Smarter Computing and Workload Optimized Infrastructure for IBM i

Today's guest blogger is well-known speaker and IBM i expert, Alison Butterill, IBM i Product Manager.

 

Steve and I have been talking with many clients recently about the IBM Smarter Computing initiative and why IBM i is such a perfect platform for implementing smarter computing projects. It was as the result of some of those conversations that I asked to write a guest blog for Steve.

Many IBM i customers do not recognize Smarter Computing as something that pertains to i as much as, if not more than, to other computing platforms. Smarter Computing is not the playground of just large customers. Smarter Computing means just that – smarter ways of using technology. There is no specific mandate and our i customers make decisions every day about what makes computing smarter for their company and for their customers.

First of all, there are 3 main themes under the broader umbrella called Smarter Computing. The first, data and analytics, was discussed by Steve in a previous blog.

The second and the focus of my discussion is workload optimized infrastructure or tuned to a task. And the third is cloud and the requirements for implementing both public and private clouds. The video for the second theme was recently released. You can find it at bit.ly/IBMiWorkloadOptimized.

As I said, I want to talk about Workload Optimized Infrastructure, using some description and an example.

What differentiates a system that is “tuned for the task”? There are several technology components that make up optimization. Things like performance, consolidation, integration, virtualization, exploiting capabilities of the hardware are just a few of the features that make a system able to handle a specific workload more effectively.

Many of those optimization technologies are built into IBM i – virtualization, reliability and so on. One client who is using these capabilities is Multivac, a packaging equipment manufacturer, from Germany. They have been on a long journey to update their infrastructure, optimizing it to run their manufacturing business more effectively and more efficiently.

In 2003, Multivac examined their existing technology solutions and determined that they needed improvement. They chose a phased plan of action based on “the desire to reduce costs, by optimizing the IT infrastructure and reducing the total cost of ownership and operation for its business-critical applications”.

The next step was to choose the solution. Consolidating their applications into one ERP package and putting it onto a single IBM i server would significantly reduce overhead, and energy consumption, and staffing thereby saving money. Their Lotus Notes collaboration software has moved to the IBM i environment enhancing availability and reliability for their Notes users. They continue to add technology to their infrastructure including adding a PowerHA solution, using High Availability Solutions Manager and Cross Site Mirroring. They have added a SAN solution, externalizing their drives and an IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC).

Multivac is committed to ongoing reviews of their technology and their computing environment. Smarter computing to Multivac is using their technology and their computing environment to the fullest extent possible.

Exploiting the technology that they had, adding key components to satisfy business requirement such as virtualization and availability is what Smarter Computing means to Multivac. You can go to the IBM i website and read their full story. 

Workload Optimized Infrastructure means many things to many people. What does it mean in your company?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Metaphorical Axe and Your Software

Today’s blog is a metaphor. And a story. It was inspired by conversations at a roundtable at the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professionals Association Conference.

Andy and Bob were lumberjacks. To determine which was faster at chopping down trees, they entered into a wilderness competition. Placed in the middle of a big forest, each was given camping gear and an axe and told they could chop trees for as long as they wanted each day. They were told the size of trees that were acceptable, and at the end of a month, whoever had chopped more trees would be the winner.

On the first day, Andy and Bob started at the same time – dawn. Knowing how dangerous falling trees can be in the dark, Andy resolved to keep going until sunset, but Andy noticed Bob stopped a little earlier than sundown. Andy felt great, sure that this meant Bob was not as tough as Andy, and so Andy pushed on until dark, and even a little after, getting a nice lead in the number of trees he had chopped down.

A couple more days went by like this, with Bob stopping earlier than Andy, and Andy pushing hard. Andy was quite tired at the end of each day’s work, but he was happy with the lead he was building.

By the middle of the second week, however, he saw that Bob was catching up. For some reason, Bob was able to chop more trees each day than Andy, and Andy was a little frustrated. How could this be happening?

So, at the end of the second week, Andy followed Bob back to Bob’s camp to catch a look at what Bob was doing with the time he wasn’t spending chopping trees. And what was Bob doing?

He was sharpening his axe.

