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Scalability Testing the Cloud

Published: March 13 2012, 11:59 AM | no comments
by Steve Versteeg

At CA Labs we've been working on a tool - dubbed "Reacto" - which provides a new approach to measuring the scalability of a software component in an enterprise-scale environment.  (From now on, we will refer to the component we are testing as the "component-under-test" or CUT.)  The general approach of the Reacto framework is to create lightweight, but realistic models of the interaction between the CUT and the other components or systems in the environment.  These models are then executed in an emulation engine and the CUT communicates with the emulated components as though it were talking to real systems.  The key aspect of the research is to balance the modelling so that it is rich enough to "fool" an unmodified CUT into thinking that it is talking to real systems, but lightweight enough so that tens of thousands of instances of model systems can be executed simultaneously in the emulation engine.

The upcoming release of CA CloudMinder Identity Management (IM)  was a perfect opportunity to use Reacto to validate IM's scalability at managing many thousands of endpoints.  The component of IM that communicates directly with the managed endpoint systems is the Java Connector Server (JCS).  Reacto was used to emulate 10,000 mock endpoints for the JCS to manage, enabling us to measure the scalability and performance of the JCS itself.  Each emulated endpoint had its own IP address and an independent state.

Using JMeter, we invoked the JCS to conduct a set of operations on each endpoint which are typical in identity management.  We executed this test using up to 100 concurrent threads, and used CA Application Performance Management to monitor the JCS' memory usage, CPU usage and response time.  The test confirmed that IM and the JCS satisfactorily scale to manage 10,000 endpoints.  We also passed on the resource consumption information onto the software architects.  One unexpected result of the test was the discovery that the endpoint caching mechanism used by the JCS used more memory than expected.  This information was thus used by the software architects to improve the design of the JCS.

Reacto's approach correlates very nicely with CA LISA Service Virtualisation, a product from our 2011 acquisition of Interactive TKO, Inc. (ITKO) that automatically creates models from the observed message traces between a CUT and the other services in the environment.  This enables customers to accurately test the impact of new versions of a system without affecting the production environment and without needing to access the real systems in the production environment. 

Further details of the Reacto and the IM scalability test will appear in the May edition of the CA Technology Exchange.

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By: Steve Versteeg
Steve Versteeg is a Research Staff Member with CA Labs, based in Melbourne, Australia. His role is to coordinate collaboritive research between universities and CA Technologies. His current projects are in the areas of software engineering, role engineering and anti-malware. Steve's PhD research...
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The Answer To Rising Energy Costs Is IT

Published: March 07 2012, 10:58 AM | no comments
by Steve Versteeg

Last year, the IMF's World Economic Outlook report contained a detailed analysis of future energy prices.  Looking at oil in particular, while production is plateauing, demand continues to grow strongly as a result of the rapid industrialisation in China, India and other developing countries.  In the IMF's modeling, based on the IEA's own production forecasts, the base case scenario is for oil prices to triple in real terms over the next 20 years, with most of this appreciation occurring in the near term.  Of course, there are many uncertainties, and the IMF considers other scenarios ranging from alternative energy sources effectively replacing conventional oil (in this case the long term oil price merely doubles) to more negative scenarios verging on doomsday.

One thing seems certain; the era of cheap energy is over.  While there are plenty of alternative energy sources now being explored, none of them - barring some miracle breakthrough like cold fusion - is likely to be as cheap as the oil that was drilled out at a cost of just $5/barrel from below the surfaces of Texas and Saudi Arabia during the 20th century.  Currently the most promising alternative to conventional oil is shale oil.  But the cost of producing a barrel of shale oil is estimated to be around $70-$95.  And then, of course, there are the environmental factors to consider, such as lowering the water table and acidifying it.  Indeed, the only reason alternative energy sources are now even starting to look viable is because conventional oil is priced at $100/barrel.  In short, the 1970s hippies were wrong when they said we would run out of oil - it just got expensive.

