Glenn’s latest Forrester report, dated 30-Jun-2008:
is available on the Forrester web site. This report is for Forrester clients only. Its distribution is restricted by the terms of Forrester Research client agreements.
Glenn posted a new Forrester blog entry on 27-Jun-2008, highlighting the human elements of the CMDB:
This blog posting is visible to anyone, but bound by Forrester Research copyright protections.
Hi everyone,
It’s been far too long since I posted something here. I’ve been busy starting the next chapter in my life. I am proud to announce that as of May 5, 2008, I am a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research!
DISCLAIMER: First, let me make one thing clear … despite my prior position with EMC, I do not have any insider information on what I am about to write below. I am merely observing and analyzing what is obvious to me or to anyone else who has enjoyed long-term, broad market exposure the way I have. Everything below is public knowledge and opinion.
One of the great rumors in the management software business for nearly a decade (maybe longer) is that EMC Corporation and BMC Software would join forces via a “merger.” In almost all cases, what people were actually referring to was an acquisition of BMC by EMC. I steadfastly posit that true mergers are rare and almost all attempts are failures (e.g., Daimler-Chrysler and Bay Networks, both huge disappointments). As the bigger fish, EMC would have taken over BMC, period.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the most fundamental mechanisms of distributed systems. It is so basic and so widespread that it has become nearly invisible. As a service so obscured from view, it may seem inconsequential. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is, in fact, one of the main underpinnings of everything we do so it can wreak havoc when it malfunctions.
We just take it for granted that our DNS is functioning flawlessly behind the scenes, but is it? Many performance and availability issues are misdiagnosed because of our blind faith in DNS. It is without doubt one of technology’s great innovations, but nothing in IT should be trusted so blindly. It turns out many DNS installations are misconfigured.
In early 2004, I published a META Group paper entitled The Expanding Operational Maturity Gap wherein I formally introduced the term punitive outsourcing. It has become one of my favorite wakeup calls to IT because it taps into that visceral paranoia invoked by any phrase containing the word outsourcing. Punitive outsourcing is self explanatory and almost always elicits a sober chuckle of resignation. It seems a lot of people reluctantly concur that their future is in peril unless something changes.
Fear is an effective incentive to improve. While outsourcing is an expletive to some, the only true reason to fear outsourcing is when it is used as an alternative to the internal IT organization’s ineptitude. This is punitive outsourcing. If you can’t deliver, business leaders will seek someone who can.
One aspect of IT management automation that has frustrated me for years is the relative lackluster progress we’ve made in the area of performance. With all the other wonderful innovations we’ve made, I’m confounded that performance remains largely in the dark ages. This need not be. This must not be. We are finally beginning to see welcome changes in both available software solutions and more importantly, attitudes toward performance. If we hope to attain true service management, this must be a priority.
As many of you now know, I have resigned my marketing position at EMC. I am still a big fan of EMC’s management technology, having played a major role in its evolution and the expansion of EMC’s ITSM market presence. My affinity for Smarts, a company EMC acquired in early 2005, is what compelled me to join EMC a bit later in 2005. Since then, we’ve grown the business significantly, acquiring nLayers and Voyence in the process. The future remains bright for EMC as a credible challenger to the “Big Four” (HP, IBM, CA, BMC) in the management market. Despite all of this wonderful progress, it was time for me to move on. I wish my delightful and brilliant EMC colleagues nothing but the best as they continue to build the future EMC powerhouse.
One of the most commonly sought concepts in IT service management over the past decade has been service level management (SLM). Prior to widespread adoption of ITIL, SLM was most commonly associated with performance metrics for infrastructure elements (e.g., network devices, servers). Unfortunately, this perspective of SLM is wrong … well, it’s usually wrong.
What was (and often still is) wrong with this interpretation of SLM is that the ‘S’ was not defined according to the general interests of the service’s consumer. In fact, the service was usually arbitrary and related to infrastructure, not the consumer’s true desired service. This is akin to trying to measure the “nuts and bolts” of the service, not the service itself. Such an ill conceived perspective is wrought with all sorts of problems. As providers of the service, we must define the service according to what the consumer needs.
As many of you have heard by now, EMC acquired Voyence last week. Voyence is a leader in the network compliance, configuration and change management market. I’ve been a long-time fan of Voyence, so I’m delighted to have them in the EMC family now.
I promise this blog will not become a podium for EMC marketing, but occasionally EMC will do something worthy of commentary here. The Voyence acquisition is one of these events. Not only is it an important step for both EMC and Voyence, it is also a notable step in the relentless (and necessary) consolidation in our market.