Now, no metaphor or analogy is perfect. One flaw in my metaphor is apparent if you think about the first sentence of my story: “Andy and Bob were lumberjacks.” If you are really a lumberjack, you know you have to clean and sharpen your axe. Duh.

Andy and Bob are IT managers. Their “axes” are the software that runs their IT departments. Andy thinks that you can just keep using your axe over and over again and keep up with the competition. Bob knows differently. You have to invest some time in sharpening your axe. No matter how wonderful your software was when you first bought it or wrote it, the competition is finding ways to make their software better. If you don’t do the same, then your axe will be dull – at least by comparison to the sharper axe of your competitor.

Frankly, I am amazed at the attitude of some companies that think software is a static asset, and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Software is not a fixed asset. It needs to be refreshed over time. But this is not a cost – it’s an investment. Software – well-written software anyway – accrues value over time as new features are added, as new capabilities of languages and operating systems are used. As the axe gets sharper, it gains value. Furthermore, the lumberjack wielding the axe gains in value, too, as he invests time in understanding how his tool works and how it can be improved.

Bob is an IT manager. Andy may be one, too, but maybe not for as long as he’d like. Andy will just keep trimming the size of his staff, and holding off making needed updates to his software, to save money on the bottom line until no one can cut any trees at all. Then Andy’s boss can get rid of Andy and hire two guys and a saw to do the job. It’ll cost more, but apparently an axe is a bad tool.

Or maybe the person using the axe should have maintained it better?

Remember – ultimately it’s your axe.

I’m just sayin’.

 

 

Twitter: #ibmi, @Steve_Will_IBMi

 

Operating System, Operating Environment and IBM i

A couple of weeks ago, a discussion started on a LinkedIn group: Is IBM i an “operating system” or an “operating environment?” In the course of that discussion, people pointed to IBM sites which use both terms when describing IBM i. I posted a lengthy reply, but since LinkedIn is not followed by everyone who reads this blog, I thought I would get some reuse out of the opinion I posted there. So, in slightly edited form, here is “Steve’s Reply” to the question:

Q: “Is IBM i an ‘Operating System’ or an ‘Operating Environment?’”

A: IBM i is both.

The name of the thing we’re talking about is “IBM i Operating System” and it is called “IBM i” for short. So, if we’re going to talk about what something “is” then we certainly have to admit that it’s an “operating system” because that’s what its name is. (By the way, the “OS” in OS/400 and i5/OS both stood for “operating system.”)

Now, let’s get to the meat of the issue. Is there a difference? What’s the difference? And what is IBM i? (Please realize that there are seldom firm definitions when it comes to technical “jargon,” so I am stating my own versions of definitions, based on years of experience and a certain level of expertise in the field. Take it for what it is.)

Operating System: This term is generally intended to mean a piece of “software + firmware” which has intimate knowledge of, and control over, the hardware beneath it. The “operating system” implements certain primitives, which it exposes to software above it (typically called middleware and applications.) In my experience, as operating systems grew up, they all tended toward a similar minimal set of functions, which they would provide over the top of the hardware. The function might merely be a layer between the “application” and the hardware, or it may virtualize that hardware, or both.

That common set includes things like:

• managing output
• inter-process messaging
• a runtime environment to provide primitives to other software, and into which a compiler could place software
• a file system
• and so on

An operating system has more attributes than this (an architecture, an inherent security model, etc.) but for this discussion, I think we have what we need.

By this definition, IBM i is clearly an operating system. So is Windows. So is any UNIX. But WebSphere Application Server is not.

Operating Environment: This term typically describes the combination of an architectural framework for running applications with a set of “middleware” functions, which are a step or two more generalized than “mere” hardware implementation and/or virtualization. An operating environment provides – for example – a specific set of interfaces into a database, a Web environment, etc. – which are clearly not merely abstractions of hardware, but are software constructs that require a system beneath them, but don’t have direct hardware implementations.

WebSphere Application Server and the associated Java Virtual Machine, then, can be considered an Operating Environment.

But so can IBM i. Since IBM i provides so much “middleware” as part of itself, and since the existence of that middleware often affects the way in which software in the environment is written – or at the very least how it behaves – it is more than merely an operating system. It is also an operating environment.

