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The Morning After…

August 19, 2010 – 11:01 am

I spent the weekend in my very own Social Network. We had a party in the back garden. I guess it was a kind of 3D LinkedIn group – a group of disparate friends, neighbours and relations linked by the fact that they knew us. To be more accurate, they knew my wife as she is the sociable one, (and it was only her relations).

The more I think about it, this was very much like my LinkedIn network – very few were my direct connections, with most being 2nd and in some cases, 3rd level connections, e.g.

Me > My Wife > Wife’s Cousin > Cousin’s neighbours

This doesn’t mean that a bunch of strangers decided to invade my back garden, I knew who they were and had met them on many occasions before, but I was introduced them to via my main direct connection (Mrs Ellwood).

As in any network, we have shared evenings out and even helped each other along the way using our expertise and experiences. A perfect illustration of how networks like LinkedIn should work.

Why then, are so few Irish companies willing to spend the time engaging customers via social networks? Recent surveys seem to suggest that the vast majority see no point in it and do not use it to reach to their customers.

I was not the only person having a party on what turned out to be a glorious August evening – it is a fair bet that many managers in Irish businesses were doing the same as me. The culture of Irish business is very much based on networking and social interaction. Every day contacts are made in Rugby clubs, community activity and business groups.

Why can’t they make that logical leap from real to online world and see the benefits?

The only differences between online social networking and the type I was engaged in on Saturday is that it does not give me a headache the next day, I don’t eat too much and it doesn’t take hours to clean the mess up.

But, if companies do not properly embrace social media and experience the real benefits, then they will have lots of headaches and mess to clean up. But as they battle using traditional methods to reach their customers at least they won’t eat too much – the ulcers will see to that!

By Andy Ellwood | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

iQuate at leading US Events

August 18, 2010 – 3:26 pm

iQuate is experiencing an upsurge in interest from US-based organizations who need to quickly and accurately discover software and hardware assets. We will be exhibiting at four high profile events between September and November.

If you are attending any of these, we would welcome the opportunity to meet you.

September

Oracle Open World
Sept 19th-23rd
Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA
See at us stand 3130
More details available here

Ocotber

Gartner Symposium/ITExpo 2010
Oct 17th-21st
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Walt Disney World Swan, and Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, Orlando, FL
More details available here

Come visit us at the Emerging Trends Pavillion

International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) Annual Conference & Exhibition
Oct 20th-22nd
Nashville Renaissance and Convention Center, Nashville, TN
More details available here
Come visit us at booth #50

November

Gartner IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summit
Nov 17th-19th
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. San Diego, CA
More details available here
iQuate are Silver Sponsors of this event

By Andy Ellwood | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

Baby wisdom

August 14, 2010 – 10:50 am

I have a son called Callum who is 22 months old. He is coming up with new words every day, stringing 2 and 3 words together into sentences and his progress is amazing. My father recently commented that he had never seen a child so intent on learning how to communicate.

Cal has come a long way in 2 years – he has been observing everything going on around him. He has noticed that all us big folk make noises at each other. Then he figured out that there is meaning to these noises, they can help you get food, hugs, toys, get your nappy (diaper) changed – the important things in life.

Then he went into overdrive seeking to REALLY listen to these noises, he has been striving to emulate and perfect repeating these noises to get the desired result (sausages, biscuits, juice, bunny, the list grows hourly!) – sometimes a gesture or mini-baby mime (sooo cute!) can help too. Currently sausage is his favourite word (here he is last month, when he first learnt the word: YouTube).

Now – he’s surprising and delighting us all the time with his words and sentiments.

Callum had to listen, listen and understand – before he could talk, before he could actually start communicating.

In business I have always tried to do the same, thinking about Cal (who asked me yesterday for “More sausage, plate and fork.” – his longest sentence to date) I realized the comparison – and so this post was born.

