HP Technology Forum & Expo 2009

15 June 2009

In the more than two decades that I have gone to tech events such as COMDEX/CES and the like, I have not been privy to the work that goes on behind the scenes to produce the event(s). No longer.

At the HP Technology Forum, (HPTF), we were shown the stage prep by Dave Lawson, of Houston-based Staging Solutions, the producer of the event. Boy, where do I start?

First off, the infrastructure required is huge!

Dual anamorphic screens (75'x25'), several monitors – all HP, I may add, a gazillion other devices dedicated to helping production.

Backstage, it was like a movie set; which, of course it is.

Dual green rooms, several projectors, real-time video and audio production.

I am impressed.

15 June 2009

Host: Tom Iannotti, Managing Director and SVP, HP Americas and TSG

4:43 PM: Ann Livermore starts out. Talking about Market Leadership of HP. She mentions that HP is #1 in Revenue, part of the Fortune 9 in the US.

HP will be getting aggressive in Networking. HP has made a series of acquisitions to poise themselves for this ramp up. Compaq, Colubris, Lefhand Networks. Software is getting pushed due to the merge with Mercury, Opsware.Finally, the EDS acquisition.

Ann begins to talk about the CIO challenge - HP has made investments in Data Center Transformation, Information Explosion and Everything as a service.

[...]

Ann states they will focus on turning centers green. 24/7 uptime. Serious leadership in Server and Storage products. Add to that the software to control it all. She adds they will "Do it for you" if you are unsure where to start.

[...]

Ann talks about the HP Blade System Matrix. A Service Portfolio to Govern the ROI and Health of SLA. The Apps will have to be secure, therefore the Software portfolio (with the acquisition of Mercury) will help with that.

5:07 PM: Paul Miller comes on stage to talk about how to bring servers to the next level. Blades delivering "Everything as a Service". Paul talks about how Convergence is core to adapt the infrastructure.

Virtual Storage - Adding storage to any application on the fly. Paul talks about "Left hand storage". They can reduce 50% of cost than a virtual SAN.

"The Blade System Matrix will bring the power of the private cloud to the enterprise".

The matrix environment will use templates designed to your need. The admin approves and deploys the app. All tasks are then created and maintained. Storage, apps, load OS and more are automatically created and the app can be ready to be put online.

Paul talks about Extreme scale data and how to work in these large infrastructures. The HP Extream Scale Out Portfolio is built to deliver services. HP will also be relasing the "Environmental Edge", to configure and adjust the room to expected needs and determine where issues lie. Fully optimized for your server room.

In a 100,000 square foot data center, the energy, weight and acquisition savings can equal $153 Million. The energy savings can power 15,677 homes.

5:27 PM: Prith Banerjee comes on stage to talk about HP Labs and it's research breakthroughs. They look at the future, then advise HP with opportunities. Prith states they have 500 researchers around the world that deal with issues in their area and how it affects everyone.

Intelligent Infrastructure, Cloud, Analytics, Information Management, Immersive Interaction, Content Transformation, Digital Commercial Print and Sustainability are the 8 areas that corporations will have to be concerned on within the next 10 years.

[...]

Intelligent Infrastructure: Capture more value with computing performance and cost improvements. HP Labs is researching computing, storage, Networks and Technology. Embracing Parallel computing while trying to harnass the massive computing happening. Nanotechnology will be a big part in this with Memristors, Sensors and Photonic Interconnect.

Prith also talks about the Exascale Data Center. He says this is the next level and the future. Vitualization, Networking, Nanotechnology is the tools needed to be ready for the next level.

Photonics is the use of light for data communication. It can Exponentially increase bandwidth (10 4th power) with less material. Prith will say that in 10 years, we will need Photonics for those 1024 core chips 10 years down the road.

[...]

Finally, Prith talks about the Green value. Sustainable data Center can consume 200-300 megawatts of power. As data centers scale, we will loose more. 50% of operation cuts and 75% cut of carbon footprint is their goals.

16 June 2009

As 3600 attendees gathered on Monday June 15, the event band rocked the house! Thus was kicked off the 2009 HP Technology Forum. The theme of the event is GET CONNECTED - people, technology, results. It is being held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel Convention Center, in Las Vegas, NV, USA.

The keynotes started off with a rally cry: "Here's to you, the problem solvers in a world without limits."

The diamond sponsors were announced: Brocade, Microsoft, Intel.

