Cynical Gartner view of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP

Business Insider reports on a Gartner talk in Australia.  Warning: this is a bit of cynical view that you would guess Gartner did not want to spin in this particular way as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP are clients of Gartner research.

So, what does the reporter say?

Microsoft is all about Windows and Office.

Microsoft mainly wants to protect Windows and Office. Microsoft is a platform company, and its main goal is to protect its highly lucrative Windows and Office monopolies, while establishing other platforms that will be hard for customers to break away from later. New functionality is "drip fed" to users of those core platforms, but new products exist to protect the core. He advised extreme caution before moving to Office 365, and said not to slip into an "all-Microsoft" mentality

Oracle products don't work together as advertised.

Oracle products don't really work well together. Oracle's sales force is extremely aggressive about pushing a suite of products, but has much fewer integration points than SAP. In fact, integration is usually left entirely up to the customer. Oracle is also very reluctant to talk about product roadmaps for fear that future products will cannibalize existing ones. The company makes more than 90% of its profits through maintenance fees, and will do whatever it takes to keep those fees flowing in. Gaughan also expressed some surprise that so many customers keep working with Oracle despite reporting that Oracle is "the most difficult vendor to deal with.

IBM wants to own your IT strategy.

IBM wants to take over your IT strategy. IBM bills itself as a thought leader, but its real business is selling consulting services. To thrive, IBM account managers try to take control of a company's IT strategy so they can keep pushing new products. Gaughan recommends taking a collaborative or partner approach

SAP confuses users with its pricing.

SAP confuses customers with pricing. A lot of SAP customers ask Gartner for help figuring out SAP's pricing and licensing, as SAP has unusual terms for billing data going into and out of systems. Gaughan also said that a big technology transition that was driving SAP revenue for the last few years -- moving existing customers from the old R/3 system to the newer Business Suite -- is almost done, which means SAP will have to be more aggressive with maintenance fees. He recommended locking in maintenance prices now.

And, the author closes with

Overall, Gaughan said that most of the innovation being done in these companies is in their research arms. Their real goal is protecting the status quo for as long as possible.

claiming the companies want to protect the status quo.

Facebook achieves LEED Gold Certification

Facebook has posted on their achieving LEED Gold Certification.

Prineville Data Center Receives LEED Gold Certification

by Prineville Data Center on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 4:30pm

 

When we first envisioned our Prineville data center a couple of years ago, we knew we wanted it to be one of the most energy efficient in the world. To achieve this goal, we redesigned our entire physical infrastructure, from grid to gates, with a focus on squeezing out every possible efficiency. The end result: a data center that requires 52 percent less energy to operate than a comparable facility built to code requirements. And now we’re excited to share that all our hard work on the first phase of our Prineville facility has been recognized with LEED® Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Some of the details are shared.

In addition to its energy efficiencies, the Prineville data center includes many other environmental conservation features, both in its construction and in its use. Twenty-seven percent of building materials used came from recycled products, and 30 percent of materials used were locally sourced and manufactured. Ninety-one percent of the wood used was FSC-certified from sustainability-managed forests, and 83 percent of construction waste was recycled or reused, preventing 530 tons of waste from ending up in a landfill.

 

At the completed facility, 100 percent of rainwater is captured and reused for all irrigation and toilet-flushing needs, a savings of 272,000 gallons of municipally treated water per year. A solar energy installation generates an estimated 204,000 kilowatt hours per year, providing electricity to the office areas. The offices are even heated through reuse of heat created by the servers.

W Washington Renewable Energy Windfarm cancelled by 1 bird impact every 2 years, beauracracy wins

King5 reports on a Western Washington renewable energy project that was cancelled by the environmental impact to an endangered bird.

By Associated Press
KING5
updated 1 hour 15 minutes ago

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Plans for the first major wind farm in Western Washington have been canceled because of federal restrictions to protect a threatened seabird, the marbled murrelet.