As a director and manager I have understood for many years that until I listen to what customers need, I cannot drive the development of solutions for them. Until I understand the complexities and impact of a design change as outlined by my dev team, I can’t make an educated decision as to the feasibility of its implementation. If I don’t take the time and attention to structure my design requirements in noises and gestures others can understand, I can’t expect to have them delivered. But it never hurts to have the truisms you believe in reasserted, and it was lovely to see the same basic process under way in my son as he learns how to speak.

iQuate is enjoying considerable success at the moment, we are re-structuring and resourcing to ensure consistent delivery capability to our clients – remembering to listen and understand before we pitch a product, or implement our tools on a customer site is critical – given where we are in the lifecycle of our company right now, it is crucial that none of us lose sight of that as we grow.

By Jason Keogh | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

Blog off! I’m busy…

August 12, 2010 – 5:10 pm

Blog off – I’m busy

We all get it – Social Media is the best way to interact with your marketplace. I spend a lot of my time persuading colleagues to participate in Social Media. They tell me they don’t have the time and I tell them that they do.

Blogging is not like writing a report or customer proposal, I say. It is supposed to be spontaneous and not polished. Just a couple of paragraphs will do. You are not rewriting War & Peace. It will take less effort than the Friday “what shall we do tonight” IM and texting frenzy does. Honest.

I really believe it when I say it. Why then don’t I practice what I preach? Suddenly “I am really busy at the moment” sounds very lame.

What am I busy doing? The answer is marketing stuff. What is engaging with Social Media? Marketing stuff. What is the difference? Why is a press release, brochure, email campaign or conference more important than Social Media?

It clearly isn’t. If it was not important then I wouldn’t be worried. We produce really cool technology to help large companies discover the IT software and hardware assets that they have. If you are in IT you realise what a big issue this is. (If you are not in IT, it really is a big issue – just believe me on this).

We target very large corporations in US and Europe and SM is a really good and cost effective way of reaching into different territories. In our target customers, only a very few people worry about this stuff. Traditional advertising and marketing is inaccurate and expensive as the vast majority of people who see our message, really don’t care.

An obvious marketing truism is “Go where your customers are” and one of the best places I can see to do this is in targeted LinkedIn groups and blogs. What is my problem?

Surely it’s not because I’m too old? I don’t FEEL too old… I am old in IT terms. I started my Computer Science degree one year after Oracle was founded and one year before the IBM PC was launched. I programmed Cobol on Punched Cards. My thesis was written using a text formatter and printed on a barrel printer.

I have lived through it all, so why do I suffer from SMS (Social Media Shyness)? All help gratefully received !

By Andy Ellwood | Posted in Success Stories | Comments (2)

Break the negative SAM loop

July 23, 2010 – 5:49 pm

I met a very insightful man today, his name is Ray Murphy. We spent a couple of hours in my office discussing iQuate’s recent verification by Oracle (the first software company in the world to receive such an accolade), Software Asset Management pitfalls and Big Ticket license negotiation (a speciality of Ray’s).

Ray outlined how he looks at the Software Asset Management lifecycle that drives the need for software like ours, and services like his. There was nothing particularly new or revolutionary in what he was saying, but he described the cycle so succinctly that it crystallized for me – effectively he outlined the cycle as follows:

• Risk Someone identifies that the company is potentially under or over licensed, or perhaps a request for vendor audit is received.
• Discovery A discovery process kicks off whereby the company tries to create an accurate inventory of their deployment(s). This can be performed manually, or automated (using a tool like iQSonar).
• Reconciliation A process of mapping software deployed to licenses purchased is undertaken. Gaps are identified.
• Negotiation The customer seeks to eliminate gaps (in ongoing support costs if there has been over expenditure, or to purchase licenses for items which have been over deployed), typically there is a restructuring whereby new licenses are procured while inefficient expenditure is eliminated. Getting this balance right, at the lowest possible cost is where Ray’s services come in.
• Implementation The software which has been procured is implemented.

