jdgreen.io

The personal blog of James Green

James Green

Simplicity in the Era of IoT

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All of the technology I’ve seen at Cisco Live Europe this week has been interesting in one way or another. No one comes to exhibit their stuff because it’s totally junk; of course it has merit in one way or another.

But there’s one thing that is setting vendors apart in my mind in 2016 and especially in T’ Internet O’ Tings era. [Watch the video below to learn about it from a true visionary, John Harrington] And that is simplicity. As with many important industry trends, some manufacturers and ISVs just get it and some just don’t get it.

I’m sad to say that at the event, I’ve seen more of those who seem to not get it. Allow me to explain the problem with not addressing the need for simplicity, especially as the number of devices under management increases.

Limited Operational Resources

There are substantial technical challenges with being prepared for the sweeping influx of IoT technologies and responsibilities IT organizations will have to deal with. But those are the ones that products are being created to solve. We’ve heard about some amazing technologies this week that are being developed by Cisco.

Source: Cisco
Source: Cisco

But as the image to the right from the presentation regarding the Digital Ceiling launch illustrates, a large number of devices are about to come under the control of IT that we’ve never had to deal with before, like sensors, lights, and HVAC. (There are many GREAT reasons that this should happen, and I’m not saying we don’t want these technological advances.)

This poses a significant operational challenge because despite the awesome technology, there’s going to be a scaling issue. If current operational techniques stay the same, as device count increases administrator count will need to increase as well. This is a real problem if IT budgets remain flat (which surveys show is likely the case for the near future). Without additional funds to hire personnel capacity, the only option is for IT organizations to do more with less. Hence my demand for simplicity.

I’m not naming any names because I don’t think that’s helpful. Overall, I think that perhaps the smaller companies are more aware of the need for simplicity because of their constraints and some of the much larger ones aren’t aware of that need because money isn’t as much of an issue. (“Just hire a few more folks!” “Hire a consultant!”) I hope that we’ll see as much focus on simplicity from all the big players soon as we’ve seen in cases like VSAN and EVO:RAIL. Regardless of how those products fare from a feature/maturity/technology standpoint, they’ve nailed it from a simplicity standpoint. I hope we can expect to see more technology innovations follow suit.

Programmable ASICs Will Change Infrastructure Investments

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With any technology, whether it’s consumer technology or enterprise IT, it’s only a matter of time from the purchase before the technology is outdated. Most IT departments are extremely good by now with understanding the refresh cycle and how hardware depreciates over time. I learned of some technology at Cisco Live Europe this week that is going to revolutionize the way the buying cycle (at least with regard to switches) works. To understand why this is so important, we first need to understand the silicon that is used in a piece of IT hardware.

Processing Power

There are a few distinct ways that physical processing power can be developed and placed inside an infrastructure component like a switch.

  • General purpose CPU (x86)
  • Field-programmable Gate Array
  • Application-specific Integrated Circuit

The design decision regarding which of these types of chips to use has to do with balancing tradeoffs. As you can see in Figure 1 which is from Dave‘s slide deck, the tradeoffs are as such:

  • CPU: Sacrifice performance for application flexibility.
  • FPGA: Sacrifice cost for performance and application flexibility.
  • ASIC: Sacrifice flexibility for raw performance.
Figure 1 - The tradeoffs between x86 CPU, FPGAs, and ASICs
Figure 1 – The tradeoffs between x86 CPU, FPGAs, and ASICs

There are unique use cases for choosing one over the other, but consider an example of both ends of the spectrum. A desktop computer uses an x86 CPU that can run the operating system and all sorts of applications. On the other hand, an average Cisco switch is built with ASICs built specifically to switch frames or route packets (and other networky stuff). The switch’s ASICs perform a limited, specific set of functions extremely well. But they don’t do anything else. On the other hand, the CPU in the desktop computer can do just about anything, but it comes at the cost of performance.

The Depreciation Challenge

In the case of enterprise switching, the design decision is usually to use ASICs for the performance boost compared to the other two options. The biggest problem with this is that if a new ASIC-level feature is finished 3 months after the switch was purchased, it won’t be available to customers on the 3-month-old switch. A new batch of ASICs will need to be produced with the new feature integrated and only newly manufactured switches will include the feature.

Over the course of the IT hardware lifecycle, decisions to replace gear are based on things like support contracts and such. But they’re also based on the availability of features as compared to business requirements. The challenge with traditional ASICs in the lifecycle is that a business requirement might necessitate that a certain feature is implemented that is not available on switches that are only 6 months old. Unfortunately, this can force IT organizations to have no choice but to stomach the cost of a new hardware purchase.

