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"Sometimes you can just stack up different parts of an application, you don't have to virtualize everything," says Ron Kaminski.

With Capacity Planning enjoying a resurgence of popularity in IT, are you behind the curve or ahead of the curve? Are you aware of how you are using your hardware? Do you know where all your dormant or orphaned applications are? Do you know why you'd want to be able to swiftly move from physical to virtual servers? Join us as we talk with Ron Kaminski, ITS Senior Consultant at Kimberly-Clark Corporation as we answer these questions and more in our conversation about planning for virtualization and consolidation.

Bio

Ron Kaminski is ITS Senior Consultant at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Ron has lectured on capacity and performance management conferences around the world.

Questions

1. Capacity planning is seen as the key process that enables organizations to successfully consolidate or virtualize and maintain performance. What are you thoughts on this?
2. Can we assume that Kimberly-Clark has joined the ranks of companies with a consolidation and/or virtualization initiatives?
3. Will you describe your key challenges in your adoption of virtualization?
4. Are you using BMC Capacity Management to address your virtualization challenges?
5. There are a lot of people who are virtualizing or consolidating workloads for the first time, and are not trained or experienced as you are from a  capacity-planning perspective.  What should companies who are new to consolidation or virtualization look out for?
6. Will you discuss keys to successful virtualization?
7. Can you give listeners an idea of the benefits they’ll receive?  What benefits have you received, or expect to receive?
8. Why is Kimberley Clark using BMC for these initiatives?
   

"It is equally important to think about the process as it is to know how to use the tool," says Jeff Turner.

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How are your sys admins handling the ever increasing demands from the regulatory and compliance front? Are you still primarily working in reactive mode? What does it mean to think from the Blade Logic perspective? Whether you are an experienced Blade Logic user or are just considering this tool, you'll get some valuable insights into Blade Logic and into the  BMC BladeLogic 7.5: Foundations courses as we talk with Jeff Turner, Senior Technical Instructor at BMC Software.

Bio

Jeff Turner is a Senior Technical Instructor at BMC Software. He teaches the BladeLogic Foundations class internationally. Jeff has taught IT classes for more than 30 years; before joining BMC with the Blade Logic acquisition, he taught for Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and other major IT corporations. Jeff is a Certified System Administrator on both Solaris and HP-UX. In addition to his teaching role at BMC, he is an advisor and subject-matter expert for the development of BMC BladeLogic courses.

Questions

1. Jeff, you've been teaching some courses on Blade Logic recently, would you like to fill us in a little bit about what you've been teaching?
2. What is it like hearing back from the guys later.  How are they responding to what they've learned in the class?  Do you have some examples of how the course has helped an organization address a specific problem?
3. Blade Logic is a very complex, yet versatile product. We hear you've been hearing a lot about some specific challenges that people are running into out there in the field. Can you share some examples with us?
4. In a previous conversation, you mentioned that it's like teaching people to think outside the box, from inside the box. Can you expand on that?
5. How do virtualization and cloud computing affect the approach to compliance and remediation?
6. Is there a certain size installation or environment where it would make sense to use Blade Logic? 
7. Why would someone take the Blade Logic class?
8. How are Blade Logic users approaching System Administration after taking the class?
9. Is there a pool of shared templates and shared experience the students can access later?
10. How can people find out more about the class

Resources

Details about the BladeLogic 7.5 Course.

"After all, IT is only about delivering the company's product. . . . That's the end game of looking at this more holistically and being able to say 'I am more service and company business aware,' " says Doug Mueller.

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Do you want to lower service support costs significantly and still meet the growing demand for new and improved services? Is your IT department siloed and relying on point solutions? Does your IT department know how it really fits into your company's business goals?

Join us as we talk with Doug Mueller, Chief Technology Officer in the Service Management Business Unit of BMC Software. Get insights into ways to incrementally move into taking a holistic approach to ITIL and service support. Hear examples of how a holistic approach benefited various types of businesses, while increasing accuracy, efficiency, and responsiveness. Find out how becoming company business aware can enhance IT's role in delivering the company's product.

