Kansas City Computer Measurement Group

FALL IMPACT CONFERENCE

October 5 and 6, 2004

Available Presentations can be accessed by clicking on the presentation titles.
Sprint Campus, Earhart D, 6050 Sprint Parkway, Salons A, B & C (Click here for map & directions)

 

5-Oct

Wireless

Technologies

7:45 AM – 8:30 AM

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

“RFID Overview”

Wayne Embry, SAS

Stand Tall and Carry A Precision Micrometer: One Engineer's General Purpose Measurement Model for Virtual Machines” Dr. David Boyes, Sine Nomine Associates

9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

“RFID: Strategies for the Enterprise

Toby Rush, Rush Tracking

“Managing SANs: Best Practices, Practical Applications”

Jay Alexander, McDATA

11:00 AM - 12:00 AM

The Art of Wireless War: Wireless Security

Lorin Olsen, Sprint

“Utility Computing: Managing the Challenges”

Patrick Lin, Veritas

12:00 AM - 1:45 PM

Lunch courtesy of Veritas

1:45 PM - 2:45 PM

Technology: “Utility Computing, High Performance Computing and Storage” Steve Wheat, Intel

Complexity of Web Transaction End-to-End Response Times” Roger Kovath, Applied Expert Systems

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

“WiMax: Coming Soon to a City Near You”

Tom Lasiter, Intel

Metric Considerations in a Virtual Environment: Measuring VMware Alan Firth, TeamQuest Corporation

 

 

 

 

 

 

6-Oct

Wireless

Technologies

7:45 AM – 8:30 AM

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Measuring What You Can't See: Wireless Systems Management Lorin Olsen, Sprint

“It’s All about Performance”

Catherine Liu, Applied Expert Systems

9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Interoperability of Bluetooth Products

Dr. Daniel Deavours, University of Kansas

“ITIL Capacity Management”

Vaishali Joshi, Pepperweed Consulting LLC

11:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Wireless Home, Wireless Office

Eric Baumgartner, VML

"What's Captured Where - Capacity Planning for zAAPs and MXG Updates for SAS Version 9.1.3" (via phone link)

Dr. Barry Merrill, Merrill Consultants

12:00 AM - 1:45 PM

Lunch courtesy of Applied Expert Systems

1:45 PM - 2:45 PM

 

“Managing the Unmanageable Web”

Chris Pratico, Keynote Systems

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

 

“On Demand Technology” IBM Session canceled – slides only.

 


 

Table of Contents

 

Table of Contents. 2

October 5. 3

Wireless. 3

8:30 AM “RFID Overview” Wayne Embry, SAS. 3

Wireless. 4

9:45 AM “RFID: Strategies for the Enterprise” Toby Rush, Rush Tracking. 4

11 AM “The Art of Wireless War” Lorin Olsen, Sprint 5

Technology. 6

1:45 PM “Technology: “Utility Computing, High Performance Computing and Storage” Steve Wheat, Intel 6

Wireless. 6

3 PM “WiMax: Coming Soon to a City Near You” Tom Lasiter, Intel 6

Technology. 7

8:30 A.M.  “Stand Tall and Carry A Precision Micrometer: One Engineer's General Purpose Measurement Model for Virtual Machines” Dr. David Boyes, Sine Nomine  7

Technology. 7

9:45 A.M. “Managing SANs: Best Practices, Practical Applications” Jay Alexander, McDATA. 7

Technology. 8

11 A.M. “Utility Computing: Managing the Challenges” Patrick Lin, Veritas. 8

Technology. 9

1:45 PM “Complexity of Web Transaction End-to-End Response Times”, Roger Kovath, Applied Expert Systems. 9

Technology. 10

3 PM “Metric Considerations in a Virtual Environment: Measuring VMware”, Alan Firth, TeamQuest Corporation. 10

October 6. 11

Wireless. 11

8:30 “Measuring What You Can't See: Wireless Systems Management” Lorin Olsen, Sprint 11

Wireless. 11

9:45 “Interoperability of Bluetooth Products” Dr. Daniel Deavours, University of Kansas  11

Wireless. 12

11:00 “Wireless Home, Wireless Office” Eric Baumgartner, VML. 12

Technology. 12

8:30 AM “It’s All about Performance” Catherine Liu, Applied Expert Systems  12

Technology. 13

9:45 AM “ITIL Capacity Management” Vaishali Joshi, Pepperweed Consulting LLC  13

Technology. 14

11 A.M "What's Captured Where - Capacity Planning for zAAPs and MXG Updates for SAS Version 9.1.3" Barry Merrill, Merrill Consultants. 14

