Another week of being a Human in IT Infrastructure Are you still alive to talkabout it

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IN THIS WEEKS ISSUE Predictions For The Next Market Transition How To SayNo Please remember to enable the images the magazine looks a lot better thatway

Table of Contents (aka The Project Plan)

1 Next Market TransitionCheaper Buying Less Selling2 Volunteering When To SayYes amp NoInternets Of Interest PacketPushersnet - The LastFiveWatch ThisQuick Survey CookingGadgets

Issue Number 45

11232016

The To Grandmothers house wego issue

Thought For The Week

Two words food coma

1 Next Market TransitionCheaper Buying Less Selling

by Greg Ferro The cost of selling products to the Enterprise is large How large As arough guide 20 of a typical IT companyrsquos cost is sales andmarketing That cost rises when a company pushes to grow quickly (Palo AltoNetworksrsquo sales cost rose to 35 in 1H2016) That cost shrinks when profits become more important Staff arediscarded as a secondary effect of that shrinkage (And the effects ofgetting rid of ldquothe most valuable assetsrdquo of the companyshyshythe peopleshyshyare conveniently ignored)

The Food ChainThe typical IT food chain looks like this Manufacturer shygt Vendor shygt Distributor shygt Reseller shygt Customer Why do we have this long and inefficient product chain Becausetwenty years ago holding items in warehouses was difficult costlyand time consuming It was hard to move stock around costly to dothe accounting and companies would fail if they got their inventorypredictions wrong Distributors took the risk and responsibility of shipping andwarehousing while providing capital to hold vendor stock In 2016 itrsquos different

The speed of shipping has decreased from months to weeks

The time to manufacture amp ship has been reduced from years tomonths

Inventory management software is now mature and wellunderstood

Resellers are the final link to the customer They are expected toprovide custom solutions software integration and valueshyaddedtechnical services In 2016 itrsquos different

There are fewer IT vendors Blendedconverged solutions are thenew hotness ldquoVertically integratedrdquo is another term

Open source software is replacing proprietary software

Itrsquos about using the assets not owning the assets

Customer focus is shifting from owning products to operatingsolutions

Software Defined FutureWe havenrsquot quite moved into the era of commodity hardware butsoftware is forcing the transition Routing is just one function of WANdevice Data center switches are bundled in hyperconverged systemsNFV is peeking its ugly little head around the toilet door In five years the features we want from networks will come fromsoftware automation and orchestration You cannot afford the internalcost of hundreds of hours in ldquovendor presentationsrdquo just to buy ahandful of servers storage units and switches Thatrsquos because the greatest value for a customer has shifted fromvendor productssolutions to the configuration and operation of thesoftware

In-House Not Outhouse

Oh one more thing DevOps is inherently a inshyhouse activityExecuting an ldquoiterate fast change fast fail fastrdquo strategy means fastcommunication loops with the business That works when everyone ison the same team and able to communicate clearly

Future Of PurchasingFirst Less work fewer meetings shy they donrsquot add value to the solutionWhen I say ldquoCheaper Buyingrdquo I mean the cost of purchasing meetingreviews proof of concepts and all of those costs must be reduced Second Products will trend cheaper because the value isnrsquot in owningthem but in how you use them These two things result in ldquoLess Sellingrdquo Donrsquot let vendors waste yourtime on ldquoarchitectural pitchesrdquo Focus on real work not on buying stuff

2 Volunteering When To SayYes amp Noby Ethan Banks I donrsquot have a lot of spare time and I expect you donrsquot either Thatdoesnt leave us much room for volunteering and yet I know that weoften want to do more We want to do things for others as a way togive back to the communities that have given us so much Not that were all so noble I suppose another version of volunteeringis that some of us just cant say No I have been drawn into the volunteering trap many times That issomeone asked me to do something and I agreed to do it out of fearof disappointing the asker While I might not have minded the project Ididnt exactly want to do it I didnt especially care about the project Iwas volunteering for And I really didnt have time to do the projecteither And yet I said Yes The end result is overshycommitment Itrsquos impossible to perform well ateverything Ive agreed to do Stress levels climb Work hours stretchFamily and friends tend to get the short end of the stick WhySomehow its easier for me to disappoint the folks close to me thanthe casual acquaintance who asked me to do whatever it was I agreedto Worse than that my time is fragmented by all of my little projects Ihave a day job that tends to be busy And now Irsquom burdened by theselittle responsibilities Ive collected along the way Taken individuallythey dont seem like much but they add up

