February Social Media Round Up

Perhaps the best way to categorize what has been taking place across social media is to think in terms of “a little new, a little old” as there have been a couple of new conversations started on popular LinkedIn groups even as some older conversations continue to draw comments. The conversations taking place are of particular importance for the NonStop community as with each comment, each like, it ensures there’s a constant stream of headlines appearing on each of our LinkedIn home pages – and as there are numerous LinkedIn members with more than 1,000 connections each with hundreds of followers, the math tells the true story here. There are lots and lots of LinkedIn members likely seeing a lot more conversations about NonStop than there was a year or so ago.

What’s worth pointing out this month? Well, again, it’s some old some new, but perhaps the liveliest among the LinkedIn groups is the discussion Does the Industry Consider NonStop and Stratus to be Legacy Systems? which started on the LinkedIn group, Continuous Availability Forum. While there is some talk about NonStop versus Stratus there’s also relevant exchange about the move to Commercial, Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware along with a surge in popularity of Microsoft products. Bottom line here – are the roadmaps for NonStop that include support for such things as virtualization, blockchain, IoT and even the new NS SQL/MX (with Oracle compatibility) gaining mindshare with IT folks?

What may also prove worthwhile following and yes, joining in on the conversation, is the very recent question that was asked, Who helps NonStop customers with ‘architecture’ questions? Or with ‘tough choices’? posted to the LinkedIn group, TCM NonStop Experts – HPE NonStop / Tandem Services and Solutions This is a topic that I will be following as it does tie into another conversation that continues to attract likes and comments (see following) but just as importantly, skirts the bigger issue of education in general and the transfer of information (on NonStop) specifically.

The conversation that I am referring to that is still attracting likes and comments has been active for many months now but if you weren’t aware of it then perhaps it’s time to check it out, think on what has been posted and add your own voice to the exchange. The conversation is NonStop “young guns” and it can be found on the LinkedIn group, Fools for NonStop. In all seriousness, even as the HPE NonStop team focuses on masking as much of NonStop as they can such that ports to NonStop can be approached with perhaps less trepidation than otherwise considered, there is still no downside to training and mentoring the next generation of systems managers and developers, particularly with the current emphasis on DevOps.

Finally, a short post to the LinkedIn group, Real Time View brought up the topic of readership of blogs. In this instance it was about the sizeable uptick of pageviews to the NonStop community blog, Real Time View. Just a short time ago, as referenced in the conversation, There is always an audience for news on NonStop …. it was highlighted how 11,000+ pageviews happened over the period of thirty days. This is only the second time that pageviews climbed past 10,000 and while it coincided this time with posts on vNonStop, the previous time it was for posts on NonStop X. Clearly, there’s a lot of interest in NonStop as it continues rapidly headlong down its own path of transformation.

Group discussions on LinkedIn and blog posts to social media channels weren’t the only forums for discussion, as emails continue to provide a constant flow of questions and commentaries. Two oft-repeated questions continued this month as more emails arrived that spoke about the rise of “good enough is, well, good enough!” On a related subject, questions too were being asked as to whether HPE would close the price gap with NonStop X and even vNonStop such that COTS “clusters” versus NonStop “clusters” would exhibit little price difference such that the first question would become irrelevant. In other words, if ultimately, HPE provides NonStop for no additional cost – would throw out an even bigger welcome mat?

And on that note, I will wrap up this brief update but in so doing, I encourage everyone in the NonStop community to be open to the topics raised on social media and to join the conversation whenever possible. After all, it is our community and each and every one of us has a voice – l hope to hear a lot more from you as a result and make sure you find time to participate in your local RUG meetings. After all, many of the current conversations appearing in social media channels have their origins in discussions first aired at RUG meetings and you will immediately become a welcomed guest!

Cheers,

Richard