Don MacVittie

Throughout history there has been a cycle that ebbs and flows where new technology makes production more efficient and reduces the need for manpower in a particular space, thus forcing those in charge into the difficult position of deciding who stays and who goes. This is normall... (more)

I wrote a good while back about the need to translate all the various storage protocols into one that could take root and simplify the lives of IT. None of the ones currently being hawked seem to be making huge inroads in the datacenter, all have some uses, none is unifying. Thos... (more)

For my regular readers: Sorry about the long break, thought I’d start back with a hard look at a seemingly minor infrastructure elements, and the history of repeating history in IT. In the history of all things, technological and methodological improvements seem to dramatically ... (more)

As I’ve mentioned before, I am intrigued by the never-ending cycle of repetition that High Tech seems to be trapped in. Mainframe->Network->Distributed->Virtualized->Cloud, which while different, shares a lot of characteristics with a mainframe environment. The same is true wit... (more)

What does a military unit that faced annihilation have to do with enterprise productivity. A lot more than you would think. Last week I packed up my carry-on sized bags and headed off on economy to spend the week in Seattle, attending meetings with coworkers from several differe... (more)

EBook readers are an astounding thing, if you really stop and think about it. Prior to their creation, how could you reasonably have hundreds or thousands of books in one place, all the notes you took and highlighting you wanted to do, and your current page in each book all store... (more)

When an army is configuring defenses, it is not merely the placement of troops and equipment that must be considered, but the likely avenues of attack, directions the attack could develop if it is successful, the terrain around the avenues of attack – because the most likely aven... (more)

Back when SaaS was making its debut in the enterprise, I was a mid-level IT manager with a boss that was smart. It was a great experience working for him overall, and if not for external pressures, I might still be working on his team. One of the SaaS conversations we had was pr... (more)

#f5friday There’s an iApp for that! NIST publication 800-53 is a standard defined to help government agencies (and increasingly enterprises) rein in sprawling security requirements while maintaining a solid grip on the lockdown lever. It defines the concept of a “security contr... (more)

Back when SaaS was making its debut in the enterprise, I was a mid-level IT manager with a boss that was smart. It was a great experience working for him overall, and if not for external pressures, I might still be working on his team. One of the SaaS conversations we had was pr... (more)

There are quite a few pundits out there that would like to convince you that a purely virtual infrastructure is the wave of the future. Most of them have a bias to drive them to this conclusion, and they’re hoping you’ll overlook it. Others just want to see everything virtualized... (more)

There are quite a few pundits out there that would like to convince you that a purely virtual infrastructure is the wave of the future. Most of them have a bias to drive them to this conclusion, and they’re hoping you’ll overlook it. Others just want to see everything virtualized... (more)

IT Brand Pulse carries a series of reports based upon surveys conducted amongst IT professionals that attempt to ferret out the impression that those working in IT have of the various vendors in any given market space. Their free sample of such a report is the November 2010 FCoE ... (more)

IT Brand Pulse carries a series of reports based upon surveys conducted amongst IT professionals that attempt to ferret out the impression that those working in IT have of the various vendors in any given market space. Their free sample of such a report is the November 2010 FCoE ... (more)

It has been a while since I wrote an installment of Load Balancing for Developers, and now I think it has been too long, but never fear, this is the grad-daddy of Load Balancing for Developers blogs, covering a useful bit of information about Application Delivery Controllers that... (more)

It has been a while since I wrote an installment of Load Balancing for Developers, and now I think it has been too long, but never fear, this is the grad-daddy of Load Balancing for Developers blogs, covering a useful bit of information about Application Delivery Controllers that... (more)

Every once in a while, as the number of people following me grows (thank you, each and every one), I like to revisit something that is fundamental to the high-tech industry but is often overlooked or not given the attention it deserves. This is one of those times, and the many-fa... (more)

  Every once in a while, as the number of people following me grows (thank you, each and every one), I like to revisit something that is fundamental to the high-tech industry but is often overlooked or not given the attention it deserves. This is one of those times, and the many... (more)

By now, everyone even vaguely familiar with information security knows the military maxim of blitzkrieg – burst through the hardened defense at a single point and then rush pell-mell to the rear where the soft underbelly of any static army lies. It is a good military strategy, pr... (more)

By now, everyone even vaguely familiar with information security knows the military maxim of blitzkrieg – burst through the hardened defense at a single point and then rush pell-mell to the rear where the soft underbelly of any static army lies. It is a good military strategy, pr... (more)