McAfee and its Computer-Killer Anti-Virus Software

April 21^st was not a good day for McAfee, a leading anti-virus vendor, and its international base of customers. With the automatic distribution of a defective update to counter the effects of the W32/Wecorl.a virus, McAfee effectively killed svchost.exe on hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of computers worldwide. Only manual intervention on every individual computer permitted a restoration of service. The Availability Digest examines how McAfee’s update became a “single point of failure” for even systems famous for their indestructibility.

Also in the May issue are a review of HP’s Reliable Transaction Router (RTR), a “Best Practices” article about the use of natural resources to cool data centers, and an analysis of how WestHost’s faulty testing of its fire-suppression system took down customer sites of this web-hosting provider for days.

Digest editor Bill Highleyman will present a pre-conference seminar at HPTF in Las Vegas in June. Visit www.connect-community.org to register for the May 24^th sneak peek webinar on “Achieving Continuous Availability with Active/Active Networks,” 10 am CDT (GMT-5).

The Digest is published monthly and is free to subscribers. Check out this month’s Digest at www.availabilitydigest.com. Our new “Useful Links” page is a great resource for use in the online research of products and services focused on high- and continuous availability and mission-critical systems.

Ban Bottlenecks®

Performance Analysis Is Dead

A recent article declared that we have “pretty much left behind the primary issue ... performance. Our systems have become blazingly fast...” That’s really good to know. All of us concerned with performance can either retire, take the week off, or spend all our time surfing. I’m sure our vendors would be happy to stop doing R&D to make faster chips, disks, and interconnects. Whew! Nirvana has been reached.

Or Maybe Not

Or maybe not. Of course, if you have infinitely deep pockets, you can always over-buy. Money will solve any performance problem, if you know where to apply said cash. But times aren’t as flush as they once were. IT budgets everywhere are constrained.

The Basic IT Laws For Performance Analysts

Everyone knows Moore’s Law. There are other laws and corollaries which provide a more realistic view of what we performance types have to deal with. Here’s just a few:

· The Great Moore’s Law Compensator: TGMLC, generally referred to as bloat, is the principle that successive generations of computer software acquire enough bloat to offset the performance gains predicted by Moore's Law.

· Parkinson's Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

· Parkinson's Law Corollary: Data expands to fill the space available for storage.

· Parkinson's Second Law: Expenditures rise to meet income.

Contact Us For A Free System Audit

Can we help you understand your system, and correct problems before they hurt? Absolutely! Check our website and Jon’s blog for more information. Look for our most recent article in the Connection.

assist@banbottlenecks.com

1.415.256.8369

www.banbottlenecks.com

Tandemworld & LinkedIN

Tandemworld have created a Group on LinkedIN through which you can view the latest Tandemworld eNewsletter.

Please view this at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2602432&trk=hb_side_g

Tandemworld within EMEA

Tandemworld specialise in the recruitment of HP NonStop / Tandem specialists.

We Currently have a number of Highly skilled NonStop / Tandem professionals seeking new projects and assignments

within the EMEA Region.

Do you have Project Work that you need assistance on? Hardware upgrades to perform?

These professionals are available on a short or long Term Basis (1 Week to 1 year +) at Very Competitive rates.

We can also supply Permanent employees and other technical resources e.g. IBM, Unix, Unisys DEC/VMS etc.

If you have a requirement for Contract or Permanent Resources or require further information please contact us :-

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979

info@tandemworld.net

www.tandemworld.net

To place article(s) within our future eNewsletters please Email us.

For Future Sponsorship opportunities please Email us.

User Groups

Connect NonStop Symposium and Expo, September 27-19, San Jose, California.
Don't miss this opportunity to meet the NonStop experts, hear about the future of NonStop from HP executives and talk one-on-one to partners at the expo! The event will feature pre-conference seminars, technical sessions, keynotes, community lounge, expo and networking opportunities - all focused around NonStop.