Bio

Doug Mueller serves as Chief Technology Officer, Service Management Business Unit of BMC Software. Doug is responsible for helping drive the architecture and direction of the BSM, Service Support, and Atrium initiatives. He joined BMC in 2002 as part of the acquisition of Remedy where he was a co-founder.

Questions

1. I've heard you talk about a holistic view as it relates to Service Support. Can you explain what you mean by that? I'd like to know more about that. 
2. From a pragmatic approach, you know how IT shops are. We're all really very busy. How do I go about implementing this holistic approach while still getting things done?
3. Do you have some examples or use cases you can share about service awareness?

Resources

White Paper: Why You Should Take a Holistic Approach to ITIL and Service Support (pdf)

"The mainframe environment still contains the vast majority of the mission-critical applications for business.  They are the lifeblood for that business," says Mike Spencer. "Service Optimization is about increasing performance without increasing your costs."

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Even in 2009, the mainframe environment still contains the vast majority of the mission-critical applications for businesses.  Mainframes are the lifeblood of our businesses.  Storage on mainframes continues to grow each year due to current compliance requirements. More and more data has to be retained over longer periods of time, yet be accessible to business, auditors and government agencies.

Today, due to the graying of the workforce, IT struggles with delivering higher service levels, reducing risk to business, and increasing productivity in the mainframe environment. Service Optimization can help. Service Optimization is a disciplined approach that combines intelligent automation with best practices, to take advantage of advanced technologies out there today to make the business more effective and efficient. Listen is as Mike Spencer, Storage and Optimization strategist in the Mainframe Service Management business unit of BMC Software, talks about Service Optimization for storage in the mainframe environment.

Bio

Mike Spencer is a Storage and Optimization strategist in the Mainframe Service Management business unit of BMC Software.  He has over 20 years of IT industry experience, primarily focused on storage, capacity, performance planning and business continuity solutions.  He has presented at multiple technical conferences and user group events on storage and storage management best practices.

Questions

1. What are the top trends you see in the area of storage and in particular with the mainframe?
2. How does the IT paradox -- being asked to deliver higher services levels to support the business, while at the same time being asked to cut costs, how does that apply to storage?  Are there any other issues that impact that?
3. A term I hear more and more is Service Optimization. How can service optimization help IT tap the potential of mainframe storage management?
4. For those who are just getting an assignment in this area, what exactly is Service Optimization and how does that relate to storage management?
5. Would you share the 3 ways that effective management of storage can help IT  lower costs and improve availability?
6. I know you have the opportunity to speak in front of a lot of IT groups. What's the one question you wish they'd ask you, but that they're not asking?

Resources

Service Optimization: Delivering More Business Value at Less Cost With Mainframe Storage Management

To our listeners – if you have any questions or feedback and input for new shows please let us know. We want to hear from you. Send an email to talk at bmc.com

"Automation can really take your organization to the next level.  As far as your creativity, your imagination can go," says Eli Almog.

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The IT environment in a large organization is full of complexity, replete with islands of information and architecture, and staff who work in relative isolation, but who may make decisions that have the potential to affect operations enterprise-wide.

Have you, or someone on our staff ever installed a service on a server, and rebooted it, only to discover you brought down a critical application in the process? Have you ever looked at the myriad applications, hardware, and personnel under your direction and wondered how you can effectively manage all of them? How do you know when when it's time to start looking at third-party Business Service Management (BSM) tools? How would a CMDB fit in?

In this Podcast with Eli Almog, Corporate Architect in BMC's CTO Office, discusses how IT managers can know when it's time to look at BSM, consider CMDB, learn how virtualization fits into your organization, and how automation can help your company retain its competetive edge.

Bio

Eli Almog joined BMC in 2007. He focuses in R&D on Service Assurance, Virtualization, Service Automation and Atrium technology.

Eli brings a unique perspective to BMC, helping advance BMC's efforts to gain greater customer intimacy. He brings 18 years of experience at Morgan Stanley headquarters in New York as the Executive Director responsible for systems management in institutional securities.