Breaking out of negative loops is critical
Problems arise when implementation leads back to risk. Perhaps an enterprise license agreement has been arranged with “Vendor X” – the agreement is likely to cover several products, but typically won’t cover ALL products with ALL configuration options. The message goes out from IT that an ELA has been reached with Vendor X for the next three years. And that’s where the problems start – not everyone in the chain understands exactly WHAT products, options, etc. are covered by the ELA. Typically deployment starts to leak out the edges and the company slowly violates the ELA – generally unintentionally and because an employee, department or group start using something which isn’t strictly speaking part of that ELA.

This somewhat depressing endless loop – which may be excellent for Vendor X, who comes back to renegotiate the deal in three years time to find a gold mine waiting (or sooner if tipped off!) – does the company no good at all. The good news is that with a combination of tools and process, the risks can be mitigated and the loop avoided.

Unlike a manual discovery/audit process, which is typically not feasible to repeat against every server in the organization on a frequent basis (weekly/monthly) iQSonar can frequently monitor the current situation.

With appropriate checks and balances (someone has to look at the tool and take action as required!), the spread of options or products not covered by the ELA can be nipped in the bud – and the endless self feeding loop can be avoided.

Thanks for the inspiration Ray!

By Jason Keogh | Posted in General | Comments Off

Oracle OpenWorld 2010

July 5, 2010 – 4:40 pm


Oracle OpenWorld is the world’s largest and most important conference for Oracle technologists, business users, and partners. This annual gathering is the best place to meet live and in person with experts, enthusiasts, business leaders, and innovators from every industry around the globe to network, learn, and celebrate your role in the technology that runs your business.

Come to stand 3130 to learn how our Oracle-verified tool, iQSonar, can help you control costs and reduce risks by discovering the truth about your Oracle usage and deployment.

iQuate – the foundation for better decisions

By iQuate | Posted in Events, News | Comments Off

Oracle Licensing – Why Accuracy is Important

June 16, 2010 – 4:18 pm

Accuracy is Important

By correctly interpreting the complexity surrounding Oracle usage and licensing, iQSonar delivers accurate information on ALL aspects of your Oracle deployment.

iQSonar: Oracle Edition

 
iQuate has discovered discrepancies between accepted and actual Oracle deployment and usage information in every customer we have worked with.

Our customers have used this accurate data to achieve greater levels of control in several key areas, as illustrated by these real world examples.

License Compliance

A high profile UK Government Agency delivering public-facing services outsourced its IT operations to a large Systems Integrator. In order to ensure they were compliant, the SI deployed a team of Oracle experts to perform a manual Oracle inventory count.

iQuate were engaged to verify the result of this audit using iQSonar. The tool was initially deployed in a test environment to satisfy the client that running the tool would have no detrimental impact on the performance or availability of key business critical applications.

Once deployed across the entire network, iQSonar discovered that the manual audit was incorrect. This discrepancy was caused by the SI having prepared a list of Options installed, rather than Options in use. Had this been reported to Oracle, the licence position would have been overstated to a list price value of £1.1m.

As part of an engagement with a large Irish financial institution, iQSonar scanned Oracle on several hundred Solaris machines. One of the servers running Oracle Enterprise Edition had a single Sun UltraSPARC-T2 quad core processor. Each of the 4 cores had 8 threads. Under Oracle licensing policy this type of processor has a core factor of 1, so it requires 4 processor licenses.

At current Oracle list price a one processor license for Enterprise Edition is $47,500, so the correct list
license price for Oracle on this server is $190,000.

The manual audit performed by the customer had stated that the server had 32 processors (as indeed did the CPU Highwater recorded in the Oracle database). Licensing for 32, rather than the required 4 license would represent a list license cost of $1.71m.

Oracle’s License Management Services were engaged with a UK Law enforcement agency with unique security and operational requirements.

Owing to this complexity – and the size of the network (over 10,000 network devices) – various manual and agent based automated attempts to identify their Oracle deployment had not been successful. This increased the risk of non-compliance and of inefficient utilization of purchased licenses. These issues had also delayed the submission of complete audit data to Oracle by several months.

iQuate completed the audit in just five days without any network, performance or security issues. The customer now has an accurate view of their Oracle usage and was able to report their position back to Oracle LMS.

