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Well, one of my observations for the Microsoft MVP Summit was that the network team at Microsoft is still very interested in hearing about what is happening with IPv6 and if anyone has done anything with IPv6. I am not sure that Microsoft has a good road map of what needs to happen to make IPv6 a reality in North America but they are paying attention.
Microsoft has several reasons for getting IPv6 out to the consumer space as quickly as possible. IPv6 will allow Microsoft devices to do peer to peer easily and allow them to get back to the model of all hosts being available and accessible which is a desirable thing when you build an OS platform for PC's.
In addition to all this, there appears to be in the works some cool applications that will be IPv6 only that will leverage that peer to peer openness that IPv6 allows. I think the next generation of Groove would be a great starting point myself.
With Server 2008 having the same network stack as Vista and both being IPv6/IPv4 I think there is an opportunity for IPv6 services to leapfrog some of the IPv4 technologies and potentially allow IPv6 to grow more quickly then originally anticipated. Only time will tell.
- Ed

Labels: IPv6

It is that time again, the Microsoft MVP Summit is next week and I am flying up tomorrow to catch up with it (late as usual) and then hopefully hear and learn about all the new and interesting stuff that Microsoft is up to. As is typical for all MVP's, seems that most of the content is covered under NDA but anything that isn't I will try and make a comment about. Seems that Server 2008, Security (Forefront), and System Center will be talked a lot about.
I got very mixed feedback on the new Hyper-V product at the Server 2008 launch event. Most folks who are working with other hypervisors really felt that Hyper-V was behind the curve and it isn't really officially out yet. I don't know how much market share Microsoft can gain in that market but I guess they should have something to reduce the de-coupling of the OS to the hardware, something Microsoft considers pretty important. They definitely want a piece of Microsoft software controlling the hardware and any other OS that wants to use the hardware should have to go through that MS software. I really believe that is for licensing reasons as technically I can't see that it would make that much of a difference.
- Ed

Labels: Microsoft MVP

Cisco seems to be on a product roll out marathon. The announced the new ASR product line and it is using a new processor and looks to be a powerful platform. That being said - I don't think it is the best looking product line that Cisco has released. Especially when it is compared to the Nexus 7000. I don't know why Cisco doesn't have a uniform look and feel to their product lines, you would think that spending five years and $250 million developing it they could hire a decent industrial designer to hammer out something that looks cool.
Other then the superficial the specs on the stuff look great. I can't wait to get my hands on one to play with.
- Ed

I am signed up for the Microsoft Server 2008 Launch event in San Francisco on March 13 at the Moscone Center and I hope it is a cool event for everyone involved. I know a lot of folks from the Pacific IT Professionals Users Group will be at the event and I am sure I will run into some fellow Microsoft MVP's at the event also. I am excited about the work and changes Microsoft has done with Server 2008. I believe I will be helping out in some capacity at the event but I am not sure how yet. I will post how shortly so in case you are at the event you can look me up.
- Ed

Well, the second toy cost a lot more and neither are really technical in nature but I have to say the new Mini Cooper that we picked up last Thursday after waiting since Dec is very cool. The obvious advantages of better gas mileage and such are great but the car is just fun to drive and very cool looking. I definitely won't be hauling around as much Cisco hardware as in the past but that is ok, seems we get most of the gear drop shipped to clients now directly from the distributor.
- Ed

Ok, here are some photos. They are fat big ones that I am to lazy to shrink down to be web friendly.

What my wife gave me for xmas.
Mini1
Mini2
Mini3
Mini4
Mini5
Mini6

Good enough? - Ed

Labels: Mini Cooper

I will be traveling to Ireland at the end of this month and will be wanting to avoid hours of airplane engine noise plus actually listen to some music here and there. I did some looking around for new headphones for the trip and wanted some that did noise canceling but didn't cost a fortune like the Bose seem to. I finally ended up picking up some Skullcandy Proletariat headphones. They seem to work pretty well, work off of two AAA batteries and are only $100.
- Ed

I sat through some pretty good presentations yesterday at the Cisco Partner Data Center VT in San Jose and one of the cool new items that was covered is the new Nexus 7000 Switch platform. I think this switch is going to have some serious impact on where things are going. The platform has the ability to do both IP, Ethernet, Fiber Channel over Ethernet and other SAN based services and to perform at a 10Gbps scaling to 40Gbps and 100Gbps when the appropriate standards releases come out. It really is an remarkable piece of hardware. I imagine it is going to take awhile for adoption but I can't wait to get my hands on one to deploy! It really is going to be the next generation for large scale data center especially with virtual machine growth and blade and cluster configurations. The video on the site does a pretty good job explaining what it can do.
- Ed

Cisco released the Cisco VSS 1440 which, for those who are not in the know, is a pretty big deal. It is very apparent now that Cisco is moving more and more in the direction of virtualization for their platforms and in supporting virtual environments. I think this is a very good development and will bring about a whole new series of product innovations for the company.
This platform and the 3750E series platforms are now going to become the primary methods that data centers connect in a high available and redundant fashion large scale VMware VI3 deployments. The technology is well aligned and from a design and deployment standpoint you couldn't ask for much more. I hope they will add support soon for some of the service modules soon which would make this solution an absolute powerhouse. I am sure that is coming so I would have to say this puts Cisco back up on the pay attention list.
On a side note - it does appear that Cisco is trying much harder on the UC front with the release of Microsoft's OCS 2007 product. I hope they push even harder to innovate and get more robust client solutions out there for the UC platforms.
- Ed

