Tag Archives: IT

Big Changes at Intel & Microsoft Signal a Major Industry Shift

2014's HereWith the resignation/retirement of long term Intel leaders and Microsoft’s announcement of a new CEO, the direction of the industry’s shift to non-X86 architecture Future Work
products is forcing both of these giants to rethink their corporate leadership philosophies.
Satya Nadella becomes only the third CEO of Microsoft while CEO Brian Krzanich of Intel follows a similarly small group of predecessors.  A good example is that Verizon and Intel in late January announced an agreement for Verizon to purchase from Intel the assets of Intel Media, a business division dedicated to the development of Cloud TV products and services.

The Future Work is an attempt to show how enterprises need to adapt to the changes in order to stay relevant in 2014 and beyond. Check out these links and judge for  yourself if Intel and Microsoft are headed in the right directions.

 

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New Device Types are Driving Tech Company’s Organizational Change

The dramatic growth in smartphone, tablet and vertical market portable devices e.g., medical instrumentation is starting to drive major change at big tech companies.  If you watch product offerings and new positioning of Google, Microsoft, and Apple, you’ll see that significant investments are geared toward the mobile consumer and mobile information worker. These products require new device technologies such as flexible silicon and Thin flexible substrates for interconnect technology.

chip-flex_PR2

A good example of this is the lighting fast reorganization of Intel after Brian Krzanich’s installation as CEO.  Under Otellini’s tenure Intel missed a huge opportunity to become the chip supplier to Apple for iPhones even though the traditional conservative “number crunching/data driven” advice given to Paul Otellini went against his gut, Intel passed on the opportunity.  Their analysis misjudged the potential volume by a factor of 100 and over estimated the costs of manufacturing.  Basically the conservative mindset of “group think” there projected the iPhone as a losing business proposition.  See here  The new CEO has immediately reorganized the global enterprise to make it more agile and created a New devices Group reporting directly to him.  See here

Hopefully this will open Intel up to address new markets and new types of Si architecture along with manufacturing processes. Also the industry will hopefully follow Intel’s lead and innovate even more in this hot technology domain When you look at flexible silicon and thin film technologies, the future is clear. New companies will grow to tech giants that embrace this technology and benefit from lessons learned from the old tech giants.

Flexable Si
We will all use this soon
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New Technology Giants in the Making

The information age has brought about the rise of a new type of technology company.  These are companies where the products or services they produce/provide are intrinsically connected to the IT infrastructure required to sustain the enterprise’s day to day operations. Unlike a food processor where the consumer product is supported by technology but disconnected once it is consumed.  In these enterprises, the consumer buys a product/service that links them back into the enterprise’s IT infrastructure and the company monetizes this connection in order to perpetuate business and seduce the consumer down the path to purchasing more and more offerings to leverage the established link.

Even giants like Microsoft are going this way by eliminating free Hotmail and replacing it with free online Outlook and SkyDrive space in the cloud.  Companies who identify their current reliance on IT as a part of their business value proposition will be able to take advantage of this fact to create strategic inflection points.  They will use adjunct offerings that take the enterprise to a new level of revenue and profitability.  “Quick” tactical offerings with IT infrastructure “come-along” benefits will seed the prime rose path leading the consumer to partake in future offerings built upon a baseline infrastructure.  Emergence of these new Technology Giants will be driven by executive leadership recognizing that IT isn’t just a necessary evil but rather an important platform allowing the launch of never before revenue models and opportunities.

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How IT Technology Can Affect Auto Manufacturing 2013-2015

Problems to face by all Auto Manufacturers

There are key information systems that can affect the health and profitability of an Auto enterprise over the next few years.  This is because the issues of global economics, competition and the need for agility put auto companies in a position that require ultimate flexibility and agile JIT systems.  Commodity pricing and cost sensitive third party components also stress an enterprise’s information systems forcing consolidation, analytics and visualization all be properly orchestrated in order to turn raw data into meaningful, accurate, actionable information. Market complexity is rising as is costing pressure putting the manufacturer in a “tight profitability corner”.