Operational Management & Control

iQuate was engaged with a major international insurance services organisation. During the scanning process our team was told that Oracle was not running on any Windows-based or Virtual servers because the customer had very strict processes and procedures in place that governed the installation of software.

Within the first day, iQSonar had discovered Oracle on Windows server and Virtualized Windows and Linux servers, despite management being assured only days previously that this was not the case.

iQSonar uncovered seven digit Oracle license savings for the customer, and also prompted a review of operational procedures that led to improved operational management and control.

Security

After performing a successful Oracle scan for a US-based global petroleum organisation across their global WAN network, iQuate was asked to use iQSonar to check some additional operational issues.

As part of their SOX-compliance guidelines, no default or ‘obvious’ Oracle passwords were to be used across the organization as this represented a significant security issue. iQSonar was able to quickly discover that non-compliant passwords were in use on 12% of Oracle instances.

  Download this customer story

By Jason Keogh | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

2,000 Devices audited in 2 days across 3 continents

April 15, 2010 – 6:07 pm

iQSonar maintains an accurate inventory of entire hardware and software estate across 3 continents despite remote locations and poor network connections.

Using iQSonar we were able to undertake a complete Oracle audit across six countries in just two days.

- Sally Travino, Technology Division Manager. PWC

The Problem

With offices in 6 countries a multinational mineral exploration company struggled to compile an accurate inventory of its IT network. This left the organisation exposed to unknown cost, security and compliance risks.

Their existing audit tools were slow and the results were recognized as being inaccurate and incomplete – particularly given the remote nature & poor network connectivity of some of its more remote locations.

The SolutionTime image

This situation was recognised as a serious issue and management began the search for a method of maintaining an accurate IT Inventory that worked within key operational constraints, i.e;

  • Agent software must not be installed on machines to be audited
  • Any tool did not cause network disruption of any kind
  • The solution could be deployed with network speeds as low as 256K

In conjunction with its partner, PwC ,the company selected iQSonar following an extensive competitive trial process.

The solution was installed in a matter of hours and tailored to the information gathering requirements of the company’s IT management, including the use of custom queries to interrogate ‘home grown’ company specific applications.

The Results

iQSonar provided an accurate breakdown of all hardware and software that physically existed on the network – discovering 2,086 machines in 6 countries across 3 continents in just 2 days. The network inventory was conducted from HQ with no local intervention required.

We now have an intimate knowledge of our network, that is not just data about what exists and where it is situated, but the ability to pin‐point any licensing, compliance and security risks as they emerge regardless of location.

- Client Manager

The Benefits

Management finally had access to an accurate and complete picture of all hardware and software that physically existed on the network. This initial scan allowed them to discover critical information with potential major financial, legal and operational consequences. This included:

  • Detailed software reconciliation generated savings in excess of €400,000 on Oracle licensing.
  • Some machines were discovered with peer-to-peer software installed
  • Hardware not belonging to the company was installed on the network
  • Anti-Virus software missing from some machine

iQSonar continues to bring unprecedented levels of control to the organisation by allowing managers to interrogate accurate information – at any time – to address any issues, or questions that might arise.

Price Waterhouse Coopers

This successful project was delivered in partnership with Price Waterhouse Coopers

By iQuate | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

Uncertainty is better than certain error

September 3, 2009 – 3:11 pm

I have just spent a few hours reviewing some of our competitors products.
To be honest, I’m a tad shocked (and not in a good way).

I’m not going to (directly anyway) throw dirt at our competitors, god knows we aren’t perfect here in iQuate either (but we do try).
Specifically what I’m going to blog (read: rant) about is that we aren’t perfect, no-one can be, but it seems like several of our competitors are saying that they are, and even showing examples online where I can see that they are blatantly wrong.