Eli's expertise is in high-scale system management and monitoring solutions – architecture and engineering of homegrown IT solutions, integrated across vendor products including CMDB, Discovery, and Infrastructure Management and Monitoring. Eli has a long record in dealing with all the major software and hardware vendors in the marketplace, working with the vendors' engineering teams, sales, vendor negotiation, and management.

Questions

1. You know, in your own career prior to BMC, there came an "ah ha" moment when BSM (Business Service Management) came into focus and it made sense to have a third party, like BMC, come in and deliver that solution. Can you discuss some of the signs that would alert an IT manager that it's time to look at a vendor for BSM, as opposed to inventing solutions in house?
2. One of the things I hear alot about over the last 2 to 3 years, is that CMDB is the core to the story, the answer to everything, because it's aware of everything from end-to-end. But where do IT managers really need to focus in order to provide end-to-end infrastructure and application management?
3. Tell me about three applications managers need to focus on now. How can managers monitor and manage these?
4. Let's take a minute to talk about virtualization. How much of it is really buzz? How much of it makes sense and where is it most useful at this point in time?
5. Looking ahead, what do you think IT folks will want to know for 2009, especially so their organization can manage all the moving parts in this current economic climate?

We're always looking for feedback, so feel free to send a note, including any ideas for topics for future podcasts. Please email our host at BMC Communities at bmc.com.

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While he's quick to say that   he didn't choose the title of his white paper, "Between the Bazaar and the   Cathedral - Where ITIL®, Business Service Management, and Open Source   Converge" in this podcast, Whurley openly talks about the lessons learned   and leadership of enterprise software meeting open source, and community   involvement in producing quality software.

Listen in on this half-hour conversation where he and Tom Parish talk   about community as a self managing and self governing entity. As a case   study, the 13,000 registered members on BMC Developer's Network at   developer.bmc.com comprise that community and entity for BMC Software.

As Whurley loves to state, software is software is software. He means   that you have to decide if you have time or money for any software   deployment. Learn if there are mystical calculations for whether open source   is better for your situation. You'll enjoy listening in and even finding out   what sets Whurley's office apart from other BMC offices.

Bio

Whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of Open Source   Strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Famous simply as "whurley," he is responsible   for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's   participation in various free, and open source software communities to   advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology   visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of   experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of   the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the   adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management.   Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards   including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design   Award.

Resources

Between the Bazaar and the Cathedral
Where ITIL®, Business Service Management, and   Open Source Converge

Questions

1. Your paper talks about the merging of open source, the babbling bazaar    with different agendas and approaches, with the cathedral of enterprise    software, complex architecture built painstakingly by “individual wizards    or small bands of mages working in splendid isolation.” Since a CMDB is a basic requirement following ITIL, it would seem that the CMDB isv a cathedral. In what ways is that a good    thing, and what are some of the downsides of the church of the CMDB?
2. You’re probably familiar with the terms “whuffie” from and “psychic    income” – for our listeners who may not have heard these terms, they    roughly translate to reputation, clout, and influence, but are terms    usually reserved for individuals’ motivation to contribute to a community    or open source project. Do you believe that similar terms are available to    describe a company’s reward for participating in and supporting open    source?
3. Your office at BMC is creative yet    comfortable, with giant green IKEA leaves    overhead and a traditional rug beneath your feet. How do both creativity    and comfort levels come into play when companies evaluate open source    solutions for solving business problems?
4. One concern about combining open source with traditional enterprise    software is the claim that total cost of ownership is more with open    source. Your paper appears to refute that claim – could you expand on that    particular concern especially when merging the two makes it more difficult    to calculate TCO? Is it valid?
5. As you know, the ITIL acronym represents a    Library with fairly expensive, tightly controlled books. Often people    associate open source with free. What are your thoughts on
6. Do you have any good stories of an IT department that lives between the    Cathedral and the Bazaar, and benefits from cathedrals built in an open    company culture?
7. You have a nice list of over a dozen open source solutions for service    management, yet only two provide support for ITIL and BSM. Do you think the trends are moving in a    way that mean more and more of those open source solutions will support    ITIL and BSM, or is    there a mismatch in the audience and purchase decision makers – ITIL and BSM solutions are    sold to the business types, while open source solutiosn are “sold” to the    technical types?
8. What takeaways do you want to leave listeners with today?
   