And the following statistics were shared:

3600 attendees

1/3 from outside US

94 exhibitors

19 sponsors

great attendance by the CONNECT Users Group

350 modules

free HP certification testing during the week by Prometrix test

And then we heard from three HP leaders on where HP plans to lead the computing universe in the next decade.

Notes on the keynotes coming up soon!

16 June 2009

The advent of social media has made a big difference at Connect -- the independent user organization representing 50,000 professionals using Hewlett-Packard technology products and services.

"We used to conduct a worldwide survey of our members and have to wait until all the data was compiled and analyzed before we knew what issues our members were concerned with. Now, we do it in real-time thanks to our hosted discussion groups and monitoring of blogs and other social media," says Nina Buik, president of Connect.

Newer social media technologies such as Twitter are also being used. "I was at a Tweetup last night and was asked a technical question and I was quickly able to get a response from a HP executive," says Ms Buik. "That impressed the people that I was with."

Connect would like to be able to host most of the discussions about HP on its web site but Ms Buik is also willing to "let the conversations happen where they happen."

[...]

17 June 2009

At the HP Technology Forum I got a chance to tour a HP POD (Performance Optimized Datacenter). A more suitable acronym would be "Portable Optimized Datacenter" because it is in a specially reinforced and equipped standard sized container and delivered on a flatbed truck.

Inside its 320 square foot of space is crammed the computing equivalent of a 5,000 square foot datacenter. Kevin Egan, from HP, who has to be 6 foot six in height, gave me a tour of the POD.

Here are some of my notes:

•		Each POD is outfitted in Houston and shipped worldwide, in the future there will be regional assembly.
•		It takes about six weeks to outfit a POD with all the gear.
•		An empty POD costs $1.4 million to reinforce the container and equip it with its infrastructure of racks and cooling systems - before all the gear gets packed in. This is cheaper than building a data center.
•		Each POD is completely self-contained with its cooling systems and can operate in temperatures from -25 degrees F to 120 degrees.
•		Electric power use is extremely efficient at 1.25 PUE, compared with 2.0 and above in most data centers. This provides big savings on power costs.
•		They can be stacked on top of each other but only in one layer.
•		HP will eventually lease them.
•		The PODs will accept standard blades from different vendors unlike some other containerized data centers which use proprietary racks.
•		Customers are using them as they finish building data centers. So far, they haven't been deployed for seasonal uses.
•		Customers are using PODs for disaster recovery.
•		They can be deployed more quickly than building a data center because permit process is quicker, they are considered temporary structures by local zoning authorities.
•		Property taxes are less for PODs. I mentioned to Steve Cumings, Director of Marketing for Scalable Computing at HP, that this could harm local communities. He said that it would make local businesses more competitive and thus support communities with jobs. Fair enough.
•		If you use the new SL servers from HP announced this week that share power supplies and cooling systems and are designed for "cloud computing," you can pack 5,000 nodes into each POD, says Paul Miller VP of Marketing for Enter[rise Storage and Servers. I said this sounds like a "Cloud-in-a-box."
•		PODS can be parked inside warehouses, empty shopping malls, or inside warehouses.

17 June 2009

One of the HP exhibits that caught my eye today wasn't one of the flashiest, didn't have a swag line a mile long, but what it did have was two very interesting pieces of equipment representing a technology that I think more and more consumers are finding very appealing for their home. I'm talking about a Windows Home Server, but more specifically the HP MediaSmart Servers lineup.

HP MediaSmart Servers come in two lineups, the EX series and LX series.

[...] product lines feature solutions based on different needs of different consumer levels. The HP MediaSmart Server LX line may be better suited for the casual consumer, the individual or family that has a smaller or more modest collection of media, and who may consider expansion a plus, but not a necessity.

On the flip side, the HP MediaSmart Server EX line would probably be better suited for the consumer with substantial and ever increasing media collection, who also values expandability and who requires maximum throughputs and performance levels.

Either series is capable of providing automatic backup of your media, centralizing your content, and providing an easy solution for sharing your media with family and friends while allowing you to access it at home and away, and both are PC and Mac friendly.

While visiting the HP MediaSmart Servers display, we asked HP's Glen Roberts to give us a brief run down of some of the highlights of these systems. [...]