So while the economic growth of the 20th century was fueled by cheap energy, 21st century growth both at a national and corporate level depend on advances in energy efficiency.  And this is where IT needs to play a critical role.  To make more efficient use of existing energy supplies, there must be advances in metering capability.  Applying smart analytics to the consumption data enables more efficient allocation of energy resources.  Green IT had been the beginning of this trend, with the initial focus on managing the energy consumption within the data centre itself.  Yet data centres make up only an estimated 1.3% of the world's electricity consumption.  The real benefit will be the smarter allocation of energy to the other 98.7%.  Metering capability is improving; the customer acceptance of  CA ecoSoftware is evidence of that.  Metering and the finer granularity of metering that is planned, and in some cases executed, will lead to a greater understanding of energy consumption.  This is a classic potential application of big data and smart analytics.  Experiments with allocation algorithms and personal energy meters are underway at the University of Cambridge, England.  This has the potential to lead to departmental and staff energy consumption being metered for budgetary purposes. 

For CA Technologies, there is an opportunity to continue to increase the scope of CA ecoSoftware to offer even more holistic management of an organisation's energy consumption and to tailor CA ecoSoftware solutions to verticals that are energy heavy users (e.g. food and beverage, chemical, automotive, manufacturing, mining, etc.).

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By: Steve Versteeg
Steve Versteeg is a Research Staff Member with CA Labs, based in Melbourne, Australia. His role is to coordinate collaboritive research between universities and CA Technologies. His current projects are in the areas of software engineering, role engineering and anti-malware. Steve's PhD research...
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Social Media: The Coffee House of the New Millennium

Published: February 28 2012, 08:00 AM | no comments
by George Watt

Five characteristics of social media that drive innovation and business value

Following a great Twitter chat recently (#CITEchat), I found myself again questioning whether social media can truly drive business value and innovation; and, if it can, why that would be the case. I believe some key characteristics of social media do, indeed, enable it to be a key driver of innovation and business value.

1.  Social media creates opportunities for businesses to connect with customers and experts with whom they may not have otherwise connected.

Alright, this is the obvious reason. Though social media creates an opportunity for people to interact, that alone does not guarantee there will be any benefit. It could be argued that people have had opportunities of this nature that date back to the creation of the first suggestion box (wiki...). So, what's different about social media? Quite a bit...

2. Social media is "always there".

How many times have you had a great idea - for your home, your business, an article... -  and by the time you were able to write it down you had forgotten what it was? With the ubiquity of mobile devices, many (most?) people are almost always within reach of a means to connect to social media. Though wait! You might be thinking: "Those devices can connect to a web page or a wiki too, so this benefit is not unique to social media". I agree with that premise, though not with the conclusion those technologies present equal opportunities.

Though I do know some people who can (and do) create lengthy documents on their smartphones with a thumb cadence fit for Riverdance, most people would not take the time. And this is where a property of many social media platforms becomes a key advantage...

3. Social media demands brevity.

Many popular social media platforms enforce a maximum message size (e.g. Twitter's 140 character limit). This results in several key benefits including:

  • The writer must stick to the most important points
  • It takes much less time to create a message
  • It takes MUCH less time to consume the message

Since this is much less disruptive, people are more likely to communicate. It can be done in seconds. Those brief, to the point, messages take less time to consume and therefore it is much more likely they will actually be read - and digested; perhaps in contrast to a thousand ideas on your collaboration wiki, each several pages long.

This aspect of social media increases the number and types of people likely to communicate with you and your business. And it gets even better...

4. Social media is the coffee house of our time.

Once people engage with social media they can, and do, have real conversations. They can happen in real time. They can be compelling and engaging. They can be very productive, improve ideas, and result in real business value and innovation in much the same way Steven Johnson describes the benefit of the coffee house in the age of enlightenment. In fact, it appears to me that social media has become the coffee house of our time. The benefits do not end here...

