Cloudy, with a chance of video…

My grandfather was born in the early 1900’s.  By all accounts he was a hardworking man with a strong degree of curiosity.  He passed away in his late 80’s and before he died I remember talking to him about my pursuit of an Electrical Engineering degree.  He nodded politely, asked a few questions and when I helped to fix the electrical outlet in his garage I got the sense that he thought I was heading down the path to be an electrician.  I believe that thought pleased him.  Several years ago I was explaining to my five year old daughter in layman’s terms what I did for a living and what my company made.  I said things like “We make tiny engines that run computers” or “I work with computers that run websites like Webkinz® and Disney®”.  She seemed impressed.  Months later when she was asked by a parent of her friend what her dad did for a living I was a combination of proud and surprised to hear that she replied “They make chips…”  (proud moment) “…and salsa!” (um OK.  I still have work to do).

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Now the other day she walked up to me and said something like “Dad, I am having trouble getting the Slingbox to work on mom’s iPod Touch.  It is connected to the Internet but the remote does not seem to be changing the channel.  Can you help me?”  Clearly she has made some progress up the technology curve, but it also struck me how far she has come.  Kids these days are surrounded by technology.  In our house alone there are at least the following electronic devices; Oven, Microwave, AppleTV, refrigerator, smoke detector (3), carbon monoxide detector, programmable thermostat, furnace, radio, garage door opener (2), wireless speakers, televisions (3), set top boxes (3), ceiling fans with remotes (3), netbook, Slingbox, Clear wireless router, remote outlet, sprinkler control box, iPod Touch, desktop computer, Wii, iPod shuffle (2), alarm clocks (3), oven timer, electronic light dimmer, cordless phones (4), AV receiver, DVD players (3), VCR, iPod docking station, security system, motion sensor, camcorder, camera (2), USB hub, music keyboard, AV switch, computer keyboard, battery chargers (4), Wii remotes (4), Wii Fit Pad, Wii drums, copier/fax/scanner, computer monitor, AC, Power supplies (4), RFID credit cards (2), washer, dryer, noise canceling headphones, answering machine, internet modem, cell phones (2), handheld GPS, auto GPS and electronic battleship.

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I am sure I have forgotten several things and I did not count cars or anything at my children’s school.  I am also sure each of the electronic devices in our house has either a processor, microcontroller, ASIC or multiple of each.  Admittedly, the silicon content in our house is probably above average given where I work and the personalities my wife and I have.  But when I think back to my grandfather he had none of these silicon laden items.  I am sure he didn’t care since it is hard to miss something you never knew.  Of the hundreds of pieces of silicon in our house about a dozen or so are smart enough to connect to each other or to “the cloud” in some way.  I put “the cloud” in quotes because it is not only the most over-hyped word of it’s time it is also the best way to articulate what I suspect my children and many others think of the services that they get when all of this stuff gets connected.

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I can safely say two things are fact. First, my grandchildren will have in their house many more pieces of silicon than I do. Second, they will have more pieces of silicon that can connect to each other and communicate with “the cloud”.  There are many billions of devices connected to the Internet today and that number will grow.  At Intel we are building silicon, and increasingly software assets, that facilitate the processing and movement of data both on those devices and between them. Servers are increasingly becoming an important part of that over-hyped cloud word. My cable company has a cloud delivering me my on demand video content, A social media site allows me to upload pictures into their cloud to share with my friends, someone just used a cloud architecture to develop a perpetual motion machine.  OK, one of those things was false.

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My grandfather thought a cloud was something in the sky.  My children think it streams video to their handheld device.  What will our great-grandchildren think?

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IntelBlogs/~3/B_BrRn_sWSw/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-video

Culture Contrast: Harnessing the Power of People

	Culture Contrast: Harnessing the Power of People A colleague emailed me this NYT article titled, “Apple’s Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger.” It reeked of old world thinking to me. I truly hope it isn’t true … because up until reading this I’ve had a secret professional crush on Steve Jobs. Let’s face it, he’s charming and the products his vision and his team create either make you smile, or woo you with their beauty. But wow. Contrast the “lock it down, speak nothing, tweet nothing” culture, as depicted in this article, with what EMC has going on. While we take confidentiality seriously, we’re also moving at warp speed to the model that leverages more connections, more collaboration, more sharing, and everything else 2.0. (Kudos to EMC leaders like Board Member, Jack Egan; Division President, Mark Lewis; HR EVP, Jack Mollen; and CTO, Jeff Nick; Marketing VP & CTO Chuck Hollis; and the influence of folks who joined us from RSA Security like Dr. Burt Kaliski, for “getting this” early on and encouraging EMC to learn new skills to unlock the business magic within 2.0 management and behavior models.) The evolved EMC culture is a mecca for empowered Intrapreneurs, for people who like to be treated like adults,…
A colleague emailed me this NYT article titled, “Apple’s Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger.” It reeked of old world thinking to me. I truly hope it isn’t true … because up until reading this I’ve had a secret professional crush on Steve Jobs. Let’s face it, he’s charming and the products his vision and his team create either make you smile, or woo you with their beauty. But wow. Contrast the “lock it down, speak nothing, tweet nothing” culture, as depicted in this article, with what EMC has going on. While we take confidentiality seriously, we’re also moving at warp speed to the model that leverages more connections, more collaboration, more sharing, and everything else 2.0.  (Kudos to EMC leaders like Board Member, Jack Egan; Division President, Mark Lewis; HR EVP, Jack Mollen; and CTO, Jeff Nick; Marketing VP & CTO Chuck Hollis; and the influence of folks who joined us from RSA Security like Dr. Burt Kaliski, for “getting this” early on and encouraging EMC to learn new skills to unlock the business magic within 2.0 management and behavior models.) The evolved EMC culture is a mecca for empowered Intrapreneurs, for people who like to be treated like adults, who enjoy the riches of connections and collaboration, and who have an abundance of gifts to share which, when harnessed, can fast-forward growth of nifty things like revenue, profit, markets, market share, brands, life-saving efforts, market value, awards, and customer appreciation of game-changing strategies. Earlier today, I wrote a comment on another blog which discussed how one might position the value of a 2.0 model to companies looking for ROI.  My reply is intimately related to this discussion of workplace cultures — and the business value of that culture model decision. It follows. ********************************* ********************************* “Yesterday I presented my thoughts on the next wave of social media to an audience of business leaders. I found myself using the analogy of a Triangle to show the value.   Imagine the top of the triangle as the “normal” top down driven way of getting information out and engaging audiences.  This is the typical command-and-control world.   Now look at the relative size of the bottom of the triangle.  Consider the backdrop of today’s global business world where things change in a flash, and companies are looking for “strategic agility” to get growth, growth and more growth.   Would you like to have just the precious few engaging the world with your mission — the top?  Or everybody? Will “just the top” get you there fast enough?   Entrust your people. (99% will do the right thing; they really do want to help your business rather than hurt it.)   Allow them to practice these new skills.  (Try an internal social network first. Ensure that the environment is supportive, and people understand that mistakes will happen – this is good. This is the place to learn. Encourage peer mentors in these new skills.)   Provide them with some guidelines. (Be genuine yet positive; Connect & Engage as well as promote; Be careful to share only ‘public’ information; Mentor your peers with external tools as well and look out for one another; invest your time wisely; etc.)   And watch them become the most powerful and engaged organic brand managers you’ve ever seen! They’ll do it for free, willingly, on their own time even … and have a blast as they see the needle moving as a result of their efforts! They are a new type of leader in the 2.0 world. Here, leaders emerge at every level and pay-grade … and they come with faithful followers.   By leveraging the other side of the triangle, everyone is working with you to achieve growth, growth and more growth.   Look again at your triangle.  You know what else it represents?  Think ‘Delta,’ the symbol of ‘Change.’” ————————- Talk Back ———————- Thoughts? I like to think that when the triangle is turned upside down, it really makes music … for your shareholders, your business results, and the happiness of your really engaged people. http://www.pollypearson.com http://twitter.com/pollypearson
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URL: http://emcfeeds.emc.com/rsrc/link/_/culture_contrast_harnessing_the_power_of_people__315631435?f=84f8d580-01de-11de-22d1-00001a1a9134

Compellent CTO and Customers Discuss Virtualization During CIO Virtual Trade Show

On June 16th, Compellent will be participating in an exciting virtual trade show hosted by CIO discussing the benefits of virtualization and how it’s helped organizations cut costs, optimize resources and enable disaster recovery and business continuity.

During the event Compellent CTO, Larry Aszmann, Burton Group analyst, Chris Wolf, and Compellent customers Tom Gonzales (Credit Union of Colorado) and Ping Ooi (Ares Management) will take part in a “Virtualization at Work” panel discussion. They will address ways virtualization can answer pressing budget questions, the current and future state of virtualization and cloud computing, industry trends and personal experiences with the technology.

For more information or to register for the event, please click here.

The event will air live on Tuesday, June 16th, and be available on demand from June 17 – September 17, 2009. All attendees who visit the event on June 16, 2009 may win an Apple® – iPod touch® 8GB MP3 Player compliments of CIO.

Session Panelists Information:

• Vendor: Larry Aszmann, CTO, Compellent – Larry serves as the pacesetter for the panel discussion, speaking first on almost every topic and dictating the direction and tone of the panel.
• End User 1: Tom Gonzales, Credit Union of Colorado – Tom serves as the primary back-up for Larry, offering an end-user example to many of the points Larry initiates. Like usual, Tom does an excellent job discussing CUoC, while promoting Compellent.
• End User 2: Ping Ooi, Ares Management – Ping has a limited role throughout the first half of the discussion, but begins to speak more effectively towards the end. He seems to miss a few opportunities to discuss Compellent.
• Analyst: Chris Wolf, Burton Group – Chris seems to serve as the impartial participant, providing a general industry perspective. He often speaks for long periods of time without interruption.

CIO’s Virtualization Virtual Conference will provide a drill down into the trends shaping how CIOs are leveraging virtualization. It’ll look at wringing out the maximum cost savings; hidden benefits like green IT and disaster recovery; how virtualization is poised to push cloud computing past the tipping point; best practices for managing your virtual environment; Open Source Virtualization: Ready for Prime Time?; and virtualization and security: the critical issues confronting CIOs.

URL: http://www.compellent.com/blog/post/Compellent-CTO-and-Customers-Discuss-Virtualization-During-CIO-Virtual-Trade-Show.aspx