Call for papers open until May 30th. Submit a paper today!

http://www.connect-community.org/?page=NSCFP

Registration open! Register by June 30th to save $200!

https://connect-community.site-ym.com/events/register.asp?id=82073

Exhibit space is SOLD OUT!

For sponsorship opportunities contact Norm Wisler nwisler@mrvica.com or phone: 856.768.9360 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 856.768.9360

For more information, visit the website: http://www.connect-community.org/?page=ConnectNonStopEvent

Viking NonStop User Group Conference

When:	25-27 May 2010
Where:	Gällöfsta Manor Stockholm Sweden

Details

All information and agenda can be found on the VNUG website at www.vnug.biz

BITUG

Venue: HP Offices, 5th Floor, Farringdon / Ludgate Suite, 88 Wood Street, London EC2V 7QT

Back by popular demand this SIG topic is back on the agenda following many requests from the membership. We are expecting a high level of attendance at this general update day. We have two in depth presentations from HP covering system performance and systems management, plus updates and case studies from all of the leading systems management and performance third party vendors.

Time Agenda
09:30 Welcome / Registration
10:00 Introductions
10:10 HP Performance Update (Dave Sly – HP)
11:10 Prognosis update and product roadmap (Craig Porter – Integrated Research)
11:40 Coffee (kindly provided by HP)
12:00 HP NonStop Performance & Management - Providing your Business with the Bigger Picture (Dave Shields – Insider Technologies)
12:30 NonStop Management and Performance Tools (Rupert Stanley – Ross Systems International)
13:00 Lunch (kindly provided by HP)
14:00 HP Systems Management update (Keith Charters – HP)
15:00 Coffee (kindly provided by HP)
15:20 NetBatch/DR – Product-based DR switch-over for HP NetBatch (Alan Mackenzie - BrightStrand International)
15:50 Roundup and close

Registration for this SIG is only via the web: - www.bitug.com

____________________________________

07 Jul Availability SIG

27^th-29^th Sep NonStop Summit Connect Event, San Jose

06 Oct Migration and Solutions SIG

01 Dec Education Day

02 Dec Big SIG

www.bitug.com

MATUG

The Mid-Atlantic Tandem User Group (MATUG) will be holding a technical
and business meeting on June 2, 2010, from 9am to 5pm. We can retire
to a local watering hole following the meeting to wait out the traffic
rush.

Meeting Address:

America Online
Geneva Auditorium (HQ Building)
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166

Topics include:

Technical Meeting

· Keynote Presentation by Jim Johnson, The Standish Group – Trends in NonStop Application Modernization

· HP Product Roadmap & Technical Presentation

· AOL user presentation on migrating to an active/active architecture for AIM

Business Meeting

· Connect Update, including an update on the NonStop Symposium & Expo in San Jose in September

· Future role of MATUG

· Solicitation for additional individual participation in MATUG

We are currently soliciting speakers (users, consultants, or vendors/
ISV) for 40-minute presentations for the meeting. Vendors that present
will be asked to donate a nice door prize or contribute to offset the
meeting costs, approximately $150-$200 value.

Please contact Susan Loeliger, MATUG Secretary/Treasurer, to register or for speaking and sponsorship opportunities.

N2TUG

N2TUG have a full day meeting planned for 21st May 2010 at the HP Offices in Plano. You can learn more by going to the
Connect web site at http://www.connect-community.org and checking the Event Calendar for May 21.

We have 2 HP speakers, 2 end-user speakers, and quite a few Vendors telling us about ways to:

o Develop applications that have modern interfaces
o Use modern development tools and methodologies
o Use modern interfaces and tools to manage your systems

At the end of the day there's a really nice giveaway, too!

You'll need to be a valid member of Connect to register using the online tool; if you have trouble logging on, or you are not currently a member, please contact me at the address on the Event Details page.

Looking for a Solution or an answer to a particular problem ASK Tandemworld. We will contact the vendors for you and find a suitable solution that meets for current and future needs.

Ban Bottlenecks®

Brightstrand Health Check Service