
Back in 2019, as I was enhancing my tech persona somewhat, which was already heavily focused on storage related infrastructure gear, to a more well-rounded HCI-oriented one by working for NetApp and then Nutanix, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was about to gain profound wisdom and become perpetually enlightened and wiser.
I believe that had I remained at NetApp, that this might have actually come to pass from the technical knowledge perspective.
However, my dissatisfaction with their SolidFire-based (alleged) HCI offering, combined with their excellent StorageGrid object platform I was also charged with selling, didn't sufficiently engage my inner geek at that particular time and that factor tied to their misrepresentation of where their HCI platform was in the maturity stakes was hard for me to live with, because it was really bad and I hardly ever say that about anything, but his one is the exception to that rule!
Therefore, when Nutanix finally organized everything for me to onboard some near 4 months later, I didn't hesitate to head in that direction instead of remaining at NetApp because I was seething about the HCI crud they had tried to pass off as well baked and set.
It was not even at pre-alpha stage in my estimation by the way!
In hindsight, I should have lingered at NetApp longer but I did ask about the A series SAN stuff and they had no position there at that time for me to do any of that.
I think they wanted me to be their Object guru but they failed to articulate that clearly, which was a shame, I woulda done it just for StorageGrid.
At the same time, I had been (circa 2009) placing more effort than usual into my specifically pronged attempts to secure a position (yet again) at Hitachi Data Systems aka Hitachi Vantara (HV).
I had actually helped several virtualization experts from ePlus (Paul Gavin the Scot) get placed at HV as a contractor, but the opportunity for me myself never came through at that point of proceedings.
Before I left Forsythe in 2009, someone within that org who wanted shot of me, believed that by quickly training me as an EMC specialist with a super intensive curriculum, that I would fail dramatically, demonstrating to everyone that I did not have the chops to be taken seriously in the storage industry and be removed from their working circle.
They were real unhappy I had beaten them with HDS USP platforms at several accounts and apparently the EMC DM's were not dealing with it at all well either, the prima donna types that they were back then!
This dastardly plan of theirs however, significantly backfired on those there with that agenda, as I rose to the challenge and instead thrived way beyond expectations.
I do like playing Columbo as my front by the way…
These unwise efforts of these only served to expand my personal range of mainstream opportunities in storage technology, complementing my already robust and wide portfolio of skills with NetApp and Hitachi Data Systems to now include the entire EMC portfolio as well!
I now just knew way more than I did before.
By the way, I do just want to say thanks to Steve Loving and co for that! It was very helpful for my career in storage that malarkey of yours was!
In fact, Gary Brown pulled me aside, stated he was not onboard with their misguided agenda in this particular case and gave me a lot of tips to ensure success with or without Forsythe going forward.
Much thanks to Gary for his much appreciated help as well!
During that time, I developed specific expertise with EMC VNX, Symmetrix VMAX, Isilon and Avamar with Data Domain platforms, became proficient in flash storage as an SME, and received training in Pure Storage, Nimble, 3Par, Infinidat, IBM and nearly every other storage-related technology platform you could shake a stick at.
A decade later, I had gained much experience in operating all the mainstream storage platforms simultaneously at a handful of enterprise customers, appreciating the positives and identifying the negatives in each of the many platforms that I had recommended to these various folks.
I also appreciated the idea of the then emerging HCI platforms and the potential of a software-defined world, where generic servers serve as the foundational components to effortlessly build a Data Center environment suited for any use case scenario.
I dabbled quite a bit with SimpliVity and Left-hand networks stuff in this vein - both of these platforms ended up being destroyed by HP in due course.
What I did not like about early HCI was their lock on ESXi and vSphere as the sole Hypervisor as my customers were all going Linux as a matter of stated strategic direction.
My sojourn at Nutanix was driven by the desire to uncover the secrets of AOS and have the tech experts there reveal the inner workings of the system to me and how they did Block, File, Object and backup as well as all the replication schemas they had on offer with the management GUI's.
This did not happen quite the way I had envisaged it to happen though.
Upon arrival, I encountered a group of individuals who were jealously safeguarding their knowledge and who were very hesitant to share any of their insights and observations with others at Nutanix as they feared competition from peers.
The only guy there who was open to sharing was a guy called Brian Holmes and I sucked him dry of Nutanix Knowledge PDQ. Brian is an awesome individual by the way!
He and I went on a Nutanix CE journey that saw me build my own CE 2.1 lab that I still use for demo purposes today!