This is not brand new technology (it’s been in the Catalyst 3850 for a bit of time now, I think) but Cisco has developed something I just heard about for the first time that will make a big difference in addressing business challenges like this.

Unified Access Data Plane ASIC

To make a long story short, the UADP chip (the name has to do with unifying wired+wireless, which is unrelated) shown in the header picture (autographed by Peter, one of the folks heavily involved in the project) is a programmable ASIC. This means that it comes with the application-specific performance that switch manufacturers have always chosen ASICs for, but it can be upgraded with new hardware-level code after it’s already in the field.

This means that if Cisco develops a new feature that will solve the business challenge an organization is facing and the 3850 is capable, a microcode update to the ASIC can enable the feature in a situation that would require the purchase of a new switch under any standard ASIC architecture. This is huge in that businesses will be able to delay the purchase of new equipment until necessary for another reason. There will, of course, still be reasons that switches need to be replaced. Other components will still become outdated. But the ability to introduce new hardware-level features on a unit is already deployed to the field is super exciting to me.

The UADP chip has many other sweet features as well, so it’s certainly even more exciting than just the programmability. But the microcode update ability of the chip which enables the balance of tradeoffs shown in Figure 2 is the most exciting feature to me.

Figure 2 - Balanced tradeoffs with UADP chip
Figure 2 – Balanced tradeoffs with UADP chip

To learn more about the big picture of the UADP technology, be sure to watch the Tech Field Day Extra video – the entire thing is riveting, and I don’t say that lightly. Thanks to Cisco Live EMEA and Tech Field Day for having us out for this presentation!

Many Much Needed Changes

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Rolling into 2016, I am shaking up everything.

2015 was a great year for me and my family. I had some extremely fulfilling experiences, like:

  • The birth of my daughter (our first child)
  • Making more money on the side in a year than I did in my first salaried IT job
  • Working on some really interesting projects with really great people

But as great as it was, I’ve been itching to make a change in a number of ways. I’ve been looking to shake up my career, my online presence, and the way I do life in general. So, without further ado…

Goodbye VirtAdmin

I launched VirtAdmin.com a few years ago as a personal outlet – a place to stash my findings so I could refer back to them later. I had NO. CLUE. what was in store for me because I started that blog. It didn’t get huge and now I party with Bieber, and it didn’t get acquired by a huge media site and I’m writing this to you from a beach somewhere. However, I got countless opportunities thanks to relationships that little website helped me form. I would venture to say that running virtadmin.com is the best single decision I’ve made for my career to date, and at the time I virtadmin-logostarted it, I could never have guessed that. I’m really not wise enough to have seen that; I got lucky.

At the time I launched the site, Virt(ualization) Admin(istrator) was a reasonably accurate description of the sort of thing I was into, and accurately reflected the content of the site. After half a decade, when the virtualization craze ended (you know it has ended, right?) I found myself in a pickle. I built a brand around a technology that, although it is integral to the data center, is not that hot and interesting anymore. I can’t pivot, because you can’t go writing about gardening on virtadmin.com. It just doesn’t make sense.

I want the freedom to write about whatever I want to write about. I’m well aware that the cardinal sin of successful blogging is to have too broad of a focus. Fortunately, for reasons you’ll understand soon, I no longer need to blog “successfully.” I’m going to blog because I want to. So VirtAdmin is being decommissioned, and my blog is moving to jdgreen.io. I plan to continue writing about all the technology things that interest me, just as I always have. But I also plan to write about other things that interest me in life, like nutrition, biology, and faith.

I’m taking the lead on this one from my friend Stephen Foskett, who uses his blog to write about whatever the heck he wants, and he doesn’t care who reads it. Because of that, the content is better, and more true to who he is. That’s what I want – content that is true to who I am. He also doesn’t monitor metrics on the site, because that might influence his behavior. I like that position, so I don’t plan to have any clue who reads this blog, or how much traffic I get from a given post.

Now, writing content about technology is very important to me. So I wouldn’t just be ditching my platform if I didn’t have an alternative. But oh, do I have an alternative!

Hello ActualTech Media

I’ve got to be honest; I’m a terrible employee. Not in the sense you may be thinking, like the kind who shows up late, watches Netflix while pretending to do work, and doesn’t make more coffee after they polish off the pot. I’m a terrible employee in the sense that employees fit into boxes (better known as “job descriptions”). And everywhere I’ve ever worked, despite my best efforts to contribute outside the proverbial box, I’ve been shut down. By trade, I’ve always a Smarty Geek. I turn knobs, and build stuff. And my job description from HR matches that role.

