My Latest Project – EMC Encryption as a Service (EaaS)

One of the more interesting projects I’ve been working on lately is an Encryption as a Service (EaaS) offering for our cloud service provider (CSP) partners. After the NSA domestic spying program was revealed and there was a global uproar about privacy and protection in the cloud, I decided to design a service offering that will allow our CSP partners the ability to offer a completely encrypted (at-rest or in-motion) private, public, or hybrid cloud experience. Well before the NSA story broke we started to see an uptick in the Healthcare and Financial verticals for movement of their workloads to cloud and its no longer just test/dev, they’re looking to move business and mission critical workloads to the cloud for a variety of reasons. With the strict regulatory compliance requirements from HIPAA and GLBA, many institutions are turning to encryption solutions to make cloud a reality. While community clouds are a great solution, we haven’t see that many true community clouds popping up in the CSP space, but when they do our offering will definitely be a great addition to their cloud security strategy.

When laying out the design for the EaaS offering, we had a few major requirements. First, it had to be easily scalable, otherwise it would be a management nightmare for the CSP partner. Second, it had to be granular, otherwise the CSP partner would either have to stand up a separate silo to meet the demand (Field of Dreams approach) or to encrypt their entire existing environment, thus monetarily penalizing those workloads that didn’t have an encryption requirement. Lastly, it had to give the customer choice to control the encryption keys in a non-propriertay way. I’ve see Business Associate Agreements (BAA) that cover provider or tenant in control of the keys, it appears to depend on the size of the company and the requirements from their auditors.

The AFORE CloudLink Platform met all of our requirements and the fact that it works with multiple clouds (AWS, Azure, vCHS) was a huge bonus. After determining the technology met our offering requirements, we got to work with the AFORE team to make it a reality. When delivering a service offering, its more than just standing up a technology and hanging a sign on the door. We needed to put together a complete go-to-market package for the provider that would enable both their technical and sales teams. I’ve seen too many providers stand up technically sound offerings, but their sales teams were inadequately trained on positioning and objection handling, so the offering really never takes off leaving the provider with stranded assets on the floor. Also, because the tenant has the choice to be in control of the encryption keys we required training materials to be created for this as well.

One challenge I see with quite a few ISVs is product licensing. Many companies are still only offering annual or perpetual licensing models for their “cloud” products, when I brought up this subject with the AFORE team they were more than happy to listen and take action. Going back to my Field of Dreams comment above, we can no longer expect our partners to spend their precious CapEX to acquire technology and wait for the workloads to come, they need to purchase like their customers purchase, by the drip.

All of the hard work in creating the EaaS offering has paid off and I’m pleased to officially announce the CloudLink Powered EMC EaaS Offering.

Please let me know if you’d like further details on this offering or any of our CSP partners that will be offering it. Thanks.

 

Chris

2014
05/07
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Its all about the journey, not the destination…

Imagine just over two and half years ago walking into a dark amphitheater in Hopkinton, MA not knowing what awaits except you’ll be joining a small group of others enlisted to help build a virtualization-focused team at (not your average) storage vendor. Boy was I wrong about both of these. First, it wasn’t just about building a small team of virtualization-focused individuals that would evangelize the synergy between EMC and VMware to our partners and customers, it was also about something much larger…transformation…more on that in a bit. I remember in one of the first meetings we had with Chad Sakac, about nine hours into his lecture something he said wasn’t as scary as it initially sounded and it started to make far more sense. He said, and I have to paraphrase…you guys are golf pros, you’re here to make your students better than you and if you do your job right you’ll put yourself out a job…meaning that we existed not only to make sure that our customers understood the integration between EMC and VMware technologies, but we were here to help transform the entire technical presales organization at EMC to be vSpecialists. Second, I really had no idea at the time, but EMC is much, much more than a great storage company (this is only one of the areas of the industry where they are considered a market leader) but I digress as this post is more about my transformation than their’s…even though there is a symbiotic relationship.

When I first joined the vSpecialist team I had no idea where it would lead as we had a big job in front of us and we were still finding our way and change was constant. Basically, we were running a startup within EMC and we just did what needed to be done, this attitude and latitude was essential to our success and allowed us to quickly build our individual and team brand. We went from a small, but growing team of individuals crisscrossing the country (sometimes the globe) working with our customers and partners to educate and enable them, to a divisionally-aligned global organization with not only a focus on virtualization, but other areas like Enterprise Management (my focus), End User Compute (EUC), Security and much more. Not only was I drinking from the firehose when it came to the EMC’s hardware and software solutions, but VMware’s Enterprise management products along with keeping up with products I already knew well like SRM, View, etc. My brain would fill up on a regular basis, so I had to switch to my other passion, BBQ, once and while to help keep my sanity. More on that here. But there’s even more, during this time I was also starting to get more and more involved with the EMC Education group on the EMC Cloud Architect (EMCCA) courses and associated exams. This allowed me to help bring the real world to otherwise academic world and truly make a difference at a much larger scale than I imagined.

