There is an adage in information theory - keep data in one place - aimed at reducing the effort required to keep multiple copies up-to-date. In practise, it isn’t followed much. The general perception is that copying is easy. The effect is the same as saying “quality costs too much”.
Extra copies are out of date, costly to maintain, make extra work, and often lead to corrupt data.
My advice: learn to use the tools to ensure the data stays in one place. You’ll get more accurate results with less work.
SQL queries are easy once you learn how and quality does save money.
The rather new Entrepreneurship and Innovation Club in Ottawa is a bit different then other networking groups I’ve attended. Composed of ex EMBA graduates from the University of Ottawa, it combines networking, presentations from members and more homework - as if the current students didn’t have enough already.
At last nights meeting, Rachel Hancock led a session on developing new business ideas. She outlined a process to follow that helps in developing ideas. At first, it seems straight forward. Basically (and with far too much brevity) it is: examine trends in the markets; identify challenges that are developing; use your experience to qualify them; from the challenges identify opportunities and then study these using the standard market and business planning methods.
The trick lies in letting go of your self-imposed constraints. In the small group I was working with, we had a lawyer, a green energy developer, a incubator, and me - a general manager. We looked at technological, social and environmental trends and came up with a company that would develop green energy using an open-innovation (read open source) model - hardly innovative given our backgrounds but illustrative of the constraints we impose on our thinking. Breaking out of these constraints is necessary to finding good new ideas that are more than just bits of your past experience.
This is a common theme in discussions about creativity. Thinking laterally and letting the brain play with the data once you’ve digested it is part of the process. The hard part is being open to the new ideas when your brain passes them on to you. To me, this sounds a bit like Obiwan’s advice to Luke: “Use the force” but it is necessary or you will be stuck in a trap of your own making.
This isn’t to say the process is easy. Outside of the classroom, the search for the next big thing is a serious and time consumming effort. Lots of data needs to be gathered and digested. Just take a break now and then to let your brain play.
Good luck with your search.
I’ve been attending a number of meetings of various organizations. Several have been held at The Code Factory in downtown Ottawa, a collaborative workspace that serves startups and SMEs by providing work areas, meeting rooms and office infrastructure. Its a great idea and, in my mind, the way of the future with the growth of mobile computing and nomadic workers. The office will become a place to meet, share ideas and socialize. While being a nomad is liberating, motivation comes more from being part of a team and that does require relationship building face time.
Please visit the site and encourage Ian to keep his blog up-to-date.
I just attended an OCRI Zone5ive presentation by Alec Saunders entitled “The Social Media Toolbox”. I found it to be very informative and thought I share the key points I took away from it. Please excuse the bullet points: (Alec’s presentation slides can be found here.)
- Social media is all about brands having conversations with customers. A blog is a type of brand and publication rolled into one and the two give you a pulpit from which you can send out a message.
- Blogs are automatically search-engine optimized. The reasons relate to the web of links that the blog generates on its own, the sheer number of pages in the blog and links from other bloggers linking back. In many cases, blogs outrank corporate sites in search results because of this. Saunders gave several examples where his blog was top ranked over major corporations. A funny one was based on a hidden page advertising some extra space in a time-share he had available. Search Google for “Cancun resort rentals” - his blog is second.
- The blog doesn’t get noticed overnight. It takes lots of work and time - over 5 months - to get results. What is involved? About two to three hours a day. In particular:
- Write often - up to three posts a day
- Write meaty stuff - make it interesting and worthwhile to read
- Be controversial - blandness is boring
- Participate in the conversation
- Ask for link love (referal links) from other bloggers
- Comment on other blogs
- Keep a blog roll
- Love your friends
- Use a good blog site. There are many. Then:
- Set up a good top-level domain
- Add a google site map to aid google to catalog your site.
- Give your posts good titles that will attract readers.
- Use links and tracebacks
- Tag, tag and tag the posts
- Syndicate the posts with
- RSS feedburners
- Other blogs
- Blog widgets
- Content gathers such as Newstex.
While blogging is free, the downside is the time required to make it all work. For established companies, there is a cost/benefit trade-off as the blogging effort is substantial and has a cost associated with it. For start-ups, however, the benefits of the marketing that can be generated from a blog are worth the effort and I’d suggest that start-ups start blogging from day one. By the time the product is ready, your blog will be a well tuned marketing machine.
More on the other social media tools will follow.
Red Hat announced today that it has acquired Qumranet for $107 million.
Qumranet is an Israeli company best known for its sponsorship of the open-source Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) system for the Linux OS. In April 2008, it released the proprietary Solid-ICE desktop virtualization solution that uses centralized operating environments and remote rendering technology to accommodate up to 50 desktops on a single server - reportedly more than other major virtualization platforms offer. It also offers a template feature that can be used to share OS and application sets, relieving some of the central storage and management burden - key elements required for effective cloud computing solutions.