Richland-based Energy Northwest and four southwest Washington utilities spent four years and more than $4 million trying to put 32 wind turbines on Radar Ridge near Naselle. The Tri-City Herald reports Energy Northwest announced the cancellation Wednesday at a board meeting in Portland.

And, the threat to the seabird occurs once every two years.

Energy Northwest says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed "untenable" restrictions on the wind farm because studies showed one bird could have been harmed every two years.

I am sure there is some environmentalist who wants no harm to occur due to a renewable energy project feels like this is a win.  But, I think the real winner is the bureaucracy.

A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution,[1] and may be[weasel words] characterized by officialism and red tape.

Why I like 7x24 Exchange, great people, especially the Board and Staff

Being an old timer (30 years) in the tech industry I have had my share of conferences.  Many times I have worked with the conference staff on executive keynotes given by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer when I was at Microsoft which can be pretty stressful and you get a feeling of what works and what doesn't.

One of the teams I have had great conversations with is the Data Center Dynamics staff.  For all the times I have gone to AFCOM, Gartner Data Center World, and Uptime though I have never interacted with their staff when attending as a blogger.  And, as any one who knows me I am pretty social in the data center area, so its not like I avoid them.  Which doesn't bother me as I know plenty of the attendees and I can keep myself busy networking, and don't really need anything from their staff.

6 months ago, I went to my first 7x24 Exchange conference.  I hadn't gone to 7x24 even though i had heard good things and i was plenty busy going to the other data center conferences.  This week was my second 7x24 Exchange conference, and I have met all the Board of Directors and the support staff.  I am usually talking to one of the Board members every other week on data center ideas not necessarily related to 7x24, but because they are great people to discuss new data center ideas.

So, my #1 reason why I like 7x24 Exchange is i find it is one of the better places for data center thought leadership to be supported.  There may be other conferences where you are trying to get new business for existing services, but where do you go to discuss new services that don't exist?  At 7x24 Exchange I saw friends from Google, Facebook, eBay, AOL, Apple, Dell, DLBassoc, HP/EYP, Goldman Sachs, Syska, Turner, and many more.  7x24 Exchange may not have the largest attendance, but when it comes to being able to spend time with quality people in a good environment, I like 7x24.  There are nice long breaks and the format is set up to socialize.

So, my #2 reason is actually just a different version of #1 is the Board of Directors and staff  at 7x24 are great people to talk to.  Who did i chat with this week?

Chairman of the Board
Robert J. Cassiliano

President
William Leedecke
Vanguard

Vice President
David Schirmacher
Fieldview Solutions

Director - Chapter Representative
Michael Siteman
Executive Vice President

Director
Cyrus Izzo
Syska Hennessey Group

Administrative Director
Kathleen A. Dolci

Membership & Education
Tara Oehlmann, Ed.M.

Conferences
Brandon A. Dolci, CMP

And, I know I'll have many more conversations with 7x24 Exchange staff as I have ideas for another presentation for the Spring Event.

Also, in talking to others at 7x24 Exchange, they share the disappointment of attending many of the other data center conferences.  My current plan for 2012 is to go to 7x24 Exchange in the Spring and Fall which allows me to meet 90% of the data center people I want to meet, then instead of going to a bunch of other data center conferences to reach the other 10%.  I'll be going to the SF hosted GigaOm events where I get more new ideas and meet people who need data centers, but they don't necessarily build them. http://event.gigaom.com/

Who is GigaOm?  I find very few people I run into in the data center industry know them.  The GigaOm blog has 200 times the unique users I do.

ABOUT GIGAOM

Founded in 2006, GigaOM has grown into the leading provider of online media, events and research for global technology innovators. The company is one of the most credible and insightful voices at the intersection of business and technology, with an online audience of more than 4 million monthly unique visitors; industry-leading events, including Structure, Mobilize, GigaOM RoadMap, Net:Work, and Structure:Data; and a pioneering market research service and digital community, GigaOM Pro, which provides expert analysis and research on emerging technology markets.

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Disclosure:  Over the past two months I have signed up to be a freelance analyst for GigaOm Pro on the data center industry.