I attended the launch event last week and I have been thinking over what I really wanted to say about OCS. First, I think it is very cool product (Kudos to the team). Second, I think Microsoft is not marketing it correctly in the Enterprise space. Third, they have definately gotten Cisco's attention (I think I ran into more Cisco folks I know at the event then Microsoft folks if you can believe that.) Fourth, the guitar opening for the keynote was lame.

Ok, so, to my points. If you haven't played with OCS 2007 you should. I think the new MOC and presence features that they have put into this platform are very cool. If you are looking for a great presence and collaboration tool this should be on your list without a question.

Microsoft has been delivering a message of VoIP as you are (which just makes me think of a Nirvana song) and the majority of their published presentations on the topic of QoS is to say it is more important to deal with Quality of Experience (QoE.) They have taken the approach of Skype and Live Meeting and are utilizing a wideband codec that is very good at delivering high fidelity audio over questionable networks (think the unknown of the Internet.) Their argument is that if you design for the potential loss and latency you commonly see on the Internet then the product will perform just fine in a corporate enterprise environment. They have tailored their design philosophy this way and therefore they arrive at the QoE argument. They are not concerned with what the network is doing with QoS, they argue that the advances in the wideband codec handle those issues in almost all cases. They do request that you add bandwidth but they are saying do not bother to design QoS into the network at all.

Well, here is where I think they are missing the mark. Most enterprises UNDER provision in networks - especially on WAN's. No one ever gets praised for increasing a companies monthly recurring costs so for many enterprises adding more bandwidth is a very expensive proposition. In addition, many utilize QoS to prioritize line of business applications, data backup, replication, database functions, citrix and lots of other network traffic due to the limitations. They are willing to keeps costs in check and build a more measured approach to controlling their costs relative to what all their application needs are. With voice and video, they are simply another application riding on top of IP and therefore should be designed and accounted for in the same way. I think Microsoft is missing the main point for the enterprise, they need to redo what they are telling partners and customers about the best strategy for deploying because they have not accounted for the fact that for many companies they don't have a WAN that has unlimited BW potential. Perhaps they could argue that no one should get a WAN and that all infrastructure should run on the Internet since getting a relatively large pipe to the Internet is cheap - there may be something to that but we don't have room to talk about that now.

Since I work for a company that is both a Cisco Premier Partner and a Microsoft Certified Partner (plus others) it is interesting seeing the shake up at Cisco about what Microsoft is doing. I think Cisco is in an interesting position of having a much more mature and stable platform but one that is modeled in many ways on a traditional voice PBX. Microsoft has really stepped out of that model and is shaking things up. They are a long way away from having the feature sets and robustness that Cisco has today but some of the features that Microsoft has out in a 1.0 product is very impressive.

Well, more thoughts later but that gets the first wave done.
- Ed

I managed to attend Partner Day for VMware's annual conference VMworld and the announcement of ESX Server 3i is just huge. The fact they they have gotten a full hardware integrated hypervisor built out on standard Intel platforms will be a massive blow to other players out there. I think what is more remarkable is the fact that it is only 32MB in size and they have Dell, HP, IBM.
To top it all out they released Site Recovery Manager and a new release of management for VDI and a new version of ACE. While Xen is still moving forward on product and I am sure will have some interesting things to show off once the integration is done with the Citrix folks they are still behind what VMware is doing. Microsoft isn't even on the roadmap, which I think is a real shame since they have such a strong Server OS product line. It might be time for Microsoft to just buy Citrix and get it over with.
- Ed

Cricket presented at the last PacITPros meeting in San Francisco and if you were lucky enough to attend it you got to see a great presentation on DNS. Cricket works for Infoblox but his presentation was great for anyone to hear since it really does apply to anyone running a robust DNS infrastructure.
Best part was he was kind enough to sign my second ed. DNS and BIND book. We should have his presentation posted up on PacITPros soon.
- Ed

It appears I am not alone in my feeling regarding the Apple iPhone. Check out this article over at the Register. I think it says a lot about some of the difference between those that are using it from a consumer level and those that look at things from a business utility point of view. Like I said before - they are nuts to think EDGE would be a good solution for this device.
So - who else has returned their iPhone? Anyone else frustrated with the hardware limitation? This $500+ phone has no extended battery option, no option to replace the battery yourself at all for that matter, limited headset compatibility due to a design flaw, no option to expand the storage with Micro SD or any other cheap and available storage, and the list goes on and on.
Honestly, am I super happy with my Windows Mobile 5 phone? - no. Do I think the hardware vendors have a log way to go? - yes.
That being said, at least I have some options when it comes to my current phone. I am still bitter at Verizon and CDMA in general for not doing the smart thing and using sim-cards like all the GSM phones do. It slows the release of handsets for both Verizon and Sprint plus it limits the option for upgrading the phone quickly (like not having to call customer service.)
- Ed

Update (again): Well, it appears that the iPhone isn't enterprise network ready either. Here is an interesting article at Network World about the iPhone killing the Duke University wireless network. Hope Apple can fix this issue before it starts plaguing us all. Plus, the review over at The Gadgeteer makes a good point. The iPhone is a feature phone, not a smart phone, seems to be the case from what I am reading.

