Network Fabric for Cloud
This is possible by:
- Improving IT productivity by unifying the virtual and physical fabric with new HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v software, which, in conjunction with the HP FlexFabric 5900 physical switch, delivers advanced networking functionalities such as policies and quality of service to a VMware environment. Integrated Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregator (VEPA) technology provides clear separation between server and network administrations to deliver operational simplicity.
- Reducing data center footprint with the HP Virtualized Services Router (VSR), which allows services to be delivered on a virtual machine (VM), eliminating unnecessary hardware, by leveraging the industry's first carrier-class software-based Network Function Virtualization (NFV).
As organizations move to software defined networks, some fundamental changes in the approach will be required and these products are a start down that path. Here is a video with a bit more high level discussion and some details:
The supply and demand issues of governance
For me governing development efforts has a number of parallels with managing an economy. In economics, you can control an economy from the supply side or the demand side. Some organizations spend a great deal on the supply side making sure work products and processes are defined, creating a great deal of documentation. They may have process owners even, who are focused on ensuring that the processes is up-to-date. In this case, there was no shortage of supply.
Teams may overlook the need to focus on the demand side. How should these work products be used by the leadership in making better decisions? Do the leaders understand their value and how to use them? Are they actually being used? How can we prove it? … If we get the leaders to actually use the materials (increasing demand), the work products will get created more consistently, the process followed and the whole effort will generate greater value. It is about leadership, not about creating more stuff.
That is one area were Agile techniques have greater focus. Agile approaches are zealous about ensuring work output is understood and used. Unfortunately, they may give up a level of consistent delivery in the process.
Understanding your organizations supply of process work products and how they are actually used can go a long way to increasing performance.
Are standard processes constraining our agile needs?
As we develop more sophisticated systems that can begin to recognize patterns of behavior, new software solutions that adapt to changing needs are possible. One area of this effort is adaptive case management.
“Adaptive Case Management (ACM) is information technology that exposes structured and unstructured business information (business data and content) and allows structured (business) and unstructured (social) organizations to execute work (routine and emergent processes) in a secure but transparent manner.”
I usually talk about standards as allowing us to focus our innovation. In the case of processes though I have to ask: Is the future less about standard ways of doing things and more about adaptive approaches that adjust dynamically to the needs of the day? I think it is.
A summary table defining the workplace of the future
Preparing to surf the tech waves of the future…