5. Social media finds you.

With many forms of social media you do not always have to find what you're looking for. Quite often it finds you. Or, rather they find you. Through social media I have had countless productive and enlightening conversations with people whom I would not have otherwise met; and both my employer and I are better for it.

Join us at the coffee house

If you have not yet taken advantage of social media I strongly encourage you to join in, if only to observe. I did not initially understand the potential benefit and satisfaction social media would bring, both to my personal and professional life. Thus I am thankful that I paid attention to those who first convinced me to try. (Thank you @cmneedles, @kdemacop, and @jayfry3.)

What benefits have you and your business derived from social media? What about the drawbacks? I would be grateful for your comments and insights.

Public domain Coffee House image courtesy of Wikipedia.

This blog is cross-posted at Pragmatic Cloud. Follow @GeorgeDWatt on Twitter.

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By: George Watt
George Watt ( @GeorgeDWatt ) is VP of Strategy for the Cloud Computing organization at CA Technologies. For nearly 25 years, George has been helping customers simplify and automate their complex IT infrastructures. Prior to his current role, George founded CA Technologies Engineering Services team, which...
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Radios, Rotary Phones and Email

Published: January 11 2012, 11:10 AM | no comments
by Connie Smallwood

After reading George Watt’s recent post, “Is Email Killing Innovation?,” I began to consider not how email drains productivity or, worse, is a symptom of a dysfunctional team – but how “old school” email really is.

The other day, I was listening to the radio and a song that I grew up with was played as part of their “Old School Lunch Hour.” First, I know some of you may be surprised that people still listen to the radio (my excuse? – my car does not have an iPod connector). But more importantly – since when did my music turn into “old school” or, as some say, “classic?”

As soon as this dawned on me, I posted this realization on Facebook. Many of my friends then commented on other technologies that my generation knows, and that younger generations already believe are outdated. Their examples included cassette tapes, analog clocks and rotary telephones. In some cases, their children did not even know what these were when shown to them.

This got me thinking… should email be on the list?

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that email is “probably going away” in her Consumer 360 keynote. She said, “If you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today.” Guess what? Teenagers rarely use email. According to one recent study, Millennials feel that email is for serious business, whereas texting, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (and many other platforms) are for socializing. If teenagers are not using email now, can we assume they will readily use it once they join the workforce?

If not, what would replace email? One blogger lists the eight potential replacement technologies. You could argue that each has its place, but that none could sufficiently replace email. Many analysts also agree that email will continue to be core to business communication.

However, there are those who will continue to predict the demise of email. Personally, I think the use of email will decline as other technologies see stronger adoption (and acceptance) in the corporate world. Like music, email may be considered classic, but it is still around – and beloved by many.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

 

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By: Connie Smallwood
Connie Smallwood is VP of Innovation and University Programs for CA Technologies. She leads and manages the innovation and thought leadership initiatives within the company. These include CA Technologies innovation and idea management programs, patent program, technical recognition events, and employee...
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Is Email Killing Innovation?

Published: January 05 2012, 02:50 PM | 1 Comment(s)
by George Watt

Or is it a harbinger of something worse?

For quite some time now I have been asking whether email is still the productivity tool it once promised to be (and perhaps was) or whether it has become more of a productivity drain. I have always been convinced this is an important question and one that, if answered, could be of great benefit. Though recently my thoughts turned to what may be an even more critical email related question: "Is email killing innovation?"

Misery loves Arial (14 pt)

If you have ever had those hundred plus email days (perhaps even hundreds plus) or had to suffer through one or more of those messages that was only slightly shorter than "War and Peace" then you may already be of the opinion that email can at the very least be a productivity killer if not kept in check. In fact, I know it can. And I would bet I am not alone.

Many of us have seen the darker side of email; something I especially noticed in management and advisory roles. I have seen people take two or three late evening hours to carefully craft an email to address something that could have been addressed in a five or ten minute conversation. One might assume that it also took the recipient a long time to craft a carefully worded reply. And I would bet you've witnessed cases where email morphed from tool to weapon.

