I just finished an interesting assignment for MIR3 - a global leader in Intelligent IT Notification systems. It focused on the challenges that companies face in deploying automated notification systems in today's complex organizations. They often need to support worldwide 24/7 "follow-the-sun" mission-critical operations but must contend with a mish-mash of legacy operating systems and applications software.
The newest generation of these intelligent IT notification systems from MIR3 leverages an innovative Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) approach to streamline initial and ongoing integration with legacy applications, diverse platforms and changing enterprise requirements. This improves the users’ ability to quickly set-up, modify and maintain IT notification across a wide range of business functions by eliminating the need to individually tailor each application interface.
Another major benefit is that, by de-coupling from the underlying applications, ESB also opens the door for more effective delivery of IT Notification as a service. This allows enterprises to take maximum advantage of the growing trends toward Software as a Service (SaaS) and to leverage on-going improvements in IT notification technologies, while minimizing operating costs and avoiding future forklift upgrades.
It was a fun assignment because the real-world implications range across a wide spectrum of industries, academia, government and other organizations.
If you're interested, read more here.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Oracle, Sun Micro and Me
Pardon me for sounding a bit like an old-timer but today's news about Oracle acquiring Sun Microsystems has me reminiscing a bit about 1983. That was the year that I was co-founder and Exec VP of a start-up networked-workstation company called Syte Information Technology. Our main competitor, Sun Micro, was only a year old and potentially could be overtaken by our high performance single-board design that was designed to run multiple operating systems. At the same time, we were negotiating software relationships with a number of innovative young companies, including Larry Ellison at Oracle.
Unfortunately, by the time that we had finished the prototype stage and were moving into production ramp-up, the venture capital environment had moved from very hot to icy cold - maybe not quite as bad at today's environment, but you get the picture. After two years and $9 million of VC funding, our ultimate exit strategy turned out to be laying off all 120 people (most of whom I had personally recruited) and selling off the assets and technology. It was a painful time but looking back was probably one of the best learning experiences that I've been through in my career. There is nothing like living on the front lines for developing your skills in the art of matching technologies and markets.
Today's news was kind of like seeing a notice that your old rival and girlfriend from your high school days have just gotten engaged, 25 years after you all hung out together. I certainly wish them well and look forward to seeing how their marriage works out. I'll be rooting for them.
Unfortunately, by the time that we had finished the prototype stage and were moving into production ramp-up, the venture capital environment had moved from very hot to icy cold - maybe not quite as bad at today's environment, but you get the picture. After two years and $9 million of VC funding, our ultimate exit strategy turned out to be laying off all 120 people (most of whom I had personally recruited) and selling off the assets and technology. It was a painful time but looking back was probably one of the best learning experiences that I've been through in my career. There is nothing like living on the front lines for developing your skills in the art of matching technologies and markets.
Today's news was kind of like seeing a notice that your old rival and girlfriend from your high school days have just gotten engaged, 25 years after you all hung out together. I certainly wish them well and look forward to seeing how their marriage works out. I'll be rooting for them.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Improving Recycle Rates for Mobile Handsets
Recently, I've been working with a new company that is destined to radically change the way that the world thinks about recycling mobile phone handsets. Or maybe better said, the way that we don't think about it.
Only about 3 percent of displaced phones are currently being recycled and over 74 percent of people aren't even aware that their phones can be recycled. It is estimated that in the U.S. alone, over 1 billion previously-used phones are already discarded, just sitting in drawers, with over 150 million more joining them every year. This drawer-bound cache offers a total value of $10 billion dollars when refurbished and channeled into the growing market for used phones - largely in developing countries where wireless infrastructures are growing rapidly and used phones provide an attractive option.
The key to success is finding a more effective way to attract and incentivize the owners of these displaced phones - causing them to feed a much higher percentage of used phones into the recycling channels.
Watch this space in the near future for the name of the company and much more detail on their innovative, game-changing approach to this important challenge.
Only about 3 percent of displaced phones are currently being recycled and over 74 percent of people aren't even aware that their phones can be recycled. It is estimated that in the U.S. alone, over 1 billion previously-used phones are already discarded, just sitting in drawers, with over 150 million more joining them every year. This drawer-bound cache offers a total value of $10 billion dollars when refurbished and channeled into the growing market for used phones - largely in developing countries where wireless infrastructures are growing rapidly and used phones provide an attractive option.
The key to success is finding a more effective way to attract and incentivize the owners of these displaced phones - causing them to feed a much higher percentage of used phones into the recycling channels.
Watch this space in the near future for the name of the company and much more detail on their innovative, game-changing approach to this important challenge.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Balancing inflow/outflow in the new electricity grid
I've been reading lately about the rise of new green electricity generation techniques such as wind, solar, geothermal, etc. It's extremely exciting to see that many of these generation methodologies are already far ahead of expectations with regard to the amount of electricity being produced (especially wind power).
Interestingly, the more difficult challenge is now shifting to how best to integrate these higher levels of inputs into the electricity grid. Today's grids have evolved as sort of a "zero-sum" model in which inflows and outflows are kept in constant balance. Through complex routing and load-balancing mechanisms the grid distributes all of the available electricity to match various demand levels throughout the system.
This has worked in the past because most of the input levels could be controlled - such as hydroelectric, coal-fired, nuclear, etc. When less energy was required, the input levels were lowered. In contrast, wind power is less controllable. In effect, "when wind blows energy flows". As long as wind power represented a relatively small part of the overall mix, this could be addressed by reducing other inputs when high winds were producing more electricity (such as reducing the energy flow from dams). Now that wind is representing a high percentage of electricity generation, maintaining a balance in the grid is becoming more problematic. Either the grid becomes overloaded or precious energy goes to waste.
A major part of the answer to this challenge will require significant advances in the ability to store energy within the grid - something that has never really been addressed before. Batteries? Giant capacitors? Or maybe using the energy peaks to pump water to higher ground so that it can subsequently drive hydroelectric turbines?
This is definitely going to be an exciting segment to watch over the next years - especially as the federal government pumps billions into "the new electrical grid". Companies that provide real solutions to the electricity storage challenge will stand to make a lot of money. (Personally, I'm anxious to tell their stories!)
Watch this space for new developments.
Interestingly, the more difficult challenge is now shifting to how best to integrate these higher levels of inputs into the electricity grid. Today's grids have evolved as sort of a "zero-sum" model in which inflows and outflows are kept in constant balance. Through complex routing and load-balancing mechanisms the grid distributes all of the available electricity to match various demand levels throughout the system.
This has worked in the past because most of the input levels could be controlled - such as hydroelectric, coal-fired, nuclear, etc. When less energy was required, the input levels were lowered. In contrast, wind power is less controllable. In effect, "when wind blows energy flows". As long as wind power represented a relatively small part of the overall mix, this could be addressed by reducing other inputs when high winds were producing more electricity (such as reducing the energy flow from dams). Now that wind is representing a high percentage of electricity generation, maintaining a balance in the grid is becoming more problematic. Either the grid becomes overloaded or precious energy goes to waste.
A major part of the answer to this challenge will require significant advances in the ability to store energy within the grid - something that has never really been addressed before. Batteries? Giant capacitors? Or maybe using the energy peaks to pump water to higher ground so that it can subsequently drive hydroelectric turbines?
This is definitely going to be an exciting segment to watch over the next years - especially as the federal government pumps billions into "the new electrical grid". Companies that provide real solutions to the electricity storage challenge will stand to make a lot of money. (Personally, I'm anxious to tell their stories!)
Watch this space for new developments.
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