Thanks Steven, this is great.

posted: 11:21:17 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

EMC sent me an updated diagram this evening for the project I am working on. One of the big things EMC harps on during the sale of their products is the fact that they have every box ever shipped on file and know every serial number ever created. I find it comical that the implementation team for our project doesn't know the serial numbers of the machines we've purchased and have already received.

posted: 10:38:21 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Hacking contest promotes security. Despite tough talk on computer crime, hackers--including some from federal agencies--are learning about defending networks by breaking into computers. [CNET News.com]

In such a rapidly changing environment, what other way is there to learn besides doing?

posted: 10:29:10 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Has 'haven' for questionable sites sunk?. An effort to convert a platform in the English Channel into a "safe haven" for controversial Web ventures has failed due to political and other problems, one of the company's founders says. [CNET News.com]

I remember when HavenCo started just a little over two years ago. It was a grand idea, but looks to have been wrot with potholes. It would be interesting to see an analysis of why the company is failing.

posted: 7:00:08 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Microsoft opens Exchange to Apple users. A new upgrade allows users of Office for the Mac to access e-mail, calendar entries and addresses stored on a corporate Exchange server. [CNET News.com]

It's about time. I love Entourage. I many ways it is much better than Outlook. I can scroll through an email thread that spans several days without hunting for the messages, even if the subjects have changed. I can get maps from the Internet for my contact's addresses with a single click. I can send invites to Exchange users who aren't on my server. I can do all of this in Entourage and now I have the additional functionality that Exchange brings. Entourage plus Exchange is the best email solution on the market today, in my opinion.

posted: 6:56:43 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Garth Kidd dropped by last Friday and said, "I'd blog on storage, but I don't think my employer (a vendor) would much appreciate it." Why not? I am sure that Garth has a ton of customer experiences he could share, good and bad. What is important are the details of what makes a customer experience good or bad. What did a customer do that made their experience better than another's? What was the solution to a particular bad situation? This is the type of information the storage "community" needs. Garth, please blog, please.

posted: 5:23:08 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

I have been working on a cost allocation scheme for administering a data center to be shared by a number of organizations. This involves identifying all of the hardware, software, configurations, support services required by each component, and then figuring out how to justly charge each organization for what they use. A couple of assumptions form the foundation for this exercise: organizations pay for what they use and operating this data center is a zero sum game. We have come up with three different cost classes: dedicated costs, usage based shared costs, and commitment based shared costs. Dedicated costs are things that an organization uses exclusively with no potential for being used by another organization. Usage based shared costs are things that can be easily measured and every organization can easily utilize. Commitment based shared costs are things that are purchased on demand and in bulk based on an organization's requirements. This all sounds pretty simple until you begin to change the environment for a single organization and attempt to measure the effects for all of the organizations to complete the zero sum game. We are obviously expanding on this high-level description and building a detailed mode. I will be building an analysis engine that pulls together all of the data needed to perform the financial calculations, produce quarterly and annual trends for financial purposes and technical planning, and interface with all of the necessary data sources. This is a six-month project and the culmination of seven months of work. How ironic is that?

posted: 5:07:35 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Best Small Companies to Work For. "A new list sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management and Great Place to Work Institute aims to discover the best small- and medium-sized companies to work for in America. Don't miss your chance. Deadline for entries is August 15! [Inc.com]

posted: 2:57:07 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

Microsoft investigates DOS attack on Microsoft.com. Microsoft's main Web site was unreachable for almost two hours on Friday as the Web server it is hosted on failed following a DOS (denial of service) attack, the company said Friday. [InfoWorld: Security]

posted: 2:50:52 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()