Some Requirements of Auto plant IT systems

Auto enterprises will need holistic information systems that all the formation of factories that are digital in nature allowing management to make quick decisions based on multiple views of data engaged as meaningful decision support information.  Because consumers are enamored with technology, software controls for electronic components are making autos a complex of silicon components demanding overall systems software integration. These systems can impact:

  • Product Design
  • Production
  • Plant Automation
  • Production Execution
  • Supply Chain Management (SCM)

If executed properly, good IT consulting can assist management to:

  • Speed the product design process,
  • Achieve faster time-to-production,
  • Enable increased manufacturing execution efficiency and production      quality, and
  • Ease the management of design and production changes.

MES

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) essentially use intelligence about the manufacturing process to monitor, automate and guide critical decisions of the digital auto factory. The ultimate goal is to utilize manufacturing informatics to increase the ability of operations to respond in an agile and effective manner to any situation.

More Info…

In working at Intel and designing factory systems and management decision support systems we’ve learned many things that can apply directly to the auto factory.  While working with the auto technology teams an Intel and Microsoft, we gained experience in how to integrate technology into the auto manufacturing process.

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Big Data Companies to Look to Business Experience not just “Math Chops” for Fresh Talent

The influx of companies trying to exploit “Big Data” as a new revenue source has provided a number of workforce challenges for senior managers.  Do they hire very smart math folk to devise new algorithms and create a “secret sauce” for their products? Do they develop or acquire superiors hardware that leverages new Si technology to better process big data?  Do they form teams that have practical business experience to ferret out which real problems exist in the marketplace and what approach to analytics will be truly appreciated by customers’ end users?

Well the answer is … a little of each!  The most important thing many companies are missing today is that they focus on the technology and technologist in their hiring decisions but not the business logic experience.  There is great value in having teams of technology folk embedded with thought leadership coming from experience.  Bright, eager, smart people, with minimal experience know theory and math but don’t know human behavior in business. They also don’t have the understanding of the technology assimilation hurdles that form huge barriers to rapid adoption and market share growth.  The targeted customer base will often need help understanding:

  • How much data do we have?
  • What is actionable information contained in the big data fog?
  • How much information do we need to make decisions?
  • What changes in data are significant and require action?
  • What is a practical “on ramp” to use big data technology?

The bottom line is an integrated team of smart technologist stewarded through development with experienced thought leadership will result in the “BIG THEORY” required to make big data solutions palatable and easily digested by the human organism we call an enterprise.  Where in reality, meaningful mobile visualization transforms BIG DATA into actionable information.

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Hybrid Cloud Computing Model Should dominate Enterprise Usage

As enterprises come to grips with Cloud Computing demands (both internal and external) the IT groups will soon realize that the Hybrid model is the “best fit” for the new Enterprise IT organization.  This will also force a closer alignment with various business units and provoke a rethink of the costing models for IT. can IT really stay a coast center given the inevitable variable demand curve of Cloud Services? Enterprise IT shops will consider various vendors (E.G., Azure, HP, VMware, Amazon & others) in light of the matrix created by matching customers service type needs to flexibility of leveraging a vendors Cloud Service offerings to suit the enterprise’s complex business needs. the ease of entrance and exit will be the driving forces behind vendor selection not just cost but ease of achieving true operational excellence.

Finance, Corporate Strategy, Biz Units and IT will collaborate to determine which “flavor” of Cloud Services are needed.  For example the SaaS, IaaS or PaaS models may all be needed in the view of the business objectives.  The decision of what kind of service offerings to implement will drive IT’s customers to do a functional decomposition of existing applications and distil what services are used today.  This will lead to an “applicability analysis” of which type of Cloud implementation makes good business sense.  Some may choose from Cloud Platform as a Service, Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Cloud as a Software Service model.  These may also include convent “off ramp & on ramp” strategies to allow customers to switch as circumstances dictate.  An example of the choices is illustrated below:

Whatever Business Situation Determines That's the Right Cloud Service Choice
Whatever Business Situation Determines That’s the Right Cloud Service Choice
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HIIPA/HITECH Compliant Cloud Services

HIPAA Network Architecture Using MSFT Azure

An example of leveraging Cloud Services is to  deploy an application that services the healthcare industry by ultilizing the Infrastructure as  Service(IaaS) model E.G., Azure:

  • To deploy a Cloud-based Azure Platform meeting HIPAA regulations, all application code segments must be designed using a web-services model where database elements and application code running in the cloud publish secure streams
  • Windows Azure allows an organization to create virtual machines (VMs) that run in Microsoft datacenters. Suppose the organization wants to use those VMs to run enterprise applications or other software that will be used by customers. We can create a SharePoint farm in the cloud, for example, or run HIIPA data management enterprise HITECH applications. To make life as easy as possible for our users, these applications would be accessible just as if they were running in an cost intensive local datacenter.
  • The Enterprise offering the Cloud Services must follow these five rules in order to stay comliant with HIIPA:
      1. Privacy
      2. Security
      3. Transaction & Code Set
      4. Unique Identifiers (Admin Simplification)
      5. Enforcement/Compliance

 

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Important Trends & Challenges

Important Trends & Challenges

SRI Things Roadmap
SRI Things Roadmap
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Strategic Technology Directions

Using clear targets in various sectors, startegic vision can be achieved
Using clear targets in various sectors, startegic vision can be achieved

If an enterprise needs to establish a strategic vision that maps out a clear path to an end state vision, then specific action items can be set around well defined targets in:

  • Strategy Targets that help expand the footprint of a technology or products
  • Process Targets the sheppard teams to accomplish goals and deciplined cycles of activity
  • People Targets that help increase productivity and creativity
  • Business Targets that set fiscal milestones and performance meterics
  • Ecosystem Targets that help stimulate the health and growth of ecosystem partners and fellow travelers.

Below is an example of process targets that help:

sing Strategic Process to sheppard an enterprise
sing Strategic Process to sheppard an enterprise

Strategic Technology Planning Process

  • Review existing technical plans and strategic direction
  • Develop a Technology Mission Statement
  • Analyze Current raw Data
  • Establish Goals and Objectives
  • Develop and Implement Project Plans and Timelines (Roadmaps)
  • Disseminate, Monitor, Evaluate, Renovate the Technology Plan.
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What’s Between Now and 2035???

My Conclusion on Si Architecture Trends and thier ecosystem impact

Today’s Si companies must track the key trends in Si technology development, assembly test, Nanotechnology, Cooling, Emerging Research, Virtualization, acceleration and Si Complex Architectures to help drive their product teams in close collaboration with other Si vendors to keep the enterprise in a thought leadership position contemporary with the Silicon Industry along with consumer demands.

This blog is intended to document key technology trends and issues I feel will have a major impact betwen now and 2035. The following areas will be covered:

Silicon technology, architecture  processes and innovation

  • Lithography Evolution enables “Moore than Moore”
  • Size, Nano-techniques & Subatomic wire
  • Cooling via refrigeration or wind
  • Cores, components and the Si complex
  • Thinner materials E.G., nanotubes & self assembly
  • Faster Transistors E.G., Ultrathin Graphene
  • Optical Computing, Molecular Computing
  • Quantum Computing, Biological Computing
TREND EXAMPLE
Integration Level Components/Chip,   Moore’s Law
Cost Cost   Per Function
Speed Microprocessor   Throughput
Power Laptop   or Cell Battery Life
Compactness Small   and Light-weight Products
Functionality Nonvolatile   Memory, Imager

Software As a Service
Cloud Computing SW & HW trends to watch
System Architecture

  • System Drivers
  • Design
  • Mixed-signal Tech in Wireless Communications
  • Emerging Research Devices
  • Front End Processes
  • Lithography
  • Interconnect
  • Factory Integration, Assembly & Test.

Enterprise IT Architecture
Applications Infrastructure as it relates to all of the above.

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