FYI, Nutanix functions as a consortium of 400 independent entities, each comprising an AE, SE, and several specialists whom the AE and SE could theoretically consult to finalize deals, all of whom truly grasped the concept of the "i" in TEAM to an impressive degree and most of whom are thoroughly useless to any pre-sales winning activity agendas one may harbor.
Don't misunderstand me; Nutanix technology is generally quite impressive. It has its flaws, but then again, what technology doesn't have room for improvement?
The arrogance and the "i" in TEAM attitude folks there were all heavily painted with meant I had to extract any knowledge I needed from individuals there in nefarious ways by first softening them up and then putting them in a position where they were compelled to share the insights I was seeking.
It was like playing Pan Dimensional chess with a dozen or so Inter Dimensional Loki like characters.
I unfortunately only started working with Brian after some 4 years at Nutanix, if I had been buddied up with him as a new hire from the outset it would have been a much different experience though it would probably have served as a catalyst our earlier departure.
Nutanix do not buddy up new hires, it is straight into the deep end over there for those folks!
Another guy there who was based in LA with the name of Ryan Ramsey was also helpful but he had left Nutanix once already and left again when he experienced the same old schtick from Nutanix all over again and encouraged me to follow his rapid departure.
I wish I had taken his advice then.
He himself vowed he would not return a third time.
Meanwhile, this method of knowledge extraction from Nutanix folk was as tedious as extracting teeth with needle-nosed pliers from a rabid tiger, so I decided to obtain a cluster of my own to dissect the inner workings of Nutanix in my lab and conduct a forensic-style analysis as best I could free of peer noise effects and nefarious agendas on one of their clusters.
Nutanix's training for their teams primarily emphasizes sales, and inquiries about the technical workings are often met with responses such as "the customer does not need to know that." To this, I replied, "Er, er, I believe that our engineers should."
Nutanix's sales operations team enthusiastically engages in role-playing activities that make their skilled technical and sales staff feel like they are in a kindergarten for sales toddlers.
This method works well for recent college graduates who are starting their first job in a state of deep green naivete, but what about experienced pre-sales and engineering experts?
This approach was difficult to accept and became even more challenging when I clearly understood that the sales division of the organization was significantly lacking in competence or awareness, compounded by an overwhelming level of arrogance and zero emotional IQ to boot.
Many of those promoting this "characteristic" at Nutanix are former employees from Dell or Datrium who have not moved past 2005 in any significant way.
They tend to focus more on outdated "woke" indoctrination tactics learned at institutions like Long Beach State and similar colleges in Chico and Chicago, especially when their shortcomings in performing their jobs effectively becomes painfully evident.
Most of these folk seem to have done PolySci or Psychology as their main course and are well qualified in the ignoramus department.
I have noticed in the course of my life that many said woke folk tend to shift focus to a made up and imagined dramatized aspect of any situation they find themselves in, creating a lot of noise and irrelevant fuss to divert the attention of their failings from sales leadership who seem easily swayed by the woke Bollywood style dramas these sorts deliver on a constant basis.
From my perspective, while at Nutanix, I observed these sorts of traits repeatedly during my time there.
At first this was mildly entertaining but it got old fast and 5 years later I was rather a tad jaded about it all.
I was shocked when the sales management team began inserting woke DEI phrases into discussions, and even more irritated by the white men who, five years behind that outdated deflection trend, were the ones making these sorts of racist slanted remarks, leaving me in a state of disbelief at the nonsense and misinformation being spoken by what appeared to be sage and learned men, until they opened their upper and lower mandibles to utter such garbage that is...
I often wondered if they looked in the mirror and saw white men starting back at them....
At this time, I frequently wondered to myself when politics and such nonsensical talk became prevalent in the tech industry.
I am still amazed by those who lose half of their potential customers by making extreme politically charged statements of this ilk.
Personally, I don't differentiate between a red or blue dollar; I just want all the dollar I can possibly earn!
Naturally, there are some nations identified as terrorist states, and various laws prevent us from selling to them, but these instances are rare and well-documented.
The idea of dismissing half the population of the USA due to their moderate and centrist political beliefs, seems to me like something out of a tactic created in an asylum for the criminally insane.
So, I was apparently "Riffed" in July of 2024 because back in May, a left-wing, egotistical manager type from Cuba didn't appreciate me labeling their bizarre go-to-market strategy as "a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic."
They also didn't like my comments on their utterly confused actions, which were leading them to the "headless chicken antics hall of fame" at Warp 9 speeds with great fanfare from trumpets seemingly blown from on high.