Recent headlines suggest I am not alone in my belief that email has become at the very least a serious productivity drain. Volkswagon indicated that it intends to shut off access to corporate email after hours. I recall reading of others that have done, or plan to do, the same. And the CEO of Atos intends to exile email completely by 2014 in favor of other methods of communication such as social media and - and this might shock some - face to face conversations. In fact, I worked for someone who shut down email between 10 AM and 12 PM and again between 2 PM and 4 PM every day because they felt employees were not talking. (They weren't.) I can recall an email battle royal between two people who had no idea they sat two aisles apart in a cube farm. Once introduced to one-another it took only a few minutes of them working together to address the issue they had been working (together?) on.

"As harbingers preceding still the fates..." - William Shakespeare

So, it is with confidence that I believe that email can be at the very least a productivity killer. And if people are exhausted from the drain of the darker side of email I am confident it is at least possible that it can have a negative impact on innovation. Though is it the root cause of the problem?

A Twitter exchange with Mark Thiele (@mthiele10) caused me to think a bit differently. The conversation began with a more broad discussion of the Volkswagon announcement mentioned earlier. As we discussed additional questions about email's impact on productivity it occurred to me that email might be an indicator of the health or level of dysfunction of a team. Perhaps even a leading indicator.

Following this very brief exchange I have become even more convinced that out of control email may be more of a symptom of a more crucial problem than a root cause.

As I thought about the conversation it occurred to me that I have witnessed teams in trouble, teams who had evolved away from their positive and productive cultures, where more than 100 (or even more than 200) email messages per day was the norm. Think about that. If it took only two minutes on average to read and respond to a single message then every member of a team like that would spend almost three and a half hours responding to email every day. And when it's that bad they don't realize it's happening.

A snowball's chance

So I am more convinced than ever that this is a symptom. Have you ever witnessed an email snowball fight? In dysfunctional teams email is often used as a way to throw work at other members of the team; often times when the sender believes the recipient of the work will be unable to respond. It only takes one rock-laden snowball to the head before the recipient realizes they need to build a snow fort of their own. And now email has become the mission and the team is working all hours on their email defense and offense.

Having stated that, I recall moving from teams where the above was the norm to new teams and feeling an uncomfortable dissonance in the evening. Why? There were no emails to answer. Inbound email had been reduced by at least an order of magnitude, email was always used to convey mission-relevant information, it was concise, and exchanges that became longer were interrupted with telephone calls or face-to-face conversations. The team accomplished much more productive work in a typical day, they were better rested and more positive and, I believe, more creative - more innovative. And, in hindsight, when we interacted via email with people from teams "in trouble" the differences in their style of messaging could be remarkable.

What next?

So, I still believe email is killing productivity. And I believe it is also harming innovation. Though not everywhere, and not for the reason I first suspected. Though I am sure it is possible that there are some cases where email is a drain simply because of an "absence of etiquette" or an immature email norm, I am more convinced that out of control email may be simply be a harbinger of larger, more critical problems such as a culture in trouble or a dysfunctional team.

Now for the most important questions: How can we leverage this information? Can we use email as a leading indicator of a team or culture that is headed for trouble? And how can we leverage this to turn things toward a more positive and productive outcome; one that improves productivity, creativity, innovative spirit, and our personal lives? If you have the answers to any these questions, or if you do not agree with my conclusions, I would be grateful for your comments.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng.

This blog is cross-posted at Pragmatic Cloud. Follow @GeorgeDWatt on Twitter.

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By: George Watt
George Watt ( @GeorgeDWatt ) is VP of Strategy for the Cloud Computing organization at CA Technologies. For nearly 25 years, George has been helping customers simplify and automate their complex IT infrastructures. Prior to his current role, George founded CA Technologies Engineering Services team, which...
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