And all of a sudden Ive gone from busy to requiring medication Allbecause I couldnt say No Or failed to recognize just how much wason my plate already Or out of some poorly adjusted sense of duty Im not against volunteering Over the years Ive done many things inthe networking amp religious communities Im a part of for no money orrecognition My motivation was to help other people get things done tobring people together to foster education etc Those are good thingsand I know many of you have similar stories But as Ive gotten older Ive realized that being highly stressedbecause Ive spread myself too thin is silly Its hard on me Its hard onmy family and friends because Im a miserable prick to be aroundwhen Im too wound up by things to do Its hard on my body At aconference this week someone said that they eat their feelings andI know exactly what they mean These days I restrict my volunteering to where I feel I can have thegreatest impact To accomplish that Ive learned how to say No tothe lesser opportunities My track record is still not perfect Im stillovercommitted But Im getting better at reducing the number ofresponsibilities in my life so I can excel at the ones that remain

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

Inventory management software is now mature and wellunderstood

Resellers are the final link to the customer They are expected toprovide custom solutions software integration and valueshyaddedtechnical services In 2016 itrsquos different

There are fewer IT vendors Blendedconverged solutions are thenew hotness ldquoVertically integratedrdquo is another term

Open source software is replacing proprietary software

Itrsquos about using the assets not owning the assets

Customer focus is shifting from owning products to operatingsolutions

Software Defined FutureWe havenrsquot quite moved into the era of commodity hardware butsoftware is forcing the transition Routing is just one function of WANdevice Data center switches are bundled in hyperconverged systemsNFV is peeking its ugly little head around the toilet door In five years the features we want from networks will come fromsoftware automation and orchestration You cannot afford the internalcost of hundreds of hours in ldquovendor presentationsrdquo just to buy ahandful of servers storage units and switches Thatrsquos because the greatest value for a customer has shifted fromvendor productssolutions to the configuration and operation of thesoftware

In-House Not Outhouse

Oh one more thing DevOps is inherently a inshyhouse activityExecuting an ldquoiterate fast change fast fail fastrdquo strategy means fastcommunication loops with the business That works when everyone ison the same team and able to communicate clearly

Future Of PurchasingFirst Less work fewer meetings shy they donrsquot add value to the solutionWhen I say ldquoCheaper Buyingrdquo I mean the cost of purchasing meetingreviews proof of concepts and all of those costs must be reduced Second Products will trend cheaper because the value isnrsquot in owningthem but in how you use them These two things result in ldquoLess Sellingrdquo Donrsquot let vendors waste yourtime on ldquoarchitectural pitchesrdquo Focus on real work not on buying stuff

2 Volunteering When To SayYes amp Noby Ethan Banks I donrsquot have a lot of spare time and I expect you donrsquot either Thatdoesnt leave us much room for volunteering and yet I know that weoften want to do more We want to do things for others as a way togive back to the communities that have given us so much Not that were all so noble I suppose another version of volunteeringis that some of us just cant say No I have been drawn into the volunteering trap many times That issomeone asked me to do something and I agreed to do it out of fearof disappointing the asker While I might not have minded the project Ididnt exactly want to do it I didnt especially care about the project Iwas volunteering for And I really didnt have time to do the projecteither And yet I said Yes The end result is overshycommitment Itrsquos impossible to perform well ateverything Ive agreed to do Stress levels climb Work hours stretchFamily and friends tend to get the short end of the stick WhySomehow its easier for me to disappoint the folks close to me thanthe casual acquaintance who asked me to do whatever it was I agreedto Worse than that my time is fragmented by all of my little projects Ihave a day job that tends to be busy And now Irsquom burdened by theselittle responsibilities Ive collected along the way Taken individuallythey dont seem like much but they add up

And all of a sudden Ive gone from busy to requiring medication Allbecause I couldnt say No Or failed to recognize just how much wason my plate already Or out of some poorly adjusted sense of duty Im not against volunteering Over the years Ive done many things inthe networking amp religious communities Im a part of for no money orrecognition My motivation was to help other people get things done tobring people together to foster education etc Those are good thingsand I know many of you have similar stories But as Ive gotten older Ive realized that being highly stressedbecause Ive spread myself too thin is silly Its hard on me Its hard onmy family and friends because Im a miserable prick to be aroundwhen Im too wound up by things to do Its hard on my body At aconference this week someone said that they eat their feelings andI know exactly what they mean These days I restrict my volunteering to where I feel I can have thegreatest impact To accomplish that Ive learned how to say No tothe lesser opportunities My track record is still not perfect Im stillovercommitted But Im getting better at reducing the number ofresponsibilities in my life so I can excel at the ones that remain