A typical pure UNIX is not. This is not a criticism. UNIX was not meant to be this. UNIX even allows users to get closer to the hardware than IBM i does, so in some sense it is a “thinner” operating system. You can even replace pieces of UNIX with software written outside the operating system (device drivers, for example), which IBM i does not allow you to do. But UNIX does not provide a standard environment such as the DB2 and Web server and certificate management and directory server and so on, which are in IBM i.

One conclusion here is this: XXX can be an operating system without being an operating environment (as I define it) and YYY can be an operating environment without being an operating system. I claim IBM i is both.

Personally, when I write about IBM i, I tend to use the phrase that best suits the point I am trying to make. In fact, I have heard Ian Jarman say that, “IBM i is not an operating system. It’s a database.” Now, that is not how I would always characterize IBM i, but sometimes you need to make a point to people who are comparing it to something that is “just” an operating system. And the architecturally integrated database is certainly a differentiator.

So feel free to use both terms when you describe IBM i. When IBMers write about IBM i, they might be using the phrase that best suits the point they want to make, or they might just be trying to keep things interesting. As long as you know what gives your IBM i operating system much more value than others, you know what you need to know.

 

 

 

Twitter: #ibmi, @Steve_Will_IBMi

 

COMMON Europe is 50; COMMON US is Disney

In just a couple of short months, two very important IBM i-related conferences will be held on two continents, and it’s time for you to start thinking about attending them.

The COMMON Europe Congress, which is organized by country-specific COMMON organizations throughout Europe, will be held the 9^th – 12^th of June in Vienna, Austria. This year is special for COMMON Europe because they celebrate 50 years of providing excellent educational and networking opportunities for their members. Last year’s conference in Milan, Italy was wonderful, and I am sure this event will be worthy of the same praise. I’ll be speaking, of course – telling people about the latest technologies from IBM i -- but I’ll also be there to listen to requests for future technology from our clients. And I can’t wait to see Vienna in June! Oh, and I see by their website that you still have a few days to get an “early bird” deal on your registration. So check it out.

The COMMON annual conference in North America will be held May 6^th – 9^th at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. We’ve been working with the volunteers and staff on preparations, and several of us will make the journey from the halls of IBM i development and services to share our expertise and, again, to listen to your needs.

One of the key goals of each of these user groups is to participate with IBM in influencing the direction of the platform for the benefit of their membership. Each group has an Advisory Council (I’ve mentioned them before) which meets with me and other IBMers to go over requirements which have been received from members, helping to prioritize them and hear how IBM is progressing toward satisfying them. Several requirements have been completed in the past year alone – the RPG OA announcement from a few weeks back, and the Software Group Subcapacity Pricing change were both examples – but we are never done.

Each of these Advisory Councils is looking for more members. If you are going to be at the conference, and are willing to take on some ongoing responsibility for representing the needs of IBM i clients, you should apply to become a member. For COMMON in North America, the page describing the CAAC, which has the application form, can give you more information. Time is actually running short to participate this year, but if you hurry, you could get to participate. The COMMON Europe Advisory Council’s call for new members has similar information for that group. Again, though June seems distant now, it is just around the corner for those who are planning it.

A couple of quotes from people on the advisory councils give you an idea what benefits you will get from sitting with us for a couple of days, hearing about our plans and giving us advice:

“CAAC membership gives me the ability to make my voice heard by IBM. I can voice both my concerns and ideas as well as my company’s needs directly to IBM and know that the message reaches the correct people to find a resolution.” – Brian May; Profound Logic

“Participating in the CAAC provided me with knowledge critical to making strategic business technology decisions.” – Roxanne Reynolds-Lair; FIDM, Inc.

I hope each and every one of you will strongly consider about attending user events this year in order to find out what’s going on with IBM i and Power Systems. I will be at the WMCPA conference March 20-21 in Lake Geneva if any of you are close by. There are many other conferences and user groups as well. But I especially encourage you to consider these two key COMMON conferences that serve as advisory venues as well as educational and networking events.

See you out there!

 

 

Twitter: #ibmi, #COMMONEU, #COMMONUG @Steve_Will_IBMi

*edited 3/6/12 to correct WMCPA dates