Explaining the lack of Data Center critics, Emperor's New Clothes paradigm

I am heading off to Uptime Institute and many times I wonder why there are not more open discussions on what goes on in the data center industry.  Whoever hold the most amount of influence many times is able to define the rules of the game that the players should follow if they expect to play and make money.  The influential are the customers, events, analyst, and vendors with the biggest budgets.

One analogy you could use to explain the lack of critics of the system is the Emperor's New Clothes story.

The emperor walked beneath the beautiful canopy in the procession, and all the people in the street and in their windows said, "Goodness, the emperor's new clothes are incomparable! What a beautiful train on his jacket. What a perfect fit!" No one wanted it to be noticed that he could see nothing, for then it would be said that he was unfit for his position or that he was stupid. None of the emperor's clothes had ever before received such praise.

"But he doesn't have anything on!" said a small child.

"Good Lord, let us hear the voice of an innocent child!" said the father, and whispered to another what the child had said.

"A small child said that he doesn't have anything on!"

Finally everyone was saying, "He doesn't have anything on!"

I don't blame anyone in the system for this behavior it just naturally occurs as no one is going to survive long as a data center critic.  The one exception is if a critic has a business model that thrives with change.

What is the future of the data center? Looking for patterns of SW and HW

I’ve been heads down this past week working on some research on the future of data centers.  Here are a few thoughts after a week of pondering.

Part of the problem in data centers is the lack of awareness by the various parties in developing data centers.  I stopped being surprised when facility operations team had no idea what hardware and software is running in data centers.  Part of the problem is people don’t take the time to communicate how things are changing.

Imagine you are a Disney attraction park.

And the facility operations team mindset was “as long as the park was running, their job is done.”  Silo'd thinking is pervasive in data centers in IT as the overall system is so complex, and quite frankly the other parts are many times boring.  Do facility ops team get excited about the new cloud environment or a ruby on rails deployment?

I think the responsibility for fixing this problem resides in management as it is difficult if not impossible for individual contributors to change the mindset.  FYI, when I reviewed this post, it reminded me that Mike Manos worked for Disney Interactive, and maybe he picked up some ideas on how the team needs to work together for the common goal.

Background Story on breaking the Kevin Timmons news

2 days ago I started getting e-mail from people asking if I had heard Kevin Timmons was leaving Microsoft.  I would go to Google News and Twitter to see if there was anyone discussing Kevin leaving Microsoft.  24 hours later, after bunches more e-mail and phone conversations I felt the news was pretty much out there, but I was still hesitant to blog about Kevin leaving as it felt just too much like gossip.  Then a good friend and I were chatting and we bounced a bunch of ideas and laughed about the Manchurian Candidate which is used here.

In one of the data center insider conversations a friend jokingly mentioned The Manchurian Candidate where sleeper agents are placed in strategic positions, and later are activated for covert activities.  With so many executives moving from competing companies will there be psychological analysis looking for latent devious action?  Nah. But, it was good for a laugh.  Which by the way is part of chatting about who is moving where.  We eventually start laughing about some move somewhere which could make this appear like gossip.  But, we know the data center executive shortage is real, and where the scarce resources go influences the system.

Then I remembered the e-mail Mike Manos shared on how he recruited Daniel Costello another person who left Microsoft who went to Google.

Mike Manos is proud of his renegade action to recruit Daniel from Intel to Microsoft while he had the job that Kevin Timmons had filled and now departed.

I called him [Daniel Costello] and told him I needed him for my program.  No HR.  No Recruiters.  I wanted the best talent possible and he was it.   I offered him the job on the spot over the phone.   We were building something incredible.

These ideas inspired me to write about the Data Center Shortage of Data Center Executives.

Part of the fun I had writing this post was to give just enough details to make it interesting, and leave plenty of room for other media to tell a different story and do their own research.  Rich Miller at DataCenterKnowledge was  the first to pick up the news and get the Dayne Sampson quote.  And DataCenterDynamics followed referencing Rich, then the news reached the viral stage and was spreading rapidly to other media, bloggers, and Twitter.

Here are the current news coverage.

