TCM plays on through; leading the field in NonStop managed services

It was all smiles on the golf course prior to NonStop TBC 2024
and the smiles just kept on coming!Like every other NonStop vendor we know, there is an air of expectation in the lead up to each year’s NonStop TBC Conference. The very thought that there would be something new unveiled and of being in the presence of someone and something unexpected simply adds to the excitement generated as the week of the conference approaches.

The NonStop TBC 2024 Conference lived up to all of those expectations and more. From the very first session to the closing morning, there was something on offer for all who participated. TCM has a tradition of supporting the major events at as high a level as offered and this year, TCM enjoyed participating as a Platinum Sponsor and the company took full advantage of all the benefits such a high profile afforded us.

However, it was the location itself that set the scene. No real pun intended but any fears that the location might influence the direction taken by all those in attendance well, it simply couldn’t be ignored. California’s coastline is a pristine example of nature at its finest. Having the opportunity to step from the hotel to play a round of golf was likewise a situation not to be ignored and for TCM with our deep roots in all things Scottish, a round of golf among colleagues, partners and customers just seemed the right thing to do.

And the theme of golf managed to find it’s way onto our stand. Within TCM we have always prided ourselves on innovation. We have invested in education through the years to ensure our consultants are among the most knowledgeable available to the NonStop customer. Taking up position at our assigned (and highly sought after) table, we soon came to the realization that placing a large banner behind us might not have been the right move to make. Not just limiting the size of our space but turning our backs to the community was never going to work. Who could see us past a tall marketing promotional screen?

Nothing says it’s Scotland better than
a good combination of golf and Scotch Whisky!

Innovation soon kicked in and, with a tip of our Tam o’ Shanter to our Scottish heritage, the banner was replaced with a putting green offering contestants an opportunity to score a wee dram of Scotch whisky. With this simple and yes, obvious innovative move, we were pleasantly surprised with just how many community members visited our table to putt and to chat with Dr. Malt somewhat reluctantly or not, dispensing prescription bottles of Scotch.

When it came to the serious side of the event, from the opening session it was very clear to all of us that the level of investment by HPE in NonStop could neither be ignored nor be seen in lacking substance. Casey Taylor, VP & GM, HPE NonStop, Compute, High Performance Computing & Artificial Intelligence business (but clearly with her heart deeply anchored in NonStop), gave an impressive presentation.

Key statistics from her presentation: Strong NonStop business growth in recent years; NonStop with GreenLake now at 35%; Our customers and partners are growing with us. “Casey’s keynote was very impressive,” said Daniel Craig, TCM Managing Director. “TCM truly believes she is going to do wonderful things for NonStop confirming yet again how very excited we are about her appointment. In so doing, she made our smiles even wider.”

Quite an unexpected surprise was the assembly of memorabilia on display in a Tandem / NonStop Museum format alongside the main outside dining area. So many memories and encounters with longtime friends not seen in a while. “The presence of a museum, coinciding with the golden anniversary of NonStop (néeTandem) brought to the fore the true value of NonStop,” said TCM’s Andy Vasey. “With fifty years’ experience behind the NonStop platform, it’s a testament to just how well NonStop has served the global IT industry. There’s every expectation that NonStop will likely thrive for another twenty-five or even fifty years given all that we heard from NonStop management this year.”

Shiva providing a NonStop Community update on the benefits
of the newly minted Kernel Level Threading (KLT) support.

A major contributor to TCM’s leadership when it comes to providing managed services globally has to do with the constant investment in “skillset up-siding.” Change is constant and as is often stated, “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Attributed to baseball great, Yogi Berra, it probably was something he had heard. But what can be definitely attributed to Yogi was his most famous quote, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” What will prove challenging will be a future of NonStop where many more options for deployment will be supported by the NonStop team.

From converged systems coming soon under the Starship headline featuring new Intel technology coupled with faster InfiniBand and larger memory options, the expectation is that there will be a fresh approach taken to migrations. New market verticals will be explored and with migrations, the NonStop team is delivering one key component that other platforms have relied upon for a very long time, Kernel Level Threading (KLT). “We believe that with NonStop supporting KLT, it opens the door to even greater opportunities to migrate key applications to NonStop where security and availability are a priority”, said TCM’s Shiva Subramanian when sharing his experience to date following exploring this new capability for NonStop.

Present for Shiva’s presentation were NonStop product managers and solutions architects.  While it can still be argued that with TS/MP (Pathway) NonStop developers are provided with an equivalent capability, when it comes to attracting new solutions to NonStop, this argument fell flat. “Now, with KLT the whole issue arising from “problems with porting to NonStop” disappears presenting NonStop with the potential of supporting many more new applications,” said Shiva. “And new applications on NonStop are sure to happen given the industry-wide changes we have already seen shaping so many conversations among the NonStop community.”

Smiles aplenty and recognition that the NonStop community is watching a future of NonStop emerge that is exciting, as it will be challenging, is just all par for the course when attending NonStop TBC Conferences. The location at Monterey was a winner in the eyes of attendees even as the last night party at the Aquarium provided an interesting backdrop to the festivities. But the enthusiasm of Casey Taylor for NonStop is hard to dismiss and having been a part of this year’s conference, we can see a bright future for NonStop.

Since that time, fifty years ago, for the NonStop community it’s been a continuing learning exercise and with the latest iterations of NonStop – traditional and virtual – together with greater modernization of tools, utilities and services, there is a growing recognition that yes, tackling a new deployment or a major upgrade of NonStop it is all about tapping skillset, knowledge and expertise.  And this is where turning to TCM for your next project is bound to provide the optimum balance between timeliness with functionality. We look forward to hearing from you if this should this be a topic of discussion as we look forward to seeing you again in Dublin and Houston in 2025.

nonstop@tcm.uk.com   www.tcm.uk.com