The problem is that I find business leadership extremely interesting. And when I get passionate about something, I want to sell it. Social media, marketing, and analytics really intrigue me. As an employee, I can’t contribute towards these objectives while still primarily being a Geek. If I wanted to market, for example, I’d have to quit my job and get a new one as a marketer, or transfer to the marketing department.

This problem is exactly why I decided that in 2016, it was time for me to take on a new challenge that is boundless. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to partner up with the fantastic people at ActualTech Media – names you may know, like Scott D. ActualTechLowe (@otherscottlowe), David Davis (@davidmdavis), and Geordie Carswell (@geordiecarswell). They’ve built an amazing team over the last few years, and are delivering amazing results. Just take a look at what they accomplished in 2015!

I’ve been working with the ATM team on a contract basis for almost a year now, and it’s been nothing short of awesome. And joining them as my full-time pursuit by partnering together will allow me to escape the employee box. I know I can’t be all things to all people, and I’ll be the first to highlight my weaknesses. But I’m extremely excited to be able to use any and every skill set I possess to move a company forward. Regardless of whether I came or not, 2016 was going to be a huge year for ATM. But since I decided to come along for the ride, I can’t wait to be a part of that.

I did a neat little interview for the announcement on the ActualTech Media website. If you’re curious to know more about why I made the move, that interview can be found here.

Other Things

I said I was shaking up everything. Two items isn’t everything, so here’s just a sampling of other things I’m changing in 2016.

  • I’m disassembling my chair. I recently finished reading Get Up!: Why Your Chair is Killing You and What You Can Do About It and I am now terrified of my chair. I already have a motorized standing desk and have been moving back and forth between standing and sitting. In 2016, I’m going to break it so that it’s stuck in Up position.
  • I’m going to spend money on food like it’s fueling my health and performance. I’ve become really passionate over the last year about how nutrition affects performance. By learning about food, biology, and how what I’m putting in my body affects me, I’ve been able to lose almost 40 pounds and kick way more butt. It’s also so exciting that I really enjoy sharing. No one wants unsolicited advice about their health and nutrition, so I don’t generally bring it up. But if this interests you, let’s talk! I’ll share the simple, no-gimmick changes that I made that have me feeling awesome and performing my best.
  • My family is moving to Wisconsin. We’ve been living in my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, but after having our first kid, my wife is desperate to be back by her family near the Milwaukee area. I’m game for a little adventure, so by summer time we’ll be relocating. Who is in the Milwaukee or Madison area that I need to meet up with? We’ll be living right between the two. I would love and be extremely grateful for any introductions or connections in the area, as I’m not going to know anyone.
  • I’m going to spend as much time as possible with my family. I spent the last half of 2015 working A LOT due to a regular job and a bunch of side work at the same time. That was for a quantified, agreed upon burst of time, and now that it’s over, I’m looking forward to re-introducing myself to my wife and daughter. We’re going to have a lot of fun in 2016!

I need to cut this off, but in short, thanks everyone for everything. If you’re reading this, you mean a lot to me, and I appreciate you being with me on this journey.

What is Oxidative Stress?

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With any amount of research regarding optimum performance, especially in relation to aging, one particular term seems to come up over and over.

Oxidative stress.

What is that? In context, it always seems to be a negative thing; why is that? I finally took the time to find out.

What is Oxidative Stress?

The term oxidative stress is used to refer to a condition in the body where the production of free radicals is greater than the body’s ability to neutralize them.

This means an abundance of free radicals causing chain reactions of destruction throughout the body. In fact, oxidative stress is linked to many all-too-common diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Sickle-Cell Disease. A free radical is a molecule containing atoms that are unstable because they have unpaired electrons. Figure 1 illustrates how a free radical differs from a normal, stable molecule (simplified, of course).

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Homemade LÄRABARs

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In our quest to eat only the types of foods we believe will improve our overall wellness, my wife and I have found it particularly difficult to handle snacking. Many will say that if you are eating meals properly, there should be no need for snacking.

From a nutritional standpoint, I’m completely on board with that statement. But I also like to eat. And sometimes, I’m in a hurry.

I need snacks.

So we started out buying some snacks that we felt were reasonably healthy and conformed to our nutrition goals. We have really enjoyed LÄRABARs. They are relatively tasty (considering what you’re eating) and they’re made out of only things that Carly and I want to eat.

The only problem is that they’re stupid expensive. We believe that nutrition is so important that you should be willing to spend money on it. But there’s no reason to spend more money than is necessary. So we decided to see if we could create the LÄRABAR experience with our own ingredients.

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