Yoink! Apple Grabs Microsoft's Data Center Chief

Forbes (blog) - Brian Caulfield - ‎35 minutes ago‎

Apple has hired the man who runs Microsoft's data center services group, data center industry blog Green Data Center blog revealed Wednesday. The news comes as Apple finishes construction of a new 500000 foot data center in Maiden, ...

Apple Steals Microsoft Employee To Run Its Mysterious New Data Center (AAPL, MSFT)

San Francisco Chronicle - ‎6 hours ago‎

Apple is ramping up its data centers, and now it has a new person to help: Kevin Timmons, who has led Microsoft's data center business for the last two years or so. Microsoft confirmed to Data Center Knowledge that he's left the company, ...

Microsoft's datacenter whiz to take “leadership position” at Apple. Is Netflix ...

9 to 5 Mac - ‎4 hours ago‎

MacRumors spotted an interesting report by Data Center Knowledge claiming Kevin Timmons, Microsoft's former high-ranked exec in charge of their worldwide data center operations, is expected to take a “leadership” position. Prior to spending two years ...

Microsoft data center GM leaves, reportedly for Apple

GeekWire - Todd Bishop - ‎4 hours ago‎

The general manager in charge of Microsoft's data center operations, Kevin Timmons, has left the company for a job at Apple, according to reports by Data Center Knowledge and the Green Data Center Blog. Timmons joined Microsoft two years ago from Yahoo ...

Apple (AAPL) Reportedly Snaps Up Microsoft (MSFT) Cloud Creator

StreetInsider.com (subscription) - ‎4 hours ago‎

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has reportedly wooed away the man who helped build Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) data centers that powered its cloud operations. Kevin Timmons, the general manager of datacenter services at Microsoft, has left the company ...

Apple snags Microsoft's data center manager

Macgasm - ‎5 hours ago‎

Apple has hired Kevin Timmons according to sources, but his capacity at Apple is still unknown. Previously Timmons was the general manager of Microsoft's data center group, and he has also previously worked for GeoCities/Yahoo. ...

Apple woos data center guru away from Microsoft for cloud services

Apple Insider - Neil Hughes - ‎7 hours ago‎

The man who helped build data centers for Microsoft's cloud operations is said to have left the Redmond, Wash., software giant to work for Apple. Kevin Timmons, general manager of datacenter services at Microsoft, has left the company to ...

Kevin Timmons leaves Microsoft

DatacenterDynamics - Penny Jones - ‎9 hours ago‎

Microsoft's general manager for data center operations Kevin Timmons has left, and according to media reports, is headed to Apple. Microsoft CVP of Global Foundation Services Dayne Samson, in a statement issued today, said: “Kevin Timmons, ...

Microsoft Data Center GM Timmons Heads to Apple

Data Center Knowledge - Rich Miller - ‎12 hours ago‎

Kevin Timmons, who helped build the data centers that power Microsoft's global cloud computing operation, has left the company and is expected to take a leadership position at Apple. The move strongly hints that Apple is stepping up its plans for an ...

All 10 related articles »

Blogs

Apple Poaches Microsoft's Datacenter GM

All Things Digital (blog) - John Paczkowski - ‎6 hours ago‎

Timmons left Microsoft this week and the company has confirmed his departure, though it declined to say why he left or where he was headed. But sources in position to know confirm he's hired on with Apple. ...

Now when you run Twitter search for Kevin Timmons you can see the news http://twitter.com/#!/search/kevin%20timmons.  2 days when I searched there was only 3 entries.

I asked for feedback on my blog post from 4 data center friends before publishing, and the comments were.

Cool stuff!

Wow...one of your best ever in my opinion.

Nice! I love it! :)

I like it a lot. It is a VERY real issue facing our industry if you think about it. I know the names of just about every exec at this level and is a surprise when you hear some new name.
I wonder how long it will take for supply of quality DC exec talent will meet/exceed the pace of need. If ever?

This is what gave me the confidence to hit Publish yesterday as there was more of a story to tell than Kevin moving from Microsoft to Apple.

It would have been interesting to see how the news would have spread, but it’s kind of fun being the one who pushes the first domino and watch the rest fall.

