IBM Think! 2021 delivered a number of areas IT leaders may want to consider with new and existing initiatives and infrastructure deployments. This year’s event amplified the importance of growth in artificial intelligence as it relates to IBM Cloud Pak, digital transformation and digital business models, IBM Watson Orchestrate self-service automation, public and hybrid cloud, and application and infrastructure modernization, to say the least. Our research at Enterprise Strategy Group aligns nicely to the messages IBM delivered this year. Listen as Mark Peters, Practice Director; Scott Sinclair, Senior Analyst; Mike Leone, Senior Analyst, and I discuss and share our thoughts on this year’s IBM Think! 2021 event.
Infrastructure, Cloud & DevOps
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2021 is poised to be a transformational year for Dell Technologies, with Dell Technologies APEX playing the lead role. At this year’s Dell Technologies World, Dell announced the availability of what is expected to just be the start of a broad portfolio of managed IT services. Combined with the announced spin off of both VMware and Boomi, Dell Technologies is finding its focus—a focus I expect will lead to benefits for both Dell and its customers, but there is still much to be done. -
The focus at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2021 demonstrated that containers and Kubernetes is growing up—fast! The adoption of Kubernetes and its overall business impact, along with how the growth of applications and cloud adoption expands beyond the developer, was a key message at the event. Kubernetes has been ready and is expanding its presence in the overall business ecosystem, with deployments both in the cloud and at the edge. -
HPE made a big announcement this week on the data storage front, introducing Unified DataOps. At a high level, I am a big supporter of innovation along the lines of what HPE is doing—namely, providing technologies that fuel the transition from buying systems to realizing positive business outcomes. That’s because more and more, I see business leaders trying to achieve two seemingly conflicting goals: -
This week, IBM announced several enhancements to its storage portfolio. While there was a lot of good stuff in there, IBM’s new Spectrum Fusion offering deserves a deeper conversation. My colleague Paul Nashawaty covered some of the value it offers in his blog. I wanted to take a step back, however, and look at IBM Spectrum Fusion as it relates to the overall direction of IT storage and Infrastructure.
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When digital initiatives evolve in the data center, so too should your ability to choose how you consume IT resources. The desire to move to the cloud has some IT leaders intrigued, yet they continue to look into ways to maximize their existing IT investment and bridge the gap to get to the cloud. This has many IT leaders not moving to the cloud just yet but preferring to buy infrastructure via a consumption-based model such as a monthly subscription based on resource utilization for their on-premises data center. -
IBM’s Eric Herzog, Chief Evangelist and Vice President of Worldwide Storage Channels, briefed us at ESG on the recent IBM Storage announcement launch focused on modernization infrastructure for the edge, core, and hybrid cloud. This post will cover key elements in this launch where IBM’s focus is on Spectrum Fusion HCI and the importance of edge, core, and hybrid cloud as well as simplifying Red Hat OpenShift and Kubernetes. (more…)
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The way we interact with content is changing; however, the systems that contain the data are also evolving. Historically, the approach to connecting with businesses was through a website and web pages, often from a laptop. Now, the interaction is much more dynamic. But interaction with web content is only part of the story. Businesses connecting with their customers often require multiple ways of engagement. This can be through a web page, but also through mobile, tablets, watches, and other IoT devices such as beacons. Obviously, the shift of data distribution has evolved and the delivery of content also needs to evolve. (more…) -
While public cloud momentum has been building for more than a decade, there is still a sizeable footprint of on-premises applications and workloads. Presented with this opportunity, many IT leaders are looking for ways to modernize their own data centers by making them more cloud-like. What technologies will be the likeliest targets for investment as organizations look to accelerate this conversion process in the coming 12 months and beyond?
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When is a midrange storage array not a midrange storage array? When it can break down the traditional definitions of storage arrays. Given the state of modern IT, it is time to do away with labels such as entry-level or midrange for storage technology. That is an antiquated way of classifying technologies. And the Dell Technologies PowerStore is an excellent case in point. At first glance, someone might think of the PowerStore as just another midrange array, but that would be a huge mistake. -
Join me and Scott Sinclair as we speak in this latest 3-minute video about the impact of digital transformation on IT infrastructure, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), and the state of artificial intelligence.
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In March 2021, Lenovo announced new offerings that provide new ways for clients to accelerate computing with their Lenovo TruScale Services, which enables flexible consumption of server resources. The purpose of this launch was to accelerate real-time insights from the edge to the cloud; incorporate eighteen new ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile systems in the portfolio by expanding AMD’s family of third generation EPYC microprocessors, including eight new ThinkSystem V2 servers updated with third generation Intel Xeon scalable processors; and deliver ready-to-deploy analytics and AI offerings with SAS edge analytics, city security AI with Addfor, and scalable machine learning with cnvrg.io.
2021 is poised to be a transformational year for Dell Technologies, with 
The focus at 
HPE made a big announcement this week on the data storage front, introducing 
This week, 
When digital initiatives evolve in the data center, so too should your ability to choose how you consume IT resources. The desire to move to the cloud has some IT leaders intrigued, yet they continue to look into ways to maximize their existing IT investment and bridge the gap to get to the cloud. This has many IT leaders not moving to the cloud just yet but preferring to buy infrastructure via a consumption-based model such as a monthly subscription based on resource utilization for their on-premises data center.
IBM’s 
The way we interact with content is changing; however, the systems that contain the data are also evolving. Historically, the approach to connecting with businesses was through a website and web pages, often from a laptop. Now, the interaction is much more dynamic. But interaction with web content is only part of the story. Businesses connecting with their customers often require multiple ways of engagement. This can be through a web page, but also through mobile, tablets, watches, and other IoT devices such as beacons. Obviously, the shift of data distribution has evolved and the delivery of content also needs to evolve. 
When is a midrange storage array not a midrange storage array? When it can break down the traditional definitions of storage arrays. Given the state of modern IT, it is time to do away with labels such as entry-level or midrange for storage technology. That is an antiquated way of classifying technologies. And the Dell Technologies PowerStore is an excellent case in point. At first glance, someone might think of the PowerStore as just another midrange array, but that would be a huge mistake.
In March 2021, Lenovo announced new offerings that provide new ways for clients to accelerate computing with their Lenovo TruScale Services, which enables flexible consumption of server resources. The purpose of this launch was to accelerate real-time insights from the edge to the cloud; incorporate eighteen new ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile systems in the portfolio by expanding AMD’s family of third generation EPYC microprocessors, including eight new ThinkSystem V2 servers updated with third generation Intel Xeon scalable processors; and deliver ready-to-deploy analytics and AI offerings with SAS edge analytics, city security AI with Addfor, and scalable machine learning with cnvrg.io.