IT Management Podcast #20 – myCMDB, When Not to Virtualize, Project Management, IBM Cloud Update, PacketTrap Perspective

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This week John and I return to our laxidasical agenda, covering a disparate range of topics:

• I start out asking John about The IT Skeptic’s recent book and new website, since John mentioned it to me the other day.
• The myCMDB screencast I recorded this week leads us to start talking about CMDBs in general. Keep your eyes peels for that screencast here soon.
• Having met with a local Planview-ite, I talk about project and portfolio management in IT Management; namely, that it ain’t too sexy in IT Management but sure seems valuable as far as tracking cash. Also, this reminds me of BMC’s recent ITM buy.
• John asks me my opinion of when you should and shouldn’t virtualize, which launches me off into a long soliloquy on the topic. The primary suggestion is for IT departments to focus on operation efficiencies over anything else: vendors are going to figure out how to make the same amount, if not more, money, so cost savings will be temporary from that front – don’t fall into Moore’s Law fantasy on that front. The real benefits have to come from people saving time and being more effective.
• Having attended the IBM zSummit analyst event, I give a short update on how IBM is talking about it’s cloud engagements. John and I still agree that IBM needs a cloud product, but from my perspective they’ve improved greatly since the “don’t call it a come-back, I’ve been here for years” messaging at Pulse.
• Finally, I give my brief take on PacketTrap‘s newly released Perspective product: what I call a “general IT Management Platform,” something that monitors and manages anything with an IP address, including applications and middleware.

And, there’s of course more, including an opening discussion of U.B. Funkeys and kidrobot figurines at the Austin branch of the hipster bookstore Domy.

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Disclosure: Managed Objects, BMC, and IBM are clients. See the RedMonk client list for other clients mentioned.