18 June 2009 Master of Ceremonies: Bill Sales: VP - Industry Standard Servers – Americas, HP

3:20 PM: Event Starts. Bill Sales introduces and tells participants whomever guesses the registration attendance can win backstage passes to the Beach Boys in the evening.

[...] Standards will change to put everything into the cloud. Convergence will come into play in the Data Center. Brocade will be deploying Converged Technologies.

Evolution: 15 Billion devices will be deployed in the years. In the Campus - A Network Evolution will occur. You will be able to roam across campuses without interruption.

3:51 PM: Rob Helm takes the stage.

[...]

He goes on to show a timeline from XP to Windows 7. He states this is an Incremental release and believes Windows 7 will be the first to put the system on a shared core with the Server OS for the first time since Windows 2000.

Direct Access - like a VPN - to connect to and work. The difference is if the user is out of compliance, Windows Server will manage the client to put the user back to compliance.

End to End: BranchCache - File Caching for branch offices. It will improve network performance and simplify management. The clients manage the files between one another.

Rob then goes into the real advantages of upgrading to Windows 7 and Server 2008. Virtualization is the big one. It cuts down on costs and bandwidth. Virtual Machines that will have failure redundancy with a seamless transition. Load balancing and maintenance schedules will also be big advantages. But as Rob says - If a death ray zaps your server....

Scalability, Managability and Availability are the 3 things in a HP - MS central partnership. Rob believes that HP customers will be in the "Front Row" to the future.

4:12 PM: Tom Kilroy comes up about IT Pains, the Intel Advantage and what it means to us.

Old Age: The longer you hold on to something, the more it's gonna cost in the long run. By year 3-4, the studies show PC costs go up 33% , then 40% after year 4. A 4 year server will need more wattage than a 2 year old server.

80% of IT spends - 30% Operating and 50% Expense. Data Centers are on track to consuming up to 3% of all US Electricity use. System improvements are helping keep us out of that 3% mark.

People and Virtualization. Tom notes from IDC: "Client-side virtualization will outpace server-hosted desktops by almost 2x by 2012." Data Center virtualization will help with those costs both on the server and the client side. One other factor came into play -- how to secure the client-side virtualization. Home devices will be allowed more, but IT will have to be able to confirm this will not hurt their systems.

Tom talks about uPro, which will lower power by managing machines that don't need to be powered on. vPro will show a 10 Month ROI, as oppose to without, which gives a 17 Month ROI.

Tom talks about the Xeon 5500 processor. He quotes the Financial Times as a "Recession Buster". Chuck comes out and runs a ROI calculator to see how the new computers will save. The answer: 3 months before you see a savings. Dual core machines will show return in 12 months.

4:39 PM: Dr. Michio Kaku came on to talk about the future. He starts by saying that no one is perfect in predicting the future. He talks about how he built his first Atom smasher as a kid. He goes into the book "Physics of the Impossible". This brings us to Moores Law. Doubling time for computer power in 18 months.

[...]

Michio talks about the end of Moore's law. Parallel, Quantum, Optical, DNA and molecular computing are some options. By 2020, chips will have layers 5 atoms across. Molecular transistors could mean that Sillicon Valley could become a "Rust belt".

[...]

Dr. Kaku says "Aging is error". By comparing genes, we can work on controlling the process. Alligators and crocodiles don't get old - they get bigger.

Artificial Intelligence. Why we don't have AI - They cannot recognize and determine pattern recognition.

Common sense. Water is wet and when you die, you don't come back. Dr. Kaku asked how you know that? Common sense. Robots do not have the common sense.

He asks "Can AI become dangerous?" The answer: Yes. But control will have to be programmed into the system. Jobs will be lost, but those jobs that are repetitive. Intellectual Capitolizm.

He then repeats the 5 challenges thrown out to everyone:

•		Create seamless information anytime, anywhere
•		Replace Moores law
•		Reduce biology and medicine to computer science
•		Solving pattern recognition problem
•		Solving common sense problem

21 June 2009
Wow. This is a city contained in a building. [...] They even have their own beach - where we watched the Beach Boys play a set.

Of course, there were a lot of things I have learned from this event. I have run server rooms before, but I was a little out of touch with the current technologies. FCoE was the big one I learned about. Also building a server is a lot different than before. Greener, more powerful and reliability were the best parts.

The Keynotes were just amazing. Learning about how these big companies are working on green technologies is amazing. Dr. Michio Kaku and his views for the future were amazing.