This is an indication of the importance of virtualization and the changes that are coming to the IT industry. Just yesterday, I posted a blog on how virtualization and cloud computing will change the way we work with computers and on how open-source solutions will have an advantage. The market is certainly hot and the price that Red Hat paid for Qumranet, a relatively new company, highlights just how hot it is.
I’d expect this price to draw in a number of new entrants eager to reap similar rewards. It will also heat up the competitive race for Linux based virtualization technologies. Any guesses what Canonical is doing now?
Related blogs:
Kris Buytaert: Red Hat grabs Qumranet
Matt Asay: Red Hat Acquires into Windows Game
Sasha: The virtualization market is entering phase II: RHT acquires Qumranet
Ever get the sense that the IT world is changing too quickly. Well hang on because this ice berg is going to flip. Virtualization and cloud computing are the latest buzz words in the IT world. Virtualization allows companies to consolidate equipment while maintaining service - essentially a cost saving exercise. Cloud computing, a reference to clouds drawn on IT diagrams, is a concept where the servers are not local to a company but are out-there somewhere on the net. Applied to desktops, virtualization and cloud computing may change the nature of computing and cause large shifts in the IT marketplace.
Cloud-computing based desktop virtualization is a disruptive technology. In the last thirty years, computing power has been distributed from a mainframe to the desktop. Desktop virtualization will recreate that mainframe experience but with much more flexibility. With cloud computing, computing power will become a commodity and the desktop computer, the one you use on a daily basis, will become more of a terminal. At the extreme, the desktop computer may be replaced by a simple internet device that has no software.
The benefits to organizations basically come down to a tremendous savings in the total cost of ownership. Most companies are not IT savvy and don’t want to be: IT is not their core competency. They want to buy IT capabilities the same way they buy power or other utilities. Virtualization and cloud computing will provide this opportunity. Complex corporate IT infrastructure will become a thing of the past with many companies able to use networks about as sophisticated as the one in your home. Companies will not have to own, manage, upgrade, expand or deal with IT infrastructure.
Imagine your Internet service provider giving you and your co-workers each a simple computing device along with your corporate or home internet connection. You use this device to connect with a powerful server somewhere in the cloud. All your applications and data are there, protected in a data center with lots of bandwidth available to you. Sound far out? Well then, read about HP or Verizon’s plans with Desktone. And Desktone is not alone: the number of new entrants in this market is growing quickly. Also read Reuven Cohen’s blog “The Desktop Cloud“.
The implications are huge:
- Organizational change: The biggest reason most “office workers” go to the office is because that is where the IT infrastructure is. Desktop virtualization will change this. If you have access to your desktop from any internet connection and are well supported by collaborative tools, why do you need to go to the office every day? To attend meetings? What else? Could you have Meeting Monday’s and stay home the rest of the time?
- Restructuring in the IT sector: What will happen to all the IT staff at all the companies that no longer have any IT?
- No more software to buy: Everything will become a subscription service with a pay-as-you-go approach. You will not have to buy, install, register or configure any software. Software licenses will have to change accordingly. As a commodity, this model will not support license fees. Open source software will have a tremendous advantage here.
- Microsoft can only lose: As the leader, commodity pricing will reduce their revenue. They will be competing with to Sun, Google, Amazon, IBM and others that can provide the VDI service without any Microsoft software. Google is well on the way with its Google Apps and now Chrome. In addition, the Microsoft operating system and desktop designs do not lend themselves to the cloud computing / virtualized desktop space and require special management solutions. Again, I see an opportunity for open source solutions here such as Ulteo.
- Internet service providers will win: They are in the best position to provide the service. The last quarter mile problem of getting high-bandwidth to the desktop will be reduced. Rural areas may be well served by high-speed dialup connections.
- Data centers will win: All the cloud computing servers will have to be hosted somewhere.
- Multi-media may suffer: Streaming applications that use lots of bandwidth may not work very well when going from source to server to client.
- Value added services will win: Sales of software will be replaced by subscriptions to service providers and contracts to value-added integrators. IBM has already embraced this model with tremendous support for open source software projects but they make their money from contracting services.
- More freedom: The controls over what you can access on the internet will be determined by where the server is located, not by where you are connected to the internet. People in China or Turkey will be able to benefit from servers in more liberal countries that have full access to the internet. (Then again, countries with restrictive Internet policies may ban these services as well.)
- More danger: the possibilities for malicious use are higher. Like off-shore banking used to evade taxes, cloud computing can be used to hide all sorts of nefarious wrong doing.
- The end of Moore’s law for the desktop: The main computer sold will become a simple device with a browser, screen, mouse, keyboard and an internet connection. Or it will be your phone.
Let me know what you think.