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When does an IT department stop playing shoot 'em up games with their toolset and start playing cooperatively with tools that work like snap-together blocks? Learn this and   more in this podcast with Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Enterprise Management Associates. His viewpoint and experiences lend themselves well to stories of how CMDB adoption is emerging across several different industries   from financial to health care.

He also works out some predictions for how a CMDB can age gracefully and   grow modularity, talking about a constituency-driven CMDB model, where the   staff, CFO, CEO, or CTO can be satisfied constituent groups supported by the   Configuration Items (CIs) included in the model.

Dennis reminds us that it's not just the technology, but the politics, commitment, communication, and executive buy-in all have a role in the success or failure of a CMDB or ITIL project. Dennis explains how the   process planning for a CMDB can be political whether it's an ITIL process that you're adhering to, or some derivative of ITIL. Decide if your people and team are up for the task of enabling the IT team to help the business  grow and meet its service levels, and learn more about the emergence of the CMDB in helping people get their job done.

Bio

Dennis Drogseth is the Enterprise Management Associates Vice President and joined EMA in 1998. He currently manages the New Hampshire office. He   has been a driving force in establishing EMA’s New England presence. Dennis   brings 24 years of experience in various aspects of marketing and business  planning for systems and network solutions. He directs a team of analysts   that focus on the development of the Networked Services Management practice   areas that span performance availability and service management across   enterprise and telecommunication markets.

Dennis is a featured columnist of the Network Systems Management newsletter for Network World Fusion. He is an author of featured articles in Network Magazine and Business Communication Review.

Questions

1. What forces have come into play between 2006 and 2008 that are driving CMDB adoption - the "meteoric rise" as you show in your paper?
2. To what extent does process and process planning affect the success of CMDB projects?
3. When you talk about a "system of sources" in your white paper, does federation immediately come into the picture?
4. If there was so much growth in the last two years, what are your predictions for changes in adoption over the next five years?
5. How well will CMDB systems implemented now, in 2008, age with time?
6. What factors will help your CMDB mature gracefully?

Resources

EMA Whitepaper: The Emergence of the CMDB: What it Means to You

Many vendors offer CMDB systems, and the capabilities of these offerings  vary dramatically. This whitepaper clarifies the definition and role of a CMDB, emphasizes the importance of alignment to the ITIL v3 Configuration   Management System (CMS), and showcases the value IT stands to gain through  successful CMDB implementation.

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John Albee,  Director of Mainframe Solutions, BMC

Mike Moser,Product Management Director and Program Executive, BMC

Going beyond just the technology, John and Mike talk about the results of the 2008 annual mainframe survey from BMC Software in this informative podcast. If you've wondered whether process and organizational strategies are separated for mainframe systems and distributed, or how the mainframe's reach been expanded, this podcast offers survey results and interpretation in a conversational format. Find out if attrition for the platform still exists, or perhaps, find out that previous trends have reversed.

John and Mike mention rising power consumption and related costs that face every aspect of IT, and understand that mainframe introduced virtualization to computing. Listen in on their discussion and find out if the mainframe platform can indeed push more services through IT, or somehow automate in ways to optimize IT services for cost and time.

Questions

In this podcast we ask the following questions to learn more about the use trends of mainframes in IT for 2008:

1. When people talk about the "resurgence of the mainframe,"what specific areas are encouraging this growth and dependence on the platform?
2. When someone increase their MIPS consumption, what are their main reasons for doing so?
3. What results surprised you the most from the survey?
4. Let's talk about demographics and geographies - what was most interesting about the locations, job titles, and industries that reported back to you on the survey?
   
5. Can you discuss the thoughts reported by companies with plans for complete elimination of the mainframe? Were there any trends reported by certain industries?
   
6. Okay, what can you tell us about mainframe support within BSM solutions - does the survey point out eager adoption or is there some     reluctance?
   1. Do you have any remaining important points to leave with our listeners?