NonStop Insider

job types


Site navigation


Recent articles


Editions


Subscribe


For monthly updates and news.
Subscribe here
DanDan

dataexpress

DataExpress has been a participant at numerous Regional User Group (RUG) meetings this year, but the biggest gathering of the year for the NonStop community is about to take place. The NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC) that will be held in a matter of a few days has continued to climb in popularity where today it is the premier event for the NonStop community. Looking back at what was announced by HPE over the past four years we have seen a tremendous amount of work being done for NonStop but perhaps most significant of all has been the cutting of the umbilical cord tying the NonStop software stack to HPE NonStop-specific hardware.

However, this move by HPE to ensure NonStop became a viable software-only solution capable of running on any x86 chipset when high speed converged Ethernet is also present, didn’t come as a total shock having been hinted at, as a project, for quite some time. In particular, we have known that the presence of NonStop inside Telcos was going to look very different from what was already deployed, given Telcos’ commitment to virtualize everything. For DataExpress, this connection between HPE, the NonStop team and the customer base is very important as the moves HPE is making as it elevates NonStop to being a software solution are consistent with what we are encountering in the user community as well. Clearly HPE is listening to the customers and just as clearly, it has created partnerships that have led to NonStop evolving the way it has. Solving real business problems and introducing new products and product features, as intimidating as they may appear at first sight, have all come about as HPE listened closely to what NonStop users need today.

While we aren’t expecting to see any dramatic changes in HPE sales practices with the NonStop X, as it is proving to be a solid platform for mission critical applications where SLAs call for levels of availability that only fault tolerant platforms like NonStop can provide. On the other hand, we are beginning to see some of our customers taking a much closer look at the possibilities virtualized NonStop (vNS) opens up for them. We have to agree with HPE’s assessment of vNS right now in that it should appeal to developers and testers alike even as it makes an ideal complementary offering to NonStop X systems already deployed when it comes to piloting new functionality. So, we are gearing up to respond to even more requests for information during 2019 concerning DataExpress running, “as a service”.

Throughout our history with working with NonStop our DataExpress has provided support and services to help with every previous transition NonStop users have had to cope with – not an unreasonable situation with the critical role DataExpress plays at many NonStop sites. This was expressed well in our latest post to our News / Blog, https://dataexpress.com/2018/10/29/dataexpress-provides-nonstop-customers-with-reliability-and-stability-for-secure-managed-file-transfers/

According to DataExpress CEO, Billy Whittington, “Simply put, customers of DataExpress with years of operational experience begin looking at ways to combine routine execution with new file types, new communications protocols or even new platforms and this is when difficulties can arise. However, working with the customer as part of their team, our support folks get a good inkling of where or how the project may run into difficulties in time to provide workarounds and fixes.” Left unsaid, of course, is that the introduction of vNS represents yet another potential source for difficulties in the near term where the experience of the DataExpress team can be counted on for further operational assistance.

As reiterated in our most recent post, our product roadmaps through the years have been liberally populated with new features as a result of requests coming from customers working with our support teams. Interacting with our organization simply is just another way for customers to get more from DataExpress in a timely manner. “We are always listening to them for ideas about what more we can provide,” said Whittington. Part of the reason why DataExpress has participated in the NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC) events over the last couple of years has been to help us stay atop the changes coming from the HPE NonStop team and we will be returning to Burlingame again this year.

Should you be planning on attending TBC this year, look for Susan Raye and be sure to introduce yourselves to her with any questions you may have on secure, managed file transfer. Remember too, should you have questions and miss connecting with Susan, you can always email or call us; we would be only too happy to discuss the right way for you to manage the secure movement of all your files with DataExpress whether on NonStop X or on vNS and should you have something special to your operation where you need to talk to someone, remember, the team at DataExpress has been helping some of the biggest NonStop users in the world to move tens of thousands of files every Day!

sales@dataexpress.com | +1.972.899.3476
http://www.dataexpress.com