Technology. 15

1:45 PM “Managing the Unmanageable Web” Chris Pratico, Keynote Systems  15

Map and Directions. 17

Sprint Campus, Earhart D, 6050 Sprint Parkway, Salons A,B and C. 17

 

 

 

October 5

 

Wireless

8:30 AM “RFID Overview” Wayne Embry, SAS

 

Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) is not new technology.  But as with many revolutionary ideas, the demand for better, faster and cheaper brings opportunity to current technology.  At a simple level, it is a technology that involves tags that emit radio signals and devices called readers that pick up the signal.  RFID tags enable automatic, non-line-of-sight identification.  RFID’s implementation will evolve over time with applications driven by market and consumer demand.

 

Driving the RFID demand are both the retail industry and US government.  The demands are being pushed down to the suppliers.  RFID will increase the IT requirements to collect, warehouse and analyze data.  Results will be just-in-time inventory at a reduced customer cost.  Cost of the RFID tags are one of the limiting factors. Many RFID tag providers are addressing the cost by mass production.

 

RFID will address many different applications.  Each application provides some common and unique requirements.  At the heart, all successful technology changes are the IT challenges. I see the IT challenges as another opportunity to add business value to all Enterprises.

 

Wayne Embry

Wayne Embry is a Technical Account Manager for SAS. His areas of responsibilities are sales and marketing support, for the IT Management Solutions and SAS Customer Care. In his previous life he was responsible for Performance Management for all hardware and software components at TWA. He has more years in data processing than allowed to discuss, with the last 24 years being directed to Performance Management and Capacity Planning.  He has been a CMG Member for the last 21 years and a member of Share for 26 years. He has presented at Share, CMG, Vendor, and Users session for over 20 years.  Wayne is has been on the KCCMG Board for over ten years.

 

 

Wireless

9:45 AM “RFID: Strategies for the Enterprise” Toby Rush, Rush Tracking

 

WHAT IF:

  • you could uniquely identify and track every package?
  • your assets could notify you when they move?
  • your products could tell you when they exceed acceptable boundaries for temperature, humidity or vibration?
  • you had access to volumes of accurate and timely data related to the products and processes within your organization?
  • the “things” around you could hold a conversation with each other and their surroundings?

 

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is revolutionizing asset tracking, inventory management and supply chain execution. Put an RFID tag - a microchip with an integrated antenna - on a product, case, or pallet and a suitably equipped computer can now 'see' and 'talk' to it. As computers can begin to sense each other and interact with almost no human intervention, there is great potential for them to manage, synthesize, and act on the information they collect, allowing humans to focus on exceptions and on the overall business process.

 

The potential is not going unnoticed; Wal-Mart, Target, Albertson’s and the Department of Defense are mandating all their top suppliers apply an RFID tag to every case and pallet before it arrives at their respective receiving points. 

 

Let’s discuss:

  • RFID – Fact and Fiction
  • The possibilities
  • Meeting the mandates and harnessing the benefits
  • Strategies for the enterprise

 

Toby Rush

Toby Rush is President of Rush Tracking Systems, a Kansas City based RFID solutions provider.  His company provides consulting, systems integration and implementation services for applications that utilize RFID in the supply chain, asset tracking and inventory management.  They are also helping manufacturers prepare for the RFID mandates from Wal-Mart, Target and the DoD.

 

Toby’s expertise in RFID systems has led to implementations at top tier refineries, power generation facilities, warehouses and manufacturing facilities.  Prior to Rush Tracking Systems, his roles included Product Manager and then VP of Product Development of a venture funded software company whose Work Force Automation solution utilized RFID.  While at BSI Consulting, he spearheaded the effort to create a new practice group around mobile and wireless technologies. Toby began his career at Accenture implementing SAP and PeopleSoft.  He has spoken regionally and nationally on mobility in the enterprise and RFID.

 

11 AM “The Art of Wireless War” Lorin Olsen, Sprint

 

"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought." Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."  Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 

Wireless communications are changing the way we work.  Whether at home, in the office or on the road, wireless communications capabilities are everywhere.  But the ease and convenience of wireless communications comes with a very large price tag: increased risk.  In order to secure your information resources, you need to prepare yourself for the enemies that will attack your stronghold.  You must understand what they want as well as what tools they use.  By knowing these things, you can then adequately prepare to defeat the enemies you will face.

