Posts Tagged ‘IT’

A Divorce of Titans

Friday, February 19th, 2010

April 30, 2010 will be the death knell of the longstanding HP and Cisco partnership. 

For years Cisco has had a contract with HP to provide system integrations, but this partnership has been deteriorating for quite some time and was accelerated when Cisco recently created and started touting its Unified Computing System (UCS). UCS is a data center solution that directly competes against the larger server vendors such as: HP, IBM, and others. Cisco has decided not to renew their contract with HP, which will expire on April 30th, 2010.

It seems the main issue between the two is how each of them views customer value. While this is a VERY subjective matter, it seems they do not see eye to eye on this extremely important item. I personally see this as a somewhat fluff (re: easy out) excuse as Cisco is making a bold move into a new space. 

Which company has the ‘better’ view of customer value will only be determined in the long term as customers will have to start looking at their data center and infrastructure options differently going forward.

While both sides allude to the fact that it will be ‘business as normal’ to their customers, we all know that things don’t work that way in IT; and there will be issues.

Both companies have been doing pretty well in 2010, and it will be very interesting to see how things work out for the rest of the year and going forward.

It is, in a nutshell: Mark Hurd vs. Tom Chambers

With similar market share and both having stellar management, I would have to side with Mr. Chambers. I think Chambers made a very tough, calculated, and important decision that will turn out to be a big piece of his legacy.

As an aside; Juniper and/or Extreme may see an offer in their near future. Look at Juniper being the first name bandied about due to their recent security issues. 

Todd

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Dell’s Services Play – Quickly Integrated

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

My previous post consisted of my feeling that the acquisition of Perot Systems by Dell would not work and that the move into services is a big stretch for Dell.  With that said, I must say that I am very impressed with the speed and totality that Dell as integrated this acquisition into their on-line branding and over-all business persona.  

However, a key item that bolsters my opinion that this is a sunk cost can be easily realized by the fact that Dell has decided to keep the branding of Perot Systems. 

This fact, to me, is a big misstep similar to the one Cisco decided on when it acquired Linksys years ago. Cisco decided to keep the Linksys brand in its entirety until recently. Cisco did not have any integration with Linksys whatsoever until years after the fact. Dell’s saving grace on this point is that they still have their name present (Dell Perot Systems) and a nice and informative tag-line under their logo (Dell perotsystems.)  I think Dell may have learned volumes here… 

These facts do not dispel my thoughts that the acquisition is a bust, but more that the acquisition was well thought out and planned. 

Execution is ALWAYS key.

Dell, and their new-found (re:paid for) IT Services division would be better served if they took Perot’s client base, contracts, prior methodologies, and customer feedback and acted accordingly. This act would also entail the dumping of the Perot Systems brand.

 I stand by my earlier post. Good luck Dell.

Todd

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Product Rename-itis – A Pandemic?

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Is it me, or has the IT industry recently been afflicted with an extremely bad case Product Rename-itis? 

Product Rename-itis.  (Noun)
Def: An affliction that causes companies to constantly rename their products. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some valid reasons why a company should rename their products/services/offerings etc…  For example, the release date of the product (Windows 95, 98), M&A activity, product consolidations/integrations, key functional changes, etc… 

With that said, it seems to me that recently IT companies in particular are renaming products at an accelerated pace, with vastly different names, and for the wrong reasons. 

Reasons NOT to rename your products:

  • Pressure from Marketing, where I assume revenues have not been great the last 4-8 quarters.  The economy, not the name, is more likely the reason for slower sales.
  • Knee-jerk reactions to competitors actions/offerings.  Keep an eye on your competition, but do not try to align and force-fit your company offerings and strategies with them.
  • Attempting to keep up with ever-changing technologies.  You can try.  Good luck with that, let me know your CAGR for marketing costs.
  • To position products as a panacea via the popular keywords of the day.  “Now introducing the Clouded Virtual Green eWidget 3.0!”

I believe the law of diminishing returns can be used in the case of product renaming.  After a certain point consumers will, in the end, become both confused and frustrated.  There is information overload already in society, why put the onus on us to keep up to date on your ever-changing product names? 

Case in point for me is VMWare.  It would be very interesting to find out how many products and how many times in the last 2 years have they changed names.  How and why did the proven version/number system become so obsolete?

‘Til next time…

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Cloud Computing – Caveat Emptor

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I attended a Webcast yesterday that was jointly performed by global IT solutions organization and a global IT hardware and software vendor.  During this hour plus long presentation I kept asking myself: “Is this another IT buzzword or can this platform really change the game?”

I can honestly say that at the end of the presentation I am a firm believer that it is currently a mere buzzword and not the panacea that many companies are pitching it as.

You may ask yourself why did I come to that conclusion, and I would answer that with the following:

-   Gartner’s Hype Cycle clearly shows this platform is still in its infancy

- Too many unknowns on how it actually works, how it is billed, legal ramifications

The last point was made clearly obvious to me when I asked the presenters the question: “In your experience, has organization’s legal departments modified the way in which this platform and method of delivery affects their vendor contracts? And if not, do you have any insights on what key modifications need to be made to ensure business continuity and service?”

Their answer? There wasn’t one.

To me, this is the key reason why Cloud Computing is still a hype-enriched buzzword at this point.  Granted, it does provide some great benefits to a company, but until there are some concrete vendor management processes and policies in place, I feel that it is a can of worms waiting to be cracked open.

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The True Value of IT

Monday, January 19th, 2009

This subject has been debated for as long as there has been electronics.  Recently, due to the current economy and other external factors, this topic has been pushed to the forefront and with good reason. 

We should not let this discussion slip away without action and we (IT) should take this opportunity to point the spotlight on ourselves and show the organization what true value IT brings to the table.

The path to IT value enlightenment is, as this article aptly states, riddled with barriers such as: Business-IT Misalignment, lack of IT empowerment, and perception of IT as a pure cost center.

These barriers may seem unavoidable to most, but I truly feel that they can be overcome with some planning and a paradigm shift.

Planning needs to be tailored around customer-relationship building endeavors.  A simple newsletter and/or PC Tips articles can go a long way in building proper business relationships.  Also, some simple training lessons on the applications LOB users use can and usually does assist in piercing the IT veil that is so prevalent in companies today.    

The paradigm shift MUST be made from a ‘utility and support’ function to a ‘trusted business partner’ function.  Instead of viewing yourself as a problem solver and provider of technology, think of yourself as an enabler in business strategies and line of business functions.  This mind-set will plant the seeds for the department to start thinking in terms of the business holistically, which benefits all.

Granted, what I have mentioned may seem hard to accomplish to most, but I feel that a visionary and strong leader and manager can initiate and execute these actions to the betterment of IT and the business.

The time is NOW.

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“Green IT”

Friday, November 14th, 2008

I believe that the popular ‘Green IT’ movement is only a corollary to the increasing pressures of data center over-utilization and server sprawl. 

Yes, it is good for all concerned to consolidate and maximize hardware resources, but to use this current media-friendly issue as a pro-active/selling point response to environmental issues, to me, seems disingenuous.

IT, unfortunately, is still realized as a cost center in most businesses, so I understand the motive.

I, for one, would like to see less focus on ‘Green IT’ and more focus on merging IT with business requirements and strategy.

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