No one asked me to do it and no one told me to do it. But I wanted to do it. I have worked with and loved the NonStop system for the better part of 15 years and I really wanted to find a new way to show it off. What better way than via something now part of our common everyday lives like our cell phones? Sure, we blog and we tweet about this solution or that new release, but how do you get your boss to read the whitepaper or look at the minutia of why this is better than that? They are usually just concerned about the bottom line and how they can save now and in the future. How do you get across to executive management in one minute that this is the only solution that matters? What’s the “Oh Wow!” factor that is going to get their attention around what you propose?
It’s funny when I talk to various IT professionals that have never even heard of HP NonStop systems. I like to ask what they think the record is for having an application running without being down on any of the systems they manage and so far I have not heard of anyone telling me more than 18 months. I usually grab their attention when I mention there are NonStop systems running out there that have experienced zero -downtime for over 20 years. The typical response is “WHAT? That is basically a career in the IT industry. How is that possible?” Most of them are MS or Linux administrators and they are not only good at rebooting, but reloading their OS so often they have created new methods to do it faster. Many NonStop administrators do it so infrequently that they forget how. I think about all the things that make NonStop systems so unique and reliable. Being the leading system in overall availability, scalability, data-integrity, manageability, serviceability and superior security puts the platform in its own class as the only choice when mission-critical, in reality, means mission-perfect to your operations.
It’s not easy to zero in on the single most “oh Wow!” aspect of the NonStop systems as many come to mind. But there is one thing I never forgot when I first started working in this environment that is at the heart of it all - the NonStop Operating System.
The NonStop OS has actually been around for over 35 years and currently has two primary threads available from HP that run in both Rack mount and BladeSystem hardware platforms, and it should be noted there are still many systems running successfully on older generation NonStop S-series MIPS platforms. The reason NonStop is still sort of a ‘best kept secret’ is that it’s incredibly effective as a competitive advantage to many of our customers. We can’t name them or discuss their solutions or configurations publicly in most cases but we try to share when we can and have permission.
Earlier last year I was trying to think of a way to open up a conversation to IT managers that may not really be aware such a strong and future rich platform exists. Whatever it was, it had to be not only for HP folks, but for anyone that wanted to break the ice and open a “why didn't’t you tell me about this sooner” conversation with their management, clients or their CIO. While having coffee with my European counterpart Arjan van Doren one afternoon, we decided we wanted to do something really cool for a change to show off what we think is some of the finest technology in the industry. Under the radar and armed with only our creativity, we think we came up with a tool that can quickly and simply illustrate why NonStop system availability is unparalleled in the industry.
Introducing the HP NonStop Demo
The HP NonStop Demo simulates the instant take-over of application processes when they are interrupted by the failure of a CPU within any size NonStop node, in real-time. It uses a graphical display to convey the underlying concept of how NonStop systems can accomplish this kind of seamless take-over to ensure 100% application uptime. That’s the kind of “oh Wow!” you want to hear from your budget director.
This is a social experience too. You can get up to four people (on iOS devices) connected in a simulated node and take over each others processes like you were your own CPU. Try it out with your colleagues and or use it the next time you talk to your CMO, CIO or CEO. I hope you enjoy checking it out- it was certainly a blast to pull together and a great learning experience in how to get an app created and posted worldwide.
Key NonStop Demo Features
Download
To download the HP NonStop Demo from the App Store, click-here
Also, stay tuned for a future release supporting your Android devices.