Several of our competitors state that they gather information about Oracle option usage. They make much of this (as do we, because we also gather this information), they say (correctly) that one can use this information to reduce costs by ensuring you do not license options which are not used. The problem is that several of them are looking at a system table in Oracle for this information – specifically DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS – this is a very useful table and has lots of nice data in there. But our competitors (4 of them I’ve looked at today so far) are treating this as a solid and sole place to get this information, which is wrong.

Firstly, that view only exists in Oracle versions 10g and up, for 8i, 9i, etc. it just isn’t there.
Secondly, some of the information it gives you can be incorrect. For example – it will state that the Partitioning Option is in use by a user when it isn’t – it’s only in use by the system as part of the Spatial Option – which may be installed but also not in use. Using this view alone will not give you a truly accurate view of what options are really in use or not.

Similar issues abound when it comes to virtual platforms or partitioned Unix based systems and hardware reporting.

First off you need to be able to identify that you ARE on a virtual or partitioned server, then you need to find out what type of virtualization or partitioning is taking place.
Secondly you need to find out what hardware this thing thinks it has, and what hardware the underlying physical platform is actually running. While doing this you will find out which boxes are virtualized on which servers, which is also very useful information.

Do both of those things and you have the information you’re likely to need for an Oracle License audit for example. Again, many (most?) of our competitors don’t even seem to try, or are technically unable to identify when a server is virtualized.

I for one would always favor uncertainty over statement of flawed information as solid fact. We also get data from DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS for example, it really is useful and definitely has it’s place, but it isn’t the be all and end all for information on option usage, even in version 10g and up.

Don’t tell me this machine is running Partitioning unless you REALLY know. Don’t tell me that it has 4 processors if it really has 2 dual core and don’t tell me it is a server when it’s really a virtual server. If you can’t be certain (and we are not always certain on everything) tell me you are not certain, tell me what you know and what you think you know and let me make a decision as to what to do with that information – don’t tell me it’s fact unless I can rely on it.

iQSonar can gather information on one topic (ie: CPU details or whether Partitioning is installed and in use) from multiple sources. You can prioritize this information, dictate that answer B is best, but I’ll take answer A as second best if B is not available – you should always know which data came from where and how much trust to place on that data – before spending your money buying too many options for too many processors and spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that you really shouldn’t.

Anyway – rant over.

JK

By Jason Keogh | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

Accuracy in licensing can mean massive savings!

July 10, 2009 – 1:52 pm

I have been remiss in my blog writing (nothing new there) – but some fairly amazing numbers came out from an audit I performed last week. They highlight some of the dangers in manual audit/inventory work and I thought it was blog worthy…

To set the scene: Large european government department. Circa 70,000 users. Oracle wants to audit said department and has been trying for over a year to get an accurate picture of the deployments of their software in order to accurately negotiate a deal.

The department has hundreds of locations spread across a country. Lots of data centers, lots of servers, little time to spend gathering audit information… BUT – they spend some time, in one particular data center over a 3 month period they audit circa 200 servers to complete an Oracle Server Worksheet (OSW) – and they find 15 machines running Oracle.

The person running the license program finds out about iQuate, thinks it could be a good idea to validate the findings and we spend 1 day on site scanning the same 200 machines in the same data center.

The results are pretty astonishing. Manual audit finds 15 machines with Oracle installed, all running. We find 22 (3 of these had Oracle installed, but it wasn’t running, so could be removed). Manual audit says 42 processors (all bar 1 processor noted as single core) on the machines running Oracle, we find 28 processors (all bar 4 of which were actually multi-core…). The manual audit says €1,200,00 worth of Oracle software deployed. The automated audit (which found more machines!) says €800,000 worth of Oracle running on the machines.

€400,000 savings in a single data center, representing about 10% of the total server estate – within a proof-of-concept framework (ie: VERY minimal cost to the organization in question!).

Obviously, we are engaging with the government in question to extend the scope of this audit to 100%, rather than just 10% of the estate. The savings should be massive, the effort in deployment minimal. Speed, accuracy and cost savings – blog worthy I thought :)

JK

By Jason Keogh | Posted in Success Stories | Comments Off

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