Update July 30,2007 (again...): There have been corrections to the iPhone on Duke's network, I've been lazy and not posted them, which isn't too fair. Michael Swan has the link posted in the comments on this entry. At least Cisco fixed their issue, but it still makes me wonder what else awaits us with the iPhone. I've seen some reviews that say the performance on edge is very good and others that seem very disappointed with it. Honestly, I am not willing to part ways with $500 to find out for myself.
- Ed

Well, it seems that I have been renewed for another year as a Microsoft MVP. I honestly didn't know what to expect this year as so many of the MVP's I do know didn't get renewed. Thanks to PacITPros (SFNTUG, TVNUG and EBCUG). Without them I would not qualify at all so a big shout out to all those who are members of those user groups.
- Ed

OK, I think the folks camping out and waiting for a new iPhone are nuts. I understand the desire for a device but even Steve Jobs admits that surfing the web on the AT&T Edge network is horrible. I am still amazed that they released this product running on the old Edge network. I think people will be kicking themselves when Apple releases the next version of the phone in 6 mo. time that is running on the newer 3g stuff. Apple has been known to do that sort of thing in the past, I wouldn't be surprised if they did it here. Somehow saying that wifi will fill in the void really isn't good enough and sort of slights the vision of having good mobile communications everywhere.
I am the first to admit that Apple builds very sexy products that are remarkably consumer friendly. At the same time, regardless of the vendor, I do expect them to move the bar forward, not backwards, which is what Apple is doing by deploying on Edge.
I'll stick to my Verizon EVDO service for now...
- Ed

OK, for work I have a new Lenovo T60 (IBM Thinkpad) 15.4" widescreen with 60GB HD, 3GB of RAM and an Intel Core2 T7200 chip at 2.0Ghz. Needless to say, it is a very nice laptop. So, the question is, what do I run on it? Normally this would never come up, install Windows Vista and be done with it. But two of my colleagues run Ubuntu and I felt it was time to learn something new again. So, I have Ubuntu up and running (7.04 - feisty) and I have installed VMware Workstation 6.0 on it. I have built a VM for Windows XP Pro and will be building another for Windows Vista (I am thinking of doing Windows Server 2003 also).
At this point I have gotten everything working that I expected. I have been very impressed with the performance and ease of use of Ubuntu and how robust the feature are compared with Windows.
There are still a ton of special apps I need on Windows but that is the point of the VM - I don't have to give it up yet. Also, I get to run XP in a full sized window on one screen while still being able to switch screens to my Linux environment.
I think for a lot of folks it is time to check out some of the Linux distros again and see if one works for you. They have gotten more and more desktop friendly and the ease of upgrade and management is very remarkable (especially in light of what it was at a few years ago).
Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend - my hats off to all those who have served our country.
- Ed

For those that want to see what is going on in the server side check out the beta 3 release. It is available here: Longhorn Beta 3
What is odd is that new releases like OCS 2007 haven't been platform tested against Longhorn yet even though beta 3 is an overkill for Longhorn. I haven't been hearing the sort of buzz about Longhorn as I have about Exchange 2007, Vista and Office 2007 - I guess server OS features just aren't that exciting to talk about anymore? With any luck they will get Longhorm out to an RC and RTM prior to the end of the year - then all the IT Pro's can spend their holiday season installing a new server OS!
- Ed

The Beta for OCS 2007 is out and I just got done attending a two day long hands on lab in San Francisco going over all the feature and functions and getting them up and running. I must admit I am impressed with some of the integration and work that Microsoft has put into this product. Granted the list of missing features is big ( there is nothing on the roadmap today to support the concept of a stand alone device that has no user associated with it - like a phone in a common lobby area or kitchen, voice paging, music on hold, and some other standard telephony items) but some shops will be willing to work around those issues to get the rich environment that Microsoft is pushing.
You can get the beta software here: The Power of Unified
So, what is Cisco going to do with their presence solution now is the real question. I honestly think Microsoft entering the game will help push along funding and research within Cisco which is a good thing. While Cisco has been interested in UC presence + voice it hasn't done the sort of serious push behind it that other Cisco products have had as of late. It deserves more attention and investment IMHO.
To top it all off I have already been asked a bunch about Exchange 2007 UM and OCS 2007 integration vs Cisco Call Manager and Unity + CUPS. Plus, some folks are considering doing some weird hybrid approaches or small test deployments. For those VAR's and partners who don't know both sides of the fence (Cisco and Microsoft) they will see their business value erode due to lack of technical knowledge. Hate to say it but I am going to have to brush up on all my Microsoft Exchange skill sets again!
- Ed