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

Oh one more thing DevOps is inherently a inshyhouse activityExecuting an ldquoiterate fast change fast fail fastrdquo strategy means fastcommunication loops with the business That works when everyone ison the same team and able to communicate clearly

Future Of PurchasingFirst Less work fewer meetings shy they donrsquot add value to the solutionWhen I say ldquoCheaper Buyingrdquo I mean the cost of purchasing meetingreviews proof of concepts and all of those costs must be reduced Second Products will trend cheaper because the value isnrsquot in owningthem but in how you use them These two things result in ldquoLess Sellingrdquo Donrsquot let vendors waste yourtime on ldquoarchitectural pitchesrdquo Focus on real work not on buying stuff

2 Volunteering When To SayYes amp Noby Ethan Banks I donrsquot have a lot of spare time and I expect you donrsquot either Thatdoesnt leave us much room for volunteering and yet I know that weoften want to do more We want to do things for others as a way togive back to the communities that have given us so much Not that were all so noble I suppose another version of volunteeringis that some of us just cant say No I have been drawn into the volunteering trap many times That issomeone asked me to do something and I agreed to do it out of fearof disappointing the asker While I might not have minded the project Ididnt exactly want to do it I didnt especially care about the project Iwas volunteering for And I really didnt have time to do the projecteither And yet I said Yes The end result is overshycommitment Itrsquos impossible to perform well ateverything Ive agreed to do Stress levels climb Work hours stretchFamily and friends tend to get the short end of the stick WhySomehow its easier for me to disappoint the folks close to me thanthe casual acquaintance who asked me to do whatever it was I agreedto Worse than that my time is fragmented by all of my little projects Ihave a day job that tends to be busy And now Irsquom burdened by theselittle responsibilities Ive collected along the way Taken individuallythey dont seem like much but they add up

And all of a sudden Ive gone from busy to requiring medication Allbecause I couldnt say No Or failed to recognize just how much wason my plate already Or out of some poorly adjusted sense of duty Im not against volunteering Over the years Ive done many things inthe networking amp religious communities Im a part of for no money orrecognition My motivation was to help other people get things done tobring people together to foster education etc Those are good thingsand I know many of you have similar stories But as Ive gotten older Ive realized that being highly stressedbecause Ive spread myself too thin is silly Its hard on me Its hard onmy family and friends because Im a miserable prick to be aroundwhen Im too wound up by things to do Its hard on my body At aconference this week someone said that they eat their feelings andI know exactly what they mean These days I restrict my volunteering to where I feel I can have thegreatest impact To accomplish that Ive learned how to say No tothe lesser opportunities My track record is still not perfect Im stillovercommitted But Im getting better at reducing the number ofresponsibilities in my life so I can excel at the ones that remain

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

2 Volunteering When To SayYes amp Noby Ethan Banks I donrsquot have a lot of spare time and I expect you donrsquot either Thatdoesnt leave us much room for volunteering and yet I know that weoften want to do more We want to do things for others as a way togive back to the communities that have given us so much Not that were all so noble I suppose another version of volunteeringis that some of us just cant say No I have been drawn into the volunteering trap many times That issomeone asked me to do something and I agreed to do it out of fearof disappointing the asker While I might not have minded the project Ididnt exactly want to do it I didnt especially care about the project Iwas volunteering for And I really didnt have time to do the projecteither And yet I said Yes The end result is overshycommitment Itrsquos impossible to perform well ateverything Ive agreed to do Stress levels climb Work hours stretchFamily and friends tend to get the short end of the stick WhySomehow its easier for me to disappoint the folks close to me thanthe casual acquaintance who asked me to do whatever it was I agreedto Worse than that my time is fragmented by all of my little projects Ihave a day job that tends to be busy And now Irsquom burdened by theselittle responsibilities Ive collected along the way Taken individuallythey dont seem like much but they add up

And all of a sudden Ive gone from busy to requiring medication Allbecause I couldnt say No Or failed to recognize just how much wason my plate already Or out of some poorly adjusted sense of duty Im not against volunteering Over the years Ive done many things inthe networking amp religious communities Im a part of for no money orrecognition My motivation was to help other people get things done tobring people together to foster education etc Those are good thingsand I know many of you have similar stories But as Ive gotten older Ive realized that being highly stressedbecause Ive spread myself too thin is silly Its hard on me Its hard onmy family and friends because Im a miserable prick to be aroundwhen Im too wound up by things to do Its hard on my body At aconference this week someone said that they eat their feelings andI know exactly what they mean These days I restrict my volunteering to where I feel I can have thegreatest impact To accomplish that Ive learned how to say No tothe lesser opportunities My track record is still not perfect Im stillovercommitted But Im getting better at reducing the number ofresponsibilities in my life so I can excel at the ones that remain

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

And all of a sudden Ive gone from busy to requiring medication Allbecause I couldnt say No Or failed to recognize just how much wason my plate already Or out of some poorly adjusted sense of duty Im not against volunteering Over the years Ive done many things inthe networking amp religious communities Im a part of for no money orrecognition My motivation was to help other people get things done tobring people together to foster education etc Those are good thingsand I know many of you have similar stories But as Ive gotten older Ive realized that being highly stressedbecause Ive spread myself too thin is silly Its hard on me Its hard onmy family and friends because Im a miserable prick to be aroundwhen Im too wound up by things to do Its hard on my body At aconference this week someone said that they eat their feelings andI know exactly what they mean These days I restrict my volunteering to where I feel I can have thegreatest impact To accomplish that Ive learned how to say No tothe lesser opportunities My track record is still not perfect Im stillovercommitted But Im getting better at reducing the number ofresponsibilities in my life so I can excel at the ones that remain

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

Join the Datanauts on their missionto bust silos and explore the latestdevelopments in cloud

Network Break is a weeklypodcast that delivers news ampanalysis on the networking industry

convergence data centers andmore Sign up free here

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Internets Of Interest A collection of pre-loved links that might interest you Pre-lovedbecause I liked them enough to put into this newsletter Its not true love By Drew Conry-Murray

How the SoC is Displacing the CPU This article on Medium examines the technological and market driversthat are shifting more interest in onshychip functions and spurring newadvances in System on a Chip (SoC) designs

Formshyfactor cost and powershypershyfunction are now criticaldrivers in the mobile market and that in turn has increasedthe importance of onshychip integration of functional hardware(eg power management computing audiovideo graphicsGPS and radio)

New Kubernetes Certification Available ForMSPs The Linux Foundation and Cloud Native Computing Foundation(CNCF) have announced the creation of a new training and

certification program for Kubernetes for managed service providersThe goal is to train service providers to be able to offer Kubernetesconsulting support and professional services to enterprises The course should be available in the second quarter of 2017 but youcan preshyregister now The course is being offered at $99 for a limitedtime The regular price will be $199

Arista Wins US Import Approval In Cisco PatentFight Network Computing reports that Arista has won an important battle inan ongoing patent dispute with Cisco Systems Aristas redesignedEOS software wont fall under an exclusion order issued against thecompany so Aristas products can be imported into the United States

Arista said it redesigned its EOS to address the ITCsfindings The infringed patents covered Ciscos private VLANand SysDB technologies

Googlersquos DeepMind AI Now Capable of lsquoDeepNeural Reasoningrsquo Googles DeepMind AI research lab is experimenting with a neuralnetwork thats augmented with external memory that allows the neuralnetwork to perform more complex tasks

This new hybrid architecture is called a DifferentiableNeural Computer or DNC combines a neural network withthe advantage of memory storage thatrsquos external to thenetwork It works in a similar fashion to how a computerrsquosrandom access memory (RAM) would function mdash whichboosts the ldquoreasoningrdquo power of the model overall

The Weekly Show channel is ouroneshyhour deep dive on networkingtechnology Subscribe today

Priority Queue tackles niche andnerdy tech topics and cuttingshyedgeresearch projects Subscribe here

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Watch ThisWhere we collect some videos that make us reflect think about our inner livesor just entertain us

Computing pioneer and Rear Admiral Grace Hopper on the David Letterman showcirca 1986

Cant get enough newsletters Check out Link Propagation our newestpublication We send you a free weekly digest with tech news interesting blogsand industry announcements all curated by the Packet Pushers Its an easyway to keep up and stay informed Subscribe at packetpushersnetlink-propagation

Quick Survey CookingGadgets Itrsquos Thanksgiving in the US which means a lot of chopping slicingroasting basting and boiling Aside from a tablet propped up on acounter to read a recipe how gadgetshyintensive is your holiday mealprep

A A frenzy of cooking toys amp gadgets B Four or five totally useful appliances C Two or three standard items D A knife and some fire

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The End Bit

Sponsorship and Advertising - Send an email to humaninfrastructurepacketpushersnet for more information Youcould reach 5013 people Human Infrastructure is bi-weekly newsletter with view perspectives and opinions It is edited andpublished by Greg Ferro and Drew Conry-Murray from PacketPushersnet If youd like to contribute emailDrew at drewconrymurraypacketpushersnet We dont give away your email address or personal details because that would suck Copyright copy 2016 Packet Pushers Interactive LLC All rights reserved unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences