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IoT World 2017 Thoughts

May 22, 2017 Leave a Comment

Last week I was at IoT World 2017 in Santa Clara and while I only stopped in at the vendor expo for a few days, there were a number of changes within the expo floor from last year that I noticed.

  • We are still very much in Day 1 of IoT.  Things are still ebbing and flowing as the underlying vendors within IoT figure out what they want to be.
  • I noticed a number new (to me at least) smaller platform vendors, though they are at least focusing their platform, or at least their marketing, on specific vertical areas of IoT.
  • Pivots are still happening; platform vendors are adding devices and turning into solution providers; some solution providers are ditching their devices to focus on their platforms, and some larger firms are realizing that there is little value for them in trying to be their own platform and instead have OEM’d someone else’s platform (though this is sometimes apparent and sometimes not).
  • A few vendors are understanding the ecosystem needs around IoT and were presenting themselves as the ecosystem hub, Samsung specifically…
  • …while other ecosystem driven vendors chose not to represent, Amazon Web Services and GE Predix specifically.
  • I found it still hard to differentiate between vendors as building block providers, integrated platform providers, or vertical solution providers.
  • Customers are better educated on what IoT means and seemed to be asking more specific question around use cases and projects.

It seems that there still is a need for a IoT Solution reference architecture which can be used to both connect the business and technical as well as gauge vendors offering against.  Which is something that I have been working on for a while in the background and look forward to offering up to the community soon.

20170523 Update: I forgot to mention that one of the most interesting enabling technologies that I came across at IoT World was from Matrix Industries. It’s not really the smartwatch they show on their website but the underlying Thermoelectric Technology.  Take heat and turn it into power to charge a battery.  In the world of IoT, and I’m thinking specifically IIoT, there is heat generation that already happens due to the operation of the device. Using a thermoelectric generator (TEG), like the one Matrix Industries has inside their smartwatch, you could power your IoT related sensors and possibly the communication channel (assuming they are both low power enough to be powered by a TEG) as a side effect of the waste energy from your device/equipment.  I haven’t dug into this much in depth, but it’s an interesting potential concept to help create longevity and increase the scalability of the sensors within your IoT Solution.

Filed Under: Events, Internet of Things Tagged With: IoT World

My Cloud Newsletter for March

March 21, 2012 1 Comment

So actually this is the Your Cloud Newsletter that I create for my private clients, but my english minor half had to play with the wording in the title.  So much good stuff in this month’s edition that I decided to redact the private stuff and share the rest with you!

VMworld 2012

Have you budgeted for VMworld 2012 yet? Seems like no matter how early we tell everyone about VMworld, people tend to get the green light and register just weeks before the event…and then can’t get into the sessions they want.  So make sure you start your planning now!

  • VMworld San Francisco: August 27-30, 2012
  • VMworld Barcelona: October 9-11, 2012

And here’s a ROI message incase your need to convince your boss.

vExpert Nominations Open

Is one of your co-workers a VMware Guru? Are they so dedicated to their Guru status that they blog about it after work? Then help make their Guru status official by nominating them to be a 2012 vExpert.

Latest Happenings from VMware

vSphere 5.0 Update 1 (ESXi and vCenter) Now Available!

  • Permanent Device Loss (PDL) enhancement for streatched clusters

Other Recent Releases (with links to Release Notes)

  • View 5.0.1
  • vShield 5.0.1
  • vCloud Director 1.5.1
  • vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.4 Update 1
  • vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 5.0.1
  • vCenter Configuration Manager (vCM) 5.5
  • vCenter Chargeback Manager (CBM) 2.0.1
  • vCenter Operations Manager (VCOPS) 5.0
  • vCloud Client for iPad (from iTunes)
  • New View Clients: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, and Android!

vCOPS has been getting lots of attention lately for the vSphere specfic dashboards available in 5.0. Here are some interesting tid-bits related to this dashboard:

  • VCOPS Dashboard Overview video (via Eric Sloof)
  • VCOPS Heatmaps and Event Management video (via Eric Sloof)
  • VCOPS Dashboard with Lots of VMs screenshot (via Iwan Rahabok)

Microsoft Licensing is an ongoing discussion within the VMware Community.  Emma (aka LadyLicensing) has a great blog where she posts on this topic for the wider IT community.  There have also been some great discussions recently regarding MS Licensing for Desktop as a Service (DaaS).

New Flings available from the VMware Labs…

  • Cloud Cleaner Cleans up your vCloud Environment
  • Auto Deploy GUI is a vSphere plugin for the Auto Deploy component
  • InventorySnapshot allows you to “snapshot” a given vCenter inventory configuration and reproduce it
  • Onyx serves as a proxy between vSphere Client and vCenter Server to translate communication into PowerShell
  • vBenchmark allows you to measure key datacenter operational and efficiency metrics

VMware Forum 2012 is a free full day event where you will hear VMware, Industry Experts, and IT Professionals discuss virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions as well as get a chance to network with your peers.  Below are some of the sessions:

  • Online Forum on April 12
  • Dallas, TX on May 2
  • Boston, MA on May 15
  • Washington, DC on June 19
  • Raleigh, NC on July 19

Check the VMware Forum 2012 website for full schedule and to register for one of these events.

VMware Customer Support Days

Have you attended a Customer Support Day yet?  If not, you’re missing a golden opportunity to learn from our Global Support Services (GSS) experts!

Upcoming Support Days:

  • April 4, 2012: New York, Manhattan
  • May 22 – May 23, 2012: Palo Alto (Customer and joint Support Day with Cisco, NetApp and VMware)
  • May 31, 2012 (Tentative): Virtual Support Day
  • July 29, 2012: Dallas
  • October 3, 2012: Boston

More dates, both in US and Internationally, are being planned. Please check the website regularly for updates and to register for an event.

Filed Under: Events, Tech Industry, Virtualization, VMware, VMworld

Countdown to Launch

April 19, 2009 Leave a Comment

One of the great things about my job at VMware is the new technology and initiatives that I’m aware of and can participate in.  The downside is that you can’t talk about them until they are officially announced.  On Tuesday VMware will be making a large announcement that includes vSphere and vCloud, I’ll finally be able to start sharing my thoughts and experiences on everything that we have been working on.  You can join in to the online simulcast of the announcement from VMware corporate headquarters in Palo Alto.  I’ll also be posting photos (and maybe a video?) from the day…timing of which will be determined by my busy schedule this week.

Tuesday’s announcement completes the triad of announcements over the past month.  First was Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS), their foray into the X86 based blade server computing market but designed around the virtualization and cloud computing needs of the enterprise data center.  Next came EMC’s Symmetrix V-Max (Virtual Matrix Architecture), the storage solution designed to power the virtual data center with scalable inter-connected storage that can even span multiple data centers.  Chad Sakac has posted a great virtualization specific overview on his blog.  Finally comes Tuesday…stay tuned.

(In preperation for tomorrow’s big event, check out hte Informationweek article on Why ‘Private Cloud’ Computing is Real — And Worth Considering.  I found this article to be a good overview on private cloud computing and has a few VMware teasers in it.)

Filed Under: Events, Tech Industry, VMware Tagged With: vCloud, VMware, vSphere

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About latoga labs

With over 25 years of partnering leadership and direct GTM experience, Greg A. Lato provides consulting services to companies in all stages of their partnering journey to Ecosystem Led Growth.