 

Lorin Olsen

Lorin Olsen is a senior technical specialist for Sprint Corporation.  He is also the Chief Technology Officer for Midwest Internet Solutions, Inc (a local wireless service provider).  He has been an IT professional for over twenty-five years. In that time, he has seen IT security concerns grow from the simple protection of physical assets to the brave new world of (in) security amidst network ubiquity.  In this presentation, Mr. Olsen will discuss the basic steps needed to secure wireless networks - both at home and in the commercial workplace.

 

Technology

1:45 PM “Technology: “Utility Computing, High Performance Computing and Storage” Steve Wheat, Intel

 

 

Wireless

3 PM “WiMax: Coming Soon to a City Near You” Tom Lasiter, Intel

 

WiFi has been embraced by corporations and users alike.  Every computer user is familiar with the idea of a “hot spot”.  What if your whole city were a hot spot?  That’s the idea behind WiMax, an implementation of the IEEE 802.16 standard. WiMAX provides metropolitan area network connectivity at speeds of up to 75 Mb/sec. WiMAX systems can be used to transmit signal as far as 30 miles. However, on the average a WiMAX base-station installation will likely cover between three to five miles.  Tom will present a primer on WiMax and its potential.

 

Tom Lasiter

Tom Lasiter is a business development manager in an Intel server provider region.  He has 15 years of experience in communications and semi-conductor areas, serving in engineering, product management and marketing.

Technology

8:30 A.M.  Stand Tall and Carry A Precision Micrometer: One Engineer's General Purpose Measurement Model for Virtual MachinesDr. David Boyes, Sine Nomine

 

Historical approaches to system performance measurement have included virtual machines as an aberration, or, at best, included them as a special case for mainframes only.  As the technology for producing virtual machines or low-permeability system partitions becomes increasingly popular, the question of how to measure such devices for both performance and chargeback measurement rears its ugly head. This presentation looks at some of the "classic" measurement factors and tries to generalize them in a way that can be applied to different virtualization methods, and to identify correction values required to adapt the model to different system architectures. The talk will concentrate on VMWare on Intel systems and some of the logical partitioning capabilities of some newer systems, but familiarity with some mainframe or telecommunications rating concepts and performance management strategies will be helpful in understanding the approach and the terms used in the presentation.

 

 

Dr. David Boyes

Dr. David Boyes is CTO and President of Sine Nomine Associates, has participated in operating systems and networking research for more than 20 years, working on design and deployment of systems and voice/data networks worldwide. David has designed scenarios and economic models for systems deployment on many platforms, and is currently involved in design and worldwide deployment of scalable system infrastructure for several Global 1000 companies.

 

 

Technology

9:45 A.M. “Managing SANs: Best Practices, Practical Applications” Jay Alexander, McDATA

 

McDATA will be discussing both general and specific topics relating to proper management and measurement requirements for Storage Area Networks (SAN's).  Explosive and consistent growth within this segment of a corporation's IT function continues to stress the efficiencies in managing data quantities, the information lifecycle and the infrastructure required to accommodate the growth.  Managing these assets, both physical and data related, has become laborious and inefficient for the most-part.

 

Tools are available to assist the IT professional in better planning, performance measurement and problem resolution.  McDATA will be discussing Best Practices, and reviewing the practical application of these tools, including the long-term benefits.

 

Jay Alexander

Jay Alexander is a Sr. Consulting System Engineer at McDATA. He has spent the last four years focused on end user SAN management requirements. Jay has concentrated his efforts on McDATA's software solutions, leveraging customer relationships to get “real world” feedback on SAN management complexities that customers face daily.  His experiences have defined requirements for new product functionality targeted at improving the SAN measurement and management experience.

 

Prior to McDATA, Jay was employed at EMC and Sequent Computer Systems. With a rounded background of host, storage and large SAN deployments, Jay is well positioned to understand and translate the importance of developing a storage networking management strategy. Jay resides in Carrollton, TX., but has an affinity for the Midwest, being born in St. Louis and educated at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield Missouri.

 

 

Technology

11 A.M. “Utility Computing: Managing the Challenges” Patrick Lin, Veritas

 

Just like previous computing models -- mainframe, client/server, and Internet -- utility computing has emerged as the next step in the evolution of Information Technology (IT).  This presentation provides an overview of the challenges around availