Tandemworld eNewsletter for September 2011

Our Gold Sponsor is     

Our Silver Sponsor is   

 
   
   


Contents

comForte - The NonStop Modernization Company!

Be Positive but Prepared

Webinar Replay

Intesa Sanpaolo Card turns to comForte's CSL to deliver convenient, flexible access to BASE24

4tech Software Becomes PCI SSC's Newest Participating Organization.

Gravic Attends and Presents at VNUG Conference

Musings on NonStop! - September, ‘11

EDB Card Services AB Brings its HP NonStop™ Audit Into The Enterprise

ARE YOU CONSIDERING MIGRATION ?

XYPRO Product Spotlight: Compliance PRO.

“Future Time,” not “Real-Time” with Ban Bottlenecks®

XYPRO in Your Neck of the Woods

 Check Out TANDsoft When You Check In to CTUG

NSWi

 Did Lightning Down Amazon’s European Availability Zone?  Nope!

Is Tandem In Your Future? Part 2 by Carol Flaig

User Groups

Follow Tandemworld

Employment

Online Version

Current Subscribers 13,014


comForte - The NonStop Modernization Company!

 

Looking to modernize your NonStop applications and infrastructure – but wondering where to begin?

 

NonStop Server users have plans to upgrade to Blades and indeed, many have already completed the move and that’s an encouraging sign. But upgrading the middleware? Taking a fresh look at your emulation infrastructure (both on NonStop and PC clients)? SNA Modernization? The rest of the infrastructure? Embracing SOA and Web services? The time to modernize is now!

 

comForte has the people, products, and a track record you can rely on when embarking on the journey to a shared infrastructure. Address key areas and get the most from your investment in NonStop systems and applications. Your business benefits from less complexity in the data center, lower risk, better use of resources, higher data security, and increased productivity.

 

Modernization can make the NonStop platform look better to your bosses boss and it can also save money.

Not convinced? See YouTube Webinar at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtUxr6DNtE

 

Ready to modernize? Get started at … http://www.comforte.com/solutions/modernization/

 

Also, don't miss out on our regular blogs many of which are talking about NonStop modernization … http://comfortelounge.blogspot.com/search/label/Modernize

 

Come and see us at these upcoming events in 2011 and beyond

PCI Community Meeting North America, Scottsdale, AZ, Sept 20-22

GTUG, Germany, Berlin, Sept 21-22

InNUG, Kovalam, India, Sept 22-24

BITUG Security SIG, London, Oct 12

PCI Community Meeting Europe, London, Oct 17-19

ACE Asia Pacific, Singapore, Oct 18-20

CTUG, Toronto, Oct 26

MEXTUG, Mexico City, Oct 26-27

BITUG BIG SIG, London, Dec 8 

 

International GTUG/CONNECT, Dresden, Germany, Sept 24-27, 2012

 

Stay connected:

 

Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\TB48D~1.GLO\AppData\Local\Temp\enhtmlclip\Image.jpg

 

Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\TB48D~1.GLO\AppData\Local\Temp\enhtmlclip\Image(1).jpg

 

Description: Description: Description: Machine generated alternative text:

 

Description: Description: Description: Machine generated alternative text: You


Be Positive but Prepared

CIO’s who have NonStop systems have difficult jobs. Not only do they need to be concerned with building a technological advantage for their businesses to thrive, they also have to worry about industry naysayers postulating the demise of the NonStop platform (and HP in general).

A number of analysts including Gartner Group, Bain, Forester and even The Standish Group have wondered aloud what will be the future of the NonStop when so many things seem to be up in the air at HP including WebOS and PCs.

We who have dedicated the best parts of our careers to the NonStop marketplace know how resilient and great the platform is but how can the stressed out CIO defend their position staying the course with NonStop in light of all this noise?

We believe the best way the anxious CIO can defend their position in staying the course with NonStop is being prepared to migrate without actually moving.  Taking our clue from The Standish Group’s NonStop Modernization paper we find three things IT can do to be prepared to quiet the noise of the NonStop naysayers.

1)    Do an assessment to understand what it would take to modernize including costs, risks, and return on investment.

2)    Move the data to NonStop SQL (if not already there) so the data is compatible with standards compliant databases/applications.

3)    Profile the programs and code base to understand the effort to move the code into modern languages and programming standards.  This step also starts the code conversion to these modern languages and programming standards.

We don’t believe the naysayers and trust that HP understands the inherent value of having the world’s most scalable, reliable server as a true asset to build their enterprise business around. For the poor CIO’s, trust isn’t enough, they need to be prepared and able to defend the actions they take. Being optimistic but prepared is a sound path that should help CIOs sleep better tonight.

 

If you are a CIO and have Enscribe applications, give us a call – we can help.

Harry Scott, Co-founder - +1 781.934.0989

Carr Scott Software Incorporated


Webinar Replay:

Expert Advice - Improve HP NonStop Efficiencies Using Modernization & Virtualization

How to bring cross platform data together for a single view

View Webinar Replay Now at http://bit.ly/pfYjdd

Vital for your success: Access to data locked away in the HP NonStop can be the difference between generating or losing business. Learn more here!

View this webinar replay today to gain actionable insight from Richard Buckle, Pyalla Technologies, about the
benefits of data federation to access information stored in Enscribe files and NonStop SQL tables and tips to bring cross platform data together for a single view of data.

You’ll learn about:
* How to eliminate data access barriers by utilizing data federation
* Why a single view of data using virtualization is a priority
* Cost-saving tips to simplify access to Enscribe files and NonStop SQL
* And a lot more

In addition, Richard Thomas, Attunity’s Director Technical Services, provides a demonstration of Attunity Connect and Attunity Federate,
enabling real-time access to this valuable information.

View Webinar Replay Now at http://bit.ly/pfYjdd

About Attunity

Attunity is a leading software provider for enabling the 'real-time' enterprise. Using our software, companies can seamlessly connect, transfer and join, to and from, virtually any data source. By quickly identifying critical changes in real-time, professionals can leverage data for use in critical applications including business intelligence (BI), reporting and beyond. Learn more at http://www.attunity.com/, email info@attunity.com 

  


Intesa Sanpaolo Card turns to comForte's CSL to deliver convenient, flexible access to BASE24

 

To be successful in an intensely competitive international card payment industry, Intesa Sanpaolo Card needs to be agile and efficient—two qualities it wasn’t previously experiencing with its complex, green-screen type BASE24 interfaces.

To boost efficiency and agility, while leveraging its BASE24 investments, the IT organization within Intesa Sanpaolo Card embarked on an initiative that would enable them to deliver access to BASE24 capabilities through a single, intuitive, Web-based interface.

 

To meet these objectives, the organization turned to comForte and its CSL solution.

Read how ISP Card modernized access to BASE24 at …

http://www.comforte.com/news/intesa-sanpaolo-card/

 

 

Come and see us at these upcoming events in 2011 and beyond

PCI Community Meeting North America, Scottsdale, AZ, Sept 20-22

GTUG, Germany, Berlin, Sept 21-22

InNUG, Kovalam, India, Sept 22-24

BITUG Security SIG, London, Oct 12

PCI Community Meeting Europe, London, Oct 17-19

ACE Asia Pacific, Singapore, Oct 18-20

CTUG, Toronto, Oct 26

MEXTUG, Mexico City, Oct 26-27

BITUG BIG SIG, London, Dec 8 

 

International GTUG/CONNECT, Dresden, Germany, Sept 24-27, 2012

 

Stay connected:

 

Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\TB48D~1.GLO\AppData\Local\Temp\enhtmlclip\Image.jpg

 

Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\TB48D~1.GLO\AppData\Local\Temp\enhtmlclip\Image(1).jpg

 

Description: Description: Description: Machine generated alternative text:

 

Description: Description: Description: Machine generated alternative text: You

 


4tech Software Becomes PCI SSC's Newest Participating Organization.

At 4tech Software we're pleased to announce that we're the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council's newest member!

Joining PCI SSC reinforces our dedication to and specialization in the Primary Account Number (PAN) and cardholder data (CHD) discovery field.

We look forward to working closely with PCI-SSC and meeting fellow members at the two PCI Community Meetings.

The first one, where we'll be attending and exhibiting, is today (21st September) in Phoenix, Arizona and the second one is on 18th October in London, England.


We created PANfinder to provide HP NonStop users with a tool for scanning their systems for readable/unsecured PAN data.

Connect with 4tech on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/4tech-software
Join the conversation on Twitter: http://twitter.com/4techsoftware

 


Gravic Attends and Presents at VNUG Conference

Gravic was pleased to attend and present at the recent Viking NonStop User Group (VNUG) Conference in Sweden. This event is one of the best organized and most productive shows we attend and we appreciate the efforts expended by the VNUG board as well as the attendees. The vendors were pleased and impressed that all of the local countries were able to attend: Norway, Denmark, Finland, and of course the host country Sweden. We look forward to another 10 great years with the Vikings at the helm!

If you would like a copy of our VNUG presentation, please contact shadowbase@gravic.com.

Title: Shadowbase Data Replication and Synchronization Solutions

Abstract: Shadowbase, Gravic's real-time data replication and synchronization product, solves business challenges for: Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, Data Integration, Data Warehouse Feeds, Real-Time Business Intelligence, and Application Integration. Shadowbase products support homogeneous and heterogeneous replication projects across a wide variety of platforms and databases. This presentation provides an overview of key Shadowbase solution features, and highlights its use in improving application availability for implementing active/passive as well as active/active architectures.

Please Visit Gravic at these Upcoming 2011 Shows

·        InNUG NonStop Open World 2011, Kovalam, Kerala, India, 22-24 September

·        ACE Asia Pacific 2011, Singapore, 17-20 October

·        CTUG Fall Conference, Toronto, 26 October

·        ACE Africa 2011, Johannesburg, 15-16 November

·        BITUG BIG SIG, London, 9 December

For more information, please visit: www.gravic.com/shadowbase.


http://www.linkedin.com/company/gravic-inc./shadowbase-data-replication-305119/product

 


Musings on NonStop!

September, ‘11

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

Celebrating milestones is always a fleeting prospect and so it turned out to be, as the work continued to arrive. However, I would like to follow-up on the comments I made with respect to the blog posting to Real Time View on the subject of Clouds, and in particular, the work done in support of the GuardianAngel API.

If you haven’t read this post by now, check it out:

http://itug-connection.blogspot.com/2011/08/guardianangel-nonstop-revels-in-clouds.html

And make sure you find the time to read through the comments posted! Quite revealing if you are looking for greater insight!

It would appear, many of you have done so already as in the short span of three weeks, this particular post climbed from the sixth place all time (in terms of access) to outright first. This is for data collected between June, 2009 and September, 2011. All up, a significant accomplishment and a strong endorsement on just how much interest there is in anything to do with Cloud computing, particularly private Cloud deployments. Even IBM has jumped into the fray with renewed vigor about the capabilities their mainframe, running mainframe Linux, can provide.

If  IBM can pursue this course of action with respect to Clouds without a single embarrassed bone in their bodies, then HP can surely advocate for NonStop! After all, with the outages and disruptions we observe almost daily among the providers of public clouds, when it comes time to consider bringing in-house a private cloud, availability reignites the interest of pretty much everyone over how to keep the darn thing working no matter what. And a Parallel Sysplex combination from IBM, running thousands of Linux images (with let’s just muse, multiple licenses of Oracle) is an incredibly expensive proposition, when today we have Clouds in a Box with NonStop!

Have you been checking out the LinkedIn Group “Clouds, powered by NonStop”? Join, and become a member:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3681667&trk=anet_ug_hm

There was a time when I thought it may be better to fold this group into Real Time View, but following HP Discover and the unveiling of NonStop with the GuardianAngel API, the buzz generated by HP’s Justin Simonds, Keith More, Tom Miller et al (along with the very capable Janice Cronch) the level of interest has assured me it’s wiser to keep this group alive and separate from other LinkedIn Groups.

The good news here is that on October 1st Margo Holen will be joining Pyalla Technologies in a more active capacity, and will be taking charge of our company’s involvement with Cloud Computing. Margo comes to us after several years on the board of ITUG and then through the challenging first year with Connect. At the time, Margo was a Senior VP with ACI Worldwide, following several years running all of development within Insession Technologies.

Margo also has years of experience with NonStop, joining Tandem Computers to work on SNAX and leading the team that developed SNAX/CDF, then accepting the management role for the Distributed Systems Management (DSM) group, before accepting the promotion to Director, for LAN, SNAX, and Expand products development. Finally, as NonStop Software (aka ServerWare) became the formal Tandem Computers Software entity, under the leadership of Bill Heil, Margo became its initial VP of Operations and COO.

Against this background, I have to believe Margo will be a great advocate for the GuardianAngel concept, and I just can’t wait to see her take up this role within Pyalla Technologies in a few weeks’ time – watch the LinkedIn Group “Clouds, Powered by NonStop” flourish in the months to come.

Before wrapping up this musing, as it will most likely find its way into a blog posting to Real Time View shortly, I have been mulling over the recent words of former Microsoft executive (and now, CEO of VMWare), Paul Maritz. In a reference I saw this month in the publication USA Today, he stated “we inexorably are shifting from a device-centric world to an information word … we still have mainframe (computers); they just have a new role (and) the same will happen with PCs. They may end up being used for PowerPoint presentations.”

As I look back on the announcement from HP over their future support of PCs, the decision to unload begins to make more sense. It will be interesting as HP moves to being an IT provider of enterprise servers, storage, services and software (from the basics to solutions), then it will become interesting, dare I say entertaining, to watch how NonStop fares. All the work to ensure that it returned to being a profitable product line and with the lineup of marquee users it has assembled, then yes, it may just find a role in all that’s coming our way. Even with Clouds!

Until next month…

Following my blogs? My web publications? My discussion Groups?

Check out:

Real Time View at http://www.itug-connection.blogspot.com/

…. And check out the Group on LinkedIn, Real Time View

comForte Lounge at http://comfortelounge.blogspot.com/

…. And check out the Group on LinkedIn, comForte Lounge

Realtime.ir at http://realtime.ir.com/

…. And check out the Group on LinkedIn, realtime.ir

Buckle-Up at http://www.buckle-up-travel.blogspot.com/

…. And check out the SubGroup on LinkedIn, Pyalla Track Days

Richard Buckle

Founder and CEO

Pyalla Technologies, LLC

Email:             richard@pyalla-technologies.com

 


EDB Card Services AB Brings its HP NonStop™ Audit Into The Enterprise

SIMI VALLEY, California – XYPRO® announced that, as part of its PCI-DSS project, EDB Card Services AB has successfully implemented its XYGATE Merged Audit (XMA) tool to integrate EBD’s HP NonStop™ servers with its RSA® enVision SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) system.

EDB Card Services AB, part of EDB ErgoGroup, is one of the leading payments services companies in Scandinavia. It provides a wide range of card-related services including issuing, acquiring, processing, switching, national card blocking etc. for banks and payment operators in Sweden, as well as greater Scandinavia and Europe.

“As part of our PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliance project, we had to bring our HP NonStop security audit data into the enterprise” said Sissel Johnsen Head of Production & Operation at EDB Cards Services AB. “Our previous log tool wasn’t suitable, so we selected XYGATE Merged Audit, which has a far more user-friendly interface and gave us exactly what we needed in terms of collecting the necessary data from our NonStop systems.  XYPRO’s RSA Log Adapter  ensures all NonStop audit data feeds seamlessly to our RSA enVision SIEM.”

Read the full release at https://www.xypro.com/xypro/resources/news

Barry Forbes
VP of Sales & Marketing
XYPRO Technology Corporation
www.xypro.com

*Be sure to complete our updated survey! You’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win a iPad.

Please note that you’re still eligible to win even if you completed the survey last quarter.
Simply click here
: http://www.xypro.com/survey

 


 ARE YOU CONSIDERING MIGRATION ?

BrightStrand International Consultants have extensive experience in HP NonStop migrations, be it S-Series to NonStop Integrity, S-Series to NonStop Blade systems or NonStop Integrity to NonStop Blade systems.

Migrations performed recently have been to NonStop Blade systems, a migration that many customers are now contemplating.

BrightStrand have a proven track record of delivering migrations to blue chip business critical customers on time and under budget offering a low risk solution to the customer.

In the last 3 years alone, BrightStrand has helped customers to migrate over 30 systems, including 4 major migrations where, as a NonStop Reseller, BrightStrand also specified and sold the systems.

BrightStrand Does It

The BrightStrand Migration Service starts with a scoping exercise during which your current systems are analysed to define the amount of work necessary to migrate systems and applications, together with a sizing to ensure that an appropriate target system is purchased.  This typically results in the generation of a 4-phase migration strategy.
 
1)   The first phase is to prepare the applications and operational software for migration, and this usually overlaps with phase 2.
2)   The second phase consists of the installation and configuration of the target hardware, system software, and communications lines. 
3)   In the third phase, the applications are migrated and tested, and once fully tested the live environment is cutover to the new system.
4)   Phase 4 consists of support of the new systems and system balancing after the cutover to final acceptance.

BrightStrand can perform the whole migration or work with your staff on any element of the planned migration.

You Do It

Many customers see value in their own staff performing the migration to familiarise themselves with the new systems. These staff will usually have existing commitments to the smooth running of the current live systems. In these situations BrightStrand can supply experienced consultants that can take up the day-to-day running of the live systems and free up the customer staff to perform the migration, often with assistance from BrightStrand.

No matter how you plan to migrate to new NonStop systems BrightStrand can offer a low risk solution, delivered on time and within budget. Call Dave Stewart today on +44 (0)7831 775115 or email him on dstewart@brightstrand.com for more information.


XYPRO Product Spotlight: Compliance PRO.
Make your HP NonStop auditor's day easier
.

In today’s complex world of network access, defining a security policy and applying it to your system is essential to protecting your business data and to complying with government and commercial regulations. With Compliance PRO, you can easily research the security on your HP NonStop server, report the information found, build policies that monitor the state of the security rules in your environment and compare your existing security against supplied PCI, SOX, HIPAA and standard best practice policy recommendations.

Compliance PRO collects data using NonStop server tools and then downloads the data to your PC or a network server. You can then analyze the data for security, audit and system management information in the current snapshot, compared over time or compared against a set of absolute rules. Here are just a few ways Compliance PRO makes an HP NonStop auditor’s day easier:

·        Provides security views to HP NonStop files, users, aliases, NetBatch, spoolers, Pathway, Safeguard, and OSS files and directories.

·        Offers rule development and reporting that can be done offline, with no HP NonStop expertise.

·        Allows auditors to easily discover, describe and monitor their HP NonStop security policy right from their desktop.

·        Enables auditors to design and monitor a security policy for a network of HP NonStop servers with thousands of objects.

·        Compares and controls implementation of security compliance across major events like system upgrades, application deployment, etc.

To view our online demo visit: https://www.xypro.com/xypro/products/compliance_pro

Barry Forbes
VP of Sales & Marketing
XYPRO Technology Corporation
www.xypro.com

*Be sure to complete our updated survey! You’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win a iPad.

Please note that you’re still eligible to win even if you completed the survey last quarter.
Simply click here : http://www.xypro.com/survey

 


“Future Time,” not “Real-Time” with Ban Bottlenecks®

Why “future time”?

1.     System slowdowns or failures can cost thousands of dollars a minute.

2.     Most problems can be predicted with the proper knowledge and discipline.

3.     “Future time” performance analysis saves money and time.

 

How does Ban Bottlenecks do “Future Time”?

1.     Understand and document historical demand, with an emphasis on peaks.

2.     Understand and document historical service levels, with an emphasis on peaks.

3.     Understand and document each component of system utilization as it relates to demand.

4.     Stabilize and optimize the current system operation.

5.     Create a program of Heinrich Ratio minimization, detecting and fixing current issues which could escalate.

6.     Predict future peak demand and its impact on each system component.

7.     Advise the client on future issues.

 

Ban Bottlenecks®:

Dedicated NonStop performance /capacity experts.

1440x730 coverage (every minute, every day, with a 2-year historical perspective).

Also Windows, Unix, and VOS. Cover your entire critical processing path.

Call for a free evaluation!

assist@banbottlenecks.com

1.415.256.8369

www.banbottlenecks.com


XYPRO in Your Neck of the Woods

We’re traveling the globe, spreading the word about all the exciting product plans and features we have in store.

Come visit XYPRO at:

September 20-22 - PCI Security Standards

North American Community Meeting
Scottsdale, Arizona USA

www.pcisecuritystandards.org

October 26-27 - CTUG

Mississauga, Ontario
www.ctug.ca

 

October 12 - BITUG
Security SIG  
London, England

www.bitug.com

 

Nov 29 - Dec 1  -  HP Discover 2011

Vienna, Austria

www.hp.com

 

October 17-19 - PCI Security Standards

European Community Meeting
London, England

www.pcisecuritystandards.org

 

 

December 7, 8 - BITUG

7th Dec Education Day

8th Dec BIG SIG (including Disaster Recovery

and Business Continuity)

London, England

www.bitug.com

 

October 17-20 - ACE Asia Pacific  

Singapore, Singapore

http://www.aciworldwide.com/News-and-events/Events/Asia-Pacific-PRM-user-group-2011.aspx

 


*Be sure to complete our updated survey! You’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win a iPad.

Please note that you’re still eligible to win even if you completed the survey last quarter.
Simply click here : http://www.xypro.com/survey


 Check Out TANDsoft When You Check In to CTUG


TANDsoft will exhibit at the 2011 CTUG conference on October 26-27 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Are you planning to attend Canada’s largest HP NonStop event? If so, please take the time to drop by our booth or to sit in on our vendor track. We look forward to introducing you to our complete suite of solutions for the HP NonStop platform.

Front and center will be Version 2.1 of FileSync, TANDsoft’s file synchronization and replication product. FileSync automatically monitors, replicates and synchronizes source files, program environments, application environments, configuration files, programs – anything non-database that needs to be kept current across the network. Use FileSync for disaster recovery, system migrations, upgrades, and backups. Version 2.1 supports the synchronization of SQL/MX catalogs, schemas, and tables. In addition, Version 2.1 supports the SQL/MX filter.

Version 1.4 of Command Stream Replicator (CSR) also takes a bow at CTUG. CSR automatically replicates FUP, SQL/MP and SQL/MX DDL structure and other environment changes to target systems – changes and settings that normally are not replicated because they sit outside the TMF Audit Trail. Version 1.4 adds support for FUP, SQL/MP, and SQL/MX DLL synchronization over Expand and TCP/IP.

TANDsoft products require minimal or no application modifications and are available for all HP NonStop servers.

TANDsoft’s “best of breed, best in price” philosophy offers highly competitive value for all TANDsoft solutions. In addition to FileSync and Command Stream Replicator, they include the OPTA2000 virtual clock and time-zone simulator; AutoLib, which automatically loads a user library or a DLL for executing processes; and the Enscribe-2-SQL and TMF-Audit Toolkits, which reduce the pressures of modernization by offering flexible, affordable alternatives to more expensive conversion products or manual conversion techniques. The Enscribe-2-SQL Toolkit supports both SQL/MP and SQL/MX and permits file-by-file incremental migration. The TMF-Audit Toolkit easily converts non-audited TMF files to audited TMF files. Its embedded Toolkit Trace captures and analyzes Enscribe activity to construct TMF transaction boundaries for custom applications.

Our Enscribe to SQL Migration Forum on LinkedIn is at 73 members and counting. Here is an opportunity to discuss with peers both migration success stories and the challenges faced by those who make the migration effort.

Those NonStop users who are unable to attend CTUG may learn more about TANDsoft’s products at
www.tandsoft.com, or call us at +1 (514) 695-2234. The company is headquartered in Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada. UTC/GMT -4 (Eastern Daylight Time).

 


NSWi

Are you a European NonStop User?

Do you require a Full Time / Part Time Resource boost to Cover New Projects, Maternity / Paternity leave etc.?

Do you have NonStop Customers based in EMEA that require Local Support of Hardware and Software?

Nonstop World International (NSWi) can help.

We are currently providing Local Support to Vendors outside of the EMEA region for their NonStop Customers based in EMEA.

Contact us to see how we can assist you with highly skilled NonStop professionals, whether Long Term or Part Time on a 24*7 basis.

EMAIL


 Did Lightning Down Amazon’s European Availability Zone?  Nope!

 Did lightning down Amazon’s European Availability Zone as originally reported?  Nope!  The real culprit was a totally unanticipated chain of hardware, software, and human failure events that created days of havoc for thousands of users in dozens of European countries   September’s Availability Digest reveals the lessons learned from this incident. 

Also in the September Digest:

Help!  My Data Center is Down! is a new presentation created from a series of well-received Digest articles.  Read the Editor’s Message to learn more.    

● Our Product Review introduces the major shift Oracle is making in its data-replication strategy.  Discussed are three Oracle products – Oracle Data Guard, Oracle GoldenGate, and Oracle Streams.

Choosing a Business Continuity Solution: Part 3 – High Availability Architectures examines system architectures that employ unidirectional- and bidirectional asynchronous and synchronous replication engines.   

Big Switch:  Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google is our Recommended Reading suggestion.  Nicholas Carr’s book traces the parallel evolution of the electric grid and the compute grid. 

The Availability Digest offers one day and multi-day seminars on High Availability: Concepts and Practices. Seminars are given both onsite and online and are tailored to an organization’s specific needs.  http://www.availabilitydigest.com/seminars.htm.  

Published monthly, the Digest is free and lives at www.availabilitydigest.com.  Please visit our Continuous Availability Forum on LinkedIn.  We’re at 317 members and counting.  Our most recent thread, “Is Amazon a Victim of its Own Success,” seeks input on what Forum members have learned from Amazon’s widely-publicized and spectacular EC2 failures.    

 


Is Tandem In Your Future? Part 2 by Carol Flaig

Last month I asked for your input to answer the question of the future of Tandem in your workplace.  I got 29 responses representing all sectors, environments large and small, worldwide.

The conclusion I gleaned from your responses is that 90% of you already have plans to eliminate Tandem from your IT budget and strategy in 3-5 years, the rest by 2020.  The single most reason for this migration is that TCO of Tandem NonStop is too high.   

Many underlying factors are also apparent. The aging Tandem work force is not being replaced with younger people, open platforms offer comparable reliability, and Compaq/HP seem to have missed the boat in terms of marketing the unique platform.  In addition there appears to be little momentum for Tandem “modernization”, as investment in the platform will be limited by shrinking IT budgets.    I got no responses that said the Tandem NonStop platform was a strategic asset to their organization and as such was on an expansion path.    

Unexpectedly, I also received an overwhelming emotional outpouring. It seems many of you love the Tandem and express intimate feelings toward the platform similar to that of a life partner. The demise of the platform represents the ending of a long term relationship, the loss of a dear friend.  All the associated emotions of grieving and loss are expressed: anger, depression, and finally in some cases acceptance.

What can you do to embrace this inevitable change and move on? Begin by changing your interfaces to assure your Tandem is accessible from the internet.  Develop a plan to move your servers and your databases. Make sure your plan reduces TCO. Don’t forget to take care of yourself! Update your skills to include open platforms, put the kettle on J  This is of course oversimplified, but there are resources available to help you now! They include replacing established products and methods with low cost alternatives that offer reduced TCO and strategic advantage now.

A short list includes:

-        Replace Windows user access with internet access, www.platypuspartners.com

-        Replace back end access to IBM with internet access, www.infrasoft.com

-       Replace monitoring tools with those that are internet accessible, www.bv-zahlungssysteme.de

If you are seeing a theme here I have effectively communicated your input.  Thank you for your time and efforts to contribute to this story. 

The author can be contacted at: cflaig@platypuspartners.com

 


User Groups

Information on User Group events can be found at http://www.connect-community.org

 


BITUG

12th October Security SIG
29th Nov – 1st Dec HP Discovery, Vienna
7th Dec Education Day
8th Dec BIG SIG (including Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity)

 www.bitug.com


GTUG, 21/22 Sept 2011 www.gtug.de

CTUG, Toronto, October

GTUG, Germany, Nov

Discover, Vienna, Nov 29 - 1 Dec


Where to Follow Tandemworld

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

We cuurently have a number of highly experienced NonStop Specialists seeking new roles within the EMEA region. Should you have a requirement for a short term specialist (Contract) or a more longer term resource (Permanent) please Contact Us to enable us to assist you swiftly.

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

And

Follow us on Twitter


Tandemworld within EMEA

 

+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.

 


Employment

For More on Employment in EMEA Go Here

For More on Positions in the Americas Go Here (to advertise your positions here please contact us)

For More on Positions in AsiaPac Go Here (to advertise your positions here please contact us)


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.

 


www.tandemworld.net

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979


We would like to thank the Gold Sponsor of the September 2011 eNewsletter

 

We would like to thank the Silver Sponsor of the September 2011 eNewsletter

   

 


To enquire about Sponsorship opportunities for the Tandemworld eNewsletter please click here.

Our company, Nonstop World (Tandemworld) Ltd, accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information
To Unsubscribe or Change your Subscription Please click here