NTI – a single strategy for DRNet® to deliver data to where it is needed now!

Last month we provided images of the Wild West and of opening New Frontiers. This month the storyline while continuing with the overall theme of frontiers will be focused on something even more compelling; the storm that is taking shape just over the horizon. For NTI, the focus has always been on data but increasingly, even for a community focused as it is on transaction processing, there is a growing awareness that the data being generated on NonStop systems has a lot more value to the enterprise than simply being a collection of accounts, balances and transfers. When it comes to the exchange of value – and that’s what any purchase of an object or a service comes down to – NonStop is at the very forefront of this value transfer process.

By focusing on data as it has done for quite a long time, NTI is aware that just over the horizon and only now coming into view are the demands being placed on data. While much of the press eloquently portrays an upcoming tsunami of data following IoT connecting to our networks, it is the expectation that enterprises will be able to transform away from being reacting to where they are more likely to be predictive and prescriptive. And by this, it is NTI’s belief that a variety of tools already in use will demand greater access to data of every kind, be that from sensors on machines to transactions on terminals. The news coming from NTI that it is now bringing to the market DRNet® VISION – our support for better NonStop integration with Splunk – is only just the beginning. Splunk already has a tremendous following among those who want to make sense of data of all types and from all sources.

In many ways, Splunk is all about providing operational intelligence and according to recent Splunk promotions; “The Splunk platform harnesses your machine data, which contains a definitive record of all user transactions, customer behavior, machine behavior, security threats, system health, fraudulent activity and more to provide operational intelligence.”  Put another way, Splunk can be considered a tool for “searching, correlating, reporting and alerting on (mainly) log data. Think of it as a powerful analytical tool, which also has capabilities to store data in its own internal format for a specified amount of time.” All of which is to say, data generated on NonStop from processing transactions in real time can make a major contribution for Splunk users wanting to understand the world around them; to recognize and then understand changes in behavior together with early warnings about the emergence of new industry trends.

DRNet® VISION is all about getting data from NonStop systems as it would when replicating to another site, typically a site that is present in case of emergencies, and integrating it with Splunk. It’s an asymmetrical approach to data replication that best meets the demands of enterprises committed to the Splunk platform. As such, and since news first broke at last year’s NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC), Tim Dunne, NTI Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, recently stated that, “initial market response has proved to be strong and is showing considerable interest within the NonStop community.” Speaking at the recent SunTUG RUG event, Dunne also said that DRNet® VISION for Splunk is just the beginning as NTI has every intention to capitalize on JSON in coming months to replicate to Hadoop, Kafka, Search Engines, AWS, etc. Again, talking to the user community at the SunTUG RUG event, interest in this solution seems to be keen as well.”

What is ever most in our minds, according to Dunne, is that “NonStop users continue to be part of the infrastructure of IT today as Hybrid IT continues to make inroads. We see that the Change Data Capture (CDC) pioneered by NTI gives DRNet® the capabilities to not just replicate data but to integrate and transform data to best meet the needs of today’s enterprises.” Looking more closely at the horizon then as Dunne explained it to those gathered at SunTUG, NTI is going to be “delivering virtualized NonStop (vNS) support for its customers and NTI is building out its own cloud network to better support its customers who want to have the option to consume DRNet®  as part of vNSaaS.” For more on this latest initiative of NTI, make sure you catch our upcoming presentations at other RUG events wherever they are held around the world.

DRNet® has built its reputation on product delivery and on customer support and for the NonStop community this has led to a strong partnership developing between NTI and its customers. As such our commitment to NonStop events play an important role in the development of DRNet® , so much so that the news of our support for platforms apart from NonStop should not come as a surprise. However, what may prove surprising in the coming months is the further development of the sales and support team as NTI looks to expand its presence in the global marketplace and updates about moves being made in these areas will be the subject of future articles. So yes, stay tuned to read more about NTI and DRNet® in the coming months.

The horizon is not that far away and the territory we have covered of late is bringing the horizon ever closer. If you missed our participation at SunTUG and would like to know more about the latest features of DRNet® just call or email us as we would be only too happy to listen to your business requirements and to work with you to ensure NonStop continues as a vital platform within your data center.
635 Park Meadow Road, Suite 209Network Technologies International, Inc.

Westerville, Ohio 43081-2877

Phone: +1 (614) 794-6000

N.T.I. Limited, Ard Mhuire, Camp Street

Oughterard, Co. Galway, H91 K5PE

Ireland

Phone: +353 (91) 463086