My constructive criticism aimed to help them understand and abandon such complete lunacy behaviors with vigor.
We all learn from our mistakes, don't we? This is a fundamental characteristic of the human species.
Perhaps I engage in chess and delve into the realms of common sense and logic more than I should, but from my perspective, listening and observing appear to be excellent starting points for success at most things.
Then, by adapting to what you hear along the way to discern what is effective from what is not, I concluded years ago that this is how everything is accomplished by the human race at large.
I think I learnt this some 58 years ago to be precise.
These individuals who had me riffed from Nutanix then engaged in cancel culture antics, ensuring that the five or six backup prospects I had for alternative employment would not materialize either.
Eventually, I decided (from observing their asylum kid antics) that resolving this matter in a court of law would be best, and that I should return to more familiar and known territories to practice my vast raft of pre-sales technology skills in the meanwhile.
And so I sailed back into friendly ports many said I should never have departed from in the first place.
The issue with the storage industry at large back in 2016 was that many leadership individuals erroneously thought the traditional methods were outdated and that they had become obsolete.
In truth, they were not, they simply needed a fresh look, often bringing the phrase "new lipstick on an old pig" to mind and the ability to integrate via API dark arts.
The software wrapper was evolving, but the foundational systems remained largely unchanged.
So it was that I visited a place with cutting-edge, next-generation technology to learn something new once more (though I was already familiar with it, having initiated my HCI journey at ePlus some years prior).
In 2012, as many restless individuals began transitioning to the cloud, I anticipated that they would eventually adopt a Hybrid cloud model once they fully understood the actual costs and considerable limitations that came with the cloud schtick.
I looked long and hard at it for four years and was not much impressed with it as a total replacement strategy goes at any rate.
Currently, I observe that about 80% of this initial group of Cloud evangelistas have returned on-premise and have integrated cloud solutions where they align with their business model and budgets in a more sane strategy going forward.
The cloud isn't disappearing, but on-premise infrastructure is here to stay as well so we are now firmly locked in to the age of Hybrid cloud.
The change and perception of it all will occur in the GUI along with our perception of the "system" we operate within any organization Hybrid cloud style.
The valuable insights we gained from HCI OEMs pertain to OPEX by the way.
The majority of significant IT expenses in any organization are allocated to OPEX to maintain operations and keep the systems they develop functioning.
If your systems are complex and need highly intelligent individuals to operate a myriad of separate systems, you'll end up spending a significant amount of money gathering a team of such experts to keep everything running efficiently and integrating parts with legacy pieces.
These various experts will each specialize in a specific area of IT, and collectively, this results in significant operational expenses.
Companies seek solutions for running their applications that don't require a large team of experts to maintain.
There will always be the usual quotient of brainiacs in any organization, but their numbers will be very much smaller.
Those present will utilize AI tools to give the impression that they are a legion of geniuses regarding their productivity and other aspects.
The remaining experts proficient in AI tools will also require support to ensure that when they take vacations, there is coverage, allowing the organization they work for to continue operating normally in their absence.
Beneath the GUI exterior of this new technology, the same old tech continues to function in the same old way.
During my interview with Hitachi, I proposed the notion that there isn't truly any such thing as bad technology.
I myself have observed that the success of any technology, whether deemed "good" or "bad," depends on the individuals promoting it and their ability to achieve the desired outcomes with panache.
My observation here was that the most passionate person and group usually wins and the more evangelistas they bring to the party the better the outcome.
Certain technologies are simpler to operate than others, while some are significantly more challenging to manage.
The situation becomes intriguing when any new technology begins to significantly affect OPEX costs.
Cloud became successful as organizations became frustrated with the 120-180 day delay for the IT team to implement any new system, and in some instances, it took 18 months for new technology to be integrated into existing systems.
If this new equipment wasn't included in the budget, it might have taken years to become operational in the data center, if at all.
Cloud in contrast could be activated and operational within 24 hours and was billed based on an OPEX model.
There was no need to budget or allocate CAPEX to acquire the equipment to operate it.
All you required were a few individuals who could create virtual machines to run, test, and deploy their applications on.
Companies such as Nutanix took note of this and developed a comparable GUI for on-premise equipment, with their software performing all the functions of the individual infrastructure systems automatically, in a ZERO touch manner.
Although it didn't perform all tasks as effectively as the old point systems, they could improve it and develop the necessary code over time as they went. The main advantage was its ability to eliminate up to nine silos of expertise and decrease the number of support engineers by 43-62% with relative ease.