Looking back at past 17 years I’ve spent in the world of Information Technology and I’m amazed at the road I’ve traveled…I worked at a helpdesk, managed teams of traveling consultants, ran the daily operations of a consumer-facing data center for a Big 3 automaker, built a successful virtualization practice at a local VAR and joined an amazing company to help transform an entire industry…I’m not done yet…

I’m excited to announce the next leg of my journey, as of this Monday I’ve officially transitioned to the vSpecialist Service Provider team where I’ll be working as a Cloud Architect on things like service offering creation, technical enablement and with our sales teams to assist our customers with their transformation. I’ll basically have a front row seat to the capture of workload and its transition to the cloud.

Like I stated in the title of this post, its all about the journey, not the destination…

Stay tuned.

Chris

2012
08/30
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The cloud is right around the corner and at the end of the tunnel…just look for the light.

It was about eight years ago when I turned to my wife at dinner and said “This is the most exciting time to be in IT!” Of course, she looked at me that all familiar smile and she didn’t have to say a word, I could read her mind…she was thinking “what a GEEK…”. It was about two years since I’d been work with VMware technologies in my datacenter and I could see where it was going, or at least I thought I did…at that point anyone could see the amazing benefits of CapEx savings that virtualization could deliver on from a workload consolidation and containment perspective along with the associated OpEx savings, but I’m not sure how many where thinking about truly delivering IT as a Service (ITaaS) in the manner that we can today.

It was about a year and a half ago when I wrote the post “Has virtualization hit the wall?” where I commented on the lack of tools that would allow us to take it to the next level, the acquisition feeding frenzy and how some businesses have a sour taste in the mouth from their dealings with IT in the past. What has changed you ask? Quite a bit. In nearly the timeframe Gordon E. Moore (of Moore’s Law fame) observed it took for the number of transistors on a circuit board to double the industry around cloud has greatly matured. You have several vendors with their approach to converged infrastructure which greatly simplifies the procurement, provisoning and consumption of resources, many companies have begun to develop toolsets or exsisting tools are starting to work together and customer adoption is picking up steam. I can’t wait to walk the expo floor this year at VMworld to take in all of the new technology and to chat with existing and prospective customers to get their take on it.

The cloud is right around the corner and at the end of the tunnel…just look for the light. I firmly believe we are now at the point where technologies have matured enough to truly to start delivering on the promise of IT as a Service (ITaaS) and as people start to realize this the adoption curve will meet critical mass.

It wasn’t too long ago that I looked at my wife again and said “I know I’ve said this before, but this is truly the most exciting time to be in IT!” of course, she looked at me with that same smile…at this point she knows I’m a Geek and proud of it!

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback. I encourage you to join the conversation.

Chris

2012
08/24
CATEGORY
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Death Star Fire Pit

While this may be a short post, it will be important…or at least to Star Wars fanatics like me. Even if you’re not a fan yourself, this would be a great gift for the Star Wars geek in your life. Let’s try and help make it happen.

“Maybe if enough blogs cover this awesome picture, Think Geek will step up and add it to their already impressive collection of Star Wars goods.”

Image

http://www.neatorama.com/2012/05/30/keep-warm-with-the-death-star-fire-pit/

 

Chris

2012
06/02
CATEGORY
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Acer Aspire One Happy – RAM Upgrade

As with other traditions during the holiday season, being a geek you also have to expect to get at least one or more technology support request from a friend or family member. It ranges from setting up new devices (PCs, DVRs, cameras, etc…if it has a battery or plugs in…lol) or installing/configuring different applications or it’s the slightly more involved “could you diagnose, fix or upgrade” something for me. Either way, I’m always happy to oblige although it may take a little while due to my somewhat erratic travel schedule for work.

This year I brought it on myself by talking my best friend into buying a RAM upgrade for his daughters Acer netbook. It came with decent processor, but with only 1GB of RAM and as a result his daughter barely used the device as it was pretty sluggish. For $20 he was willing to see if doubling the RAM (1GG – 2GB) would improve performance. I recently purchased Dell mini’s for my wife and daughter and upgrading the RAM to 2GB made a world of difference. I started asking myself why netbooks generally only came with 1GB if the user experience was so poor. These days RAM is fairly inexpensive (to the manufacturer), but it comes down to being competitive in the marketplace and a low price point to attract customers….okay, we’re getting a little off topic….back to the RAM upgrade.

The memory upgrade on the Dell mini’s I purchased was simple and took about 5 minutes apiece, the documentation was very easy to find and it only involved three screws. As I embarked on the Acer Aspire One Happy RAM upgrade I started to get a little concerned. I couldn’t find any documentation so I contacted Acer support and it’s their policy NOT to supply their customers with this type of documentation and recommended I find an authorized repair facility…yeah right. I took to Google and found a video on YouTube that was for a similar model Acer Aspire One, not the Acer Aspire One Happy I had in front of me and it literally had you stripping down the entire netbook to the chassis as the RAM was on the underside of the motherboard…WTF? At least supply a small hatch on the bottom for easy access!