Next step in stopping a Content Farm from stealing content, contacting web hoster

I posted about BestGreenWebHostingDeal stealing my content.   I have tried to contact the owner of the site, but no response.

Next step I contacted the web hosting company and they asked for the following information.  As part of what they ask for below I plan on using this post as example of how BestGreenWebHostingDeal copies my content as it will be only a matter of minutes before their content bot scrapes my site and posts this up.  And here is the copy of my site http://www.bestgreenwebhostingdeal.com/2070/next-step-in-stopping-a-content-farm-from-stealing-content-contacting-web-hoster/ 

Hello Dave

Thank you for contacting Lunarpages regarding your recent copyright concerns. Please be advised that Lunarpages takes copyright issues very seriously and has implemented policies and procedures specifically to deal with claims such as yours pursuant to applicable law so as to protect the rights of all parties involved.

In addition to the steps set forth below we strongly encourage you to contact the web site owner directly as that may be a more direct route to the solution of your problem and the satisfaction of your concerns.

In order for Lunarpages to act upon the allegedly infringing material we require the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the owner of the copyrighted work or an authorized agent of that owner.

2. identification of the copyrighted work alleged to have been infringed.

3. identification of the allegedly infringing material sufficiently precise to allow Lunarpages to locate the material.

4. Adequate information by which we can contact the complaining party specifically including a physical postal address, telephone number and email address.

5. a proper statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owners agent or the law.

6. a statement under penalty of perjury that the information in the notice is true and correct. and

7. a statement under penalty of perjury that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

In particular items that would be helpful to us would include proof of your federally filed Copyright as to the particular images if they have indeed been Federally registered, Information as to the identity of the owner of the copyright and a description of how those rights came into being, and information as to whether there are any other individuals or entities with copyright ownership of the material.

Once we receive a notice which is in compliance with the above notice provisions we can consider taking further action which might include but would not be limited to notification to our customer, warning our customer or disabling of the web site as Lunarpages determines might be reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.As mentioned above, Lunarpages is a strong supporter of Copyright and Trademark rights on the Internet. We believe that we have adopted a fair, comprehensive policy toward the protection of those rights and we look forward to assisting you in any way possible in this regard to ensure a fair, appropriate and expeditious response toward the protection of those rights.

Of course if you should have any further questions, comments or concerns regarding this matter please do not hesitate to let us know.

Regards,Jay Armitageabuse@lunarpages.com Lunarpages Webhosting 1360 N. Hancock St.Anaheim, CA 92807

Here is part of the contact information for BestGreenWebHosting.

Registrant:
   Tannia Schrieber
   166 Springfield Ave
   Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004
   United States

   Registered through: All You Can Eat Domains.com
   Domain Name: BESTGREENWEBHOSTINGDEAL.COM
      Created on: 28-Jun-10
      Expires on: 28-Jun-11
      Last Updated on: 28-Jun-10

   Administrative Contact:
      Schrieber, Tannia  tannia.schrieber@gmail.com
      166 Springfield Ave
      Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004
      United States
      (267) 249-6306      Fax -- 

   Technical Contact:
      Schrieber, Tannia  tannia.schrieber@gmail.com
      166 Springfield Ave
      Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004
      United States
      (267) 249-6306      Fax -- 

   Domain servers in listed order:
      NS1.LUNARIFFIC.COM
      NS2.LUNARIFFIC.COM

Web 2.0 vs. Enterprise, know your users and their religious orientation

It is interesting how fiefdoms develop in IT.  One of the latest divisions that occur is the enterprise IT group vs. the Web 2.0 online services group.  I've laughed many times watching data center executives walk into Web 2.0 companies and pitch their wares. 

One mistake made most often is using the same presentation they use for a corporate enterprise IT department as the Web 2.0  department.  See this for a web 2.0 department definition.  Think Twitter, Facebook, Zynga

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,^[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.

For enterprise software, think of something you would sell to a government IT department on a department that has mainframes.

Why is this important because Web 2.0 people look down at the enterprise IT as people who are in the past, and they are better.  Telling a Web 2.0 department of your enterprise sales doesn't impress them, it can handicap you as a product not appropriate for Web 2.0.

Don't expect this to logical, it is kind of religious.