The takeaway for others in the IT infrastructure field was straightforward: keep it simple, stupid!
The key to achieving success here lies in API stacks and fully supporting each one.
Nutanix has perfected this into a fine art, and they are exceptionally skilled at it.
In a world defined by software, the infrastructure's marketability will hinge on its capability to support all the API stacks that a customer might need and demand.
Simplifying and streamlining the infrastructure for its next evolutionary phase becomes the transformative strategy that the OEM vendor engages in, and they should consistently pursue it on an immortal basis.
EMC endured for such a long time because they invested significantly in R&D and consistently adapted to meet customer demands and requirements.
Consequently, all successful OEMs excel at systems integration, as their products consistently need to be integrated with existing ones.
The capability to construct systems in a modular, lego block manner from any manufacturer is highly appealing to the customers of these systems. The integration of cloud, converged infrastructure, and Hyper-Converged Hybrid cloud infrastructure with software combinations is what will ultimately clinch the deal, so to speak.
Much like the ARM processors that Apple has popularized indeed do as an example to study.
Nowadays, when you examine how they construct these impressive ARM devices, they are essentially a compilation of the finest circuits for specific tasks, all packed onto a single die alongside other top-tier circuits for different functions, performing the duties of a computer.
These ARM processors essentially combine the finest network circuits, top GPU circuits, and leading CPU architecture with the best available functionalities of the time their architecture was put together.
It's possible to integrate storage and memory within the same circuits, which would further reduce the overall cost of a computer by the way.
This approach allows you to have all the necessary circuits integrated into silicon while only paying a license fee for utilizing the top-quality circuit. This results in having a complete functional computer system on a single chip (SOC).
This implies it operates more quickly, consumes less energy, and is built into a single die with no need for a PCI bus with plug in extras.
The necessary software for each is still present, but the challenge now is to present everything as a unified system.
This results in more affordable chips that are highly powerful and energy-efficient, accompanied by a developing software stack that removes the complexities of the past for the user.
This is the direction we're moving in, and those who don't get on board will become museum exhibits sooner rather than later....
There's now only one rule: keep it simple, stupid!
With all this in the back of my mind, I began my first day at what is now known as Hitachi Vantara.
When I joined Forsythe back in December of 2006, I was nicknamed Mr. Hitachi due to my passion for implementing their dependable, solid solutions that operate seamlessly without needing any intervention throughout their lifespan.
I deployed Hitachi Data Systems first ever storage virtualization platform called the NSC55 at Silicon Valley Bank and deployed their very first HCAP platform for OpenText which evolved into their HCP platform and we did dev on both with HDS folk back then.
We initially plugged the DMX800 pair into the NSC55 to migrate everything with zero downtime and then build a DR solution in Salt Lake City that was a mirror of Santa Clara HQ.
In my experience Hitachi storage platforms earned their dependability and reliability laurels.
Even then, that first NSC could accommodate 16PB of other storage platforms! SVB kept those two DMX800's running until the last bearing in the last FC disk seized and came to a shuddering halt!
I was always informed that EMC employed an army of engineers to support their systems in the field, as they needed a large team of these support folk to ensure customer satisfaction at that time.
The EMC sales team consistently pushed this point to customers who were thinking about choosing Hitachi over EMC equipment.
When I was at Forsythe, I would respond to customers by saying that Hitachi storage systems did not require a large team of support engineers to maintain their ongoing operation because they never broke.
This is still my answer today,
When I joined HV, I was pleasantly surprised by the team's effort to help me acclimate quickly and the genuine interest shown by all the experienced members in assisting me.
This was in sharp contrast to Nutanix where I got nothing at all to help me in any way from anybody.
Everything at HV so far has been straightforward to explain, and I can delve deeply just as I did with VMAX Gurus at EMC in the past when I needed to geek out.
This will have a significant impact and enable me to pursue my passion with ten times the intensity than before. You can ask many of my former colleagues about my enthusiasm for the technology platforms I believe in!
Being a part of a real TEAM will just make it that much more group enjoyable as I progress as a functional part of the team bringing my flavor of things with me to add into the mix.
At Nutanix they called me Dr EPYC because of my passion for that platform and I converted several key people to that cause as I went as well.
This HV ride is going to be very enjoyable! Incidentally this is something that some HCI vendor I used to work for no longer has anymore!
All they have is desperation and sales leadership angst, so.....
Banzai!!!
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