Well, as I got started disassembling I found it was a much simpler procedure than I was expecting and because I couldn’t find the instructions anywhere I thought I would share them here…

Step One

Power down the device and remove the battery. Next, with a very thin, flat-head screwdriver pop off the keyboard by pushing in the five (5) retention tabs across the top, then insert the screwdriver in between the keyboard tray and fascia to lift it out. When removing the keyboard please be aware of the short ribbon cable and small retention clip (sorry no pic, but it’s fairly self-explanatory). With the clip removed pull out the ribbon cable and set keyboard aside.

Step Two

Remove the four (4) screws labeled “Door 1” and place aside.

 

Step Three

With your screwdriver insert it in to the hole labeled “2” and depress the internal tab to release the large door on the bottom.

 

Step Four

Once you have the door removed, you will be able to easily access and replace the RAM by depressing the retention clips at the top of each side.

 

Step Five

With the RAM replaced and secure in its socket follow these easy steps to finish the upgrade.

  1. Replace the door and the four (4) associated screws.
  2. Insert the keyboard ribbon cable and retention clip, snap in the keyboard across the top and sides.
  3. Replace the battery and power up.
  4. Enjoy.

Disclaimer

This may void your warranty. Individual success may vary and is not guaranteed. Not liable for broken or missing parts.

2011
12/31
CATEGORY
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Has virtualization hit the wall?

Has x86 virtualization lost its steam? Are people happy with just the CapEx savings they realized during their initial consolidation project? I’ve noticed in recent VMware presentations that the feedback from the field has been virtualization has slowed down – I should qualify this statement before I continue – virtualization has slowed down in the sense that businesses are still introducing application, desktop, storage and server virtualization in their environments every day, it’s the further adoption of tools to automate, manage and monitor the stack that I’m talking about. This is the crux of the issue…you need a stack first (this will be addressed in a follow up post). We are on the cusp of a major transformation of the way in which IT resources will be delivered and many companies are lining up their acquisitions in a quest to create the supreme stack for the cloud. It’s not just virtualizing your data center anymore, its about delivering IT as a Service (ITaaS).

What’s the holdup you ask? Are people still wrapping their heads around and their new physical/virtual hybrid infrastructure? Are they still trying to figure out how to or if they even should virtualization their tier 1 applications? Or are they waiting to see what’s next?

With the push from the industry to the cloud over the past couple of years and this recent feedback from VMware I’ve started to dig into this and I what I’ve found is that it’s a combination of all of the above complicated by monocultures within the organization, tight budgets, accidental infrastructures and the lack of the correct process and procedures to transform their IT department into an internal service provider. Even after all of this how does internal IT “sell” themselves to their customers? If they’ve been unable to deliver in the past due to all of the aforementioned the business may be a little sour, which has led to rogue IT and the circumvention of internal IT. This competition should be the motivation for internal IT to strive to provide the resources the business needs, when they need them.

Technology is the only part the cloud; it will only get you so far. The approach to the delivery, management and consumption of these resources is the key to success. Now is the time to build your internal processes and procedures, but let’s not make the same mistake twice…no more accidental infrastructures. They need to understand the needs of the business first and then this can be translated into what IT needs to deliver. I’ve mentioned this in a previous post on the “Data Center Team of the Future” and I will bring it up here again, the silo’d teams don’t speak nearly as often as they should if ever and decisions are made in vacuum, sometimes accidentally but more often on purpose to avoid things like politics or just answers they don’t want to hear. Continuing on this path will only lead to disaster…

Last week I had the opportunity to sit with some of the smartest people I’ve met thus far – EMC intrapreneurs, academics, members of SNIA and average Joes like me and it was an interesting week to say the least. We were tasked with defining and refining course material for EMC’s upcoming Cloud Architect certification (EMCCA) to be released later this year. I was pleasantly surprised to see that EMC has taken an vendor agnostic approach to this certification. Most of our debate and discussion centered on the processes and procedures of getting to the cloud and the obstacles to be aware of instead of just on technology. This motivated me to take this collection of rants and turn them into a post, I hope it’s enlightening.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback. I encourage you to join the conversation.

Chris

2011
02/13
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VMworld 2010: An view from inside…

Having attended different technology conferences over the years it was no surprise that I would lose a little sleep this year at VMworld, but little did I know that everything changes when you work the conference. This year I volunteered to assist with working both the EMC and VCE booths, the show floor hands-on-labs (the only labs on the show floor by the way) and developing a canned demo for Chad’s keynote with Pat Gelsinger, which at the last minute was changed to be live onstage….no pressure, right?

I had such a great time interacting with people on the show floor, putting faces to the names of people I chat with 140 characters at a time, meeting up with old friends and networking with new ones. Some of the down sides to being new to working a conference, I was only able to attend one session and I was unable to pump out a few live blog posts as I hoped I would have time for (writing this one on the plane home), but I wouldn’t trade the experience in a million years. In one day I was able to meet Steve Herrod, have a discussion with Pat Gelsinger and briefly share the stage with Chad Sakac…I’m going to have to work pretty hard to top that experience next year.

Fortunately, I work with some of most dedicated people in the industry. Sharing the same passion for technology it was easy to see that my team works as hard as they do, not entirely because they have to, but because they want to…they thrive on it. For this, among many other reasons, I’m extremely proud to be called a vSpecialist!

2010
09/03
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