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!
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.
Like every other technology geek and investor in the world, I have been closely following the emerging story around Google’s “Android” announcement with keen interest. Android is the name of Google’s proposed system platform for mobile phones, the long anticipated “gPhone” that has been rumored to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Since I have not yet seen anything tangible from Google and its Open Handset Alliance partners, I cannot yet judge its actual viability against the other existing and proposed platforms from Apple, Microsoft, and others. What I can do, however, is imagine the possibilities. Maybe you have too.
OK, so this is not directly related to IT Service Management, but it will, and maybe soon. The rumor mill is reporting that Cisco is about to acquire a WiMAX vendor! If this happens (I would be stunned if it did not), it means WiMAX will vault from relative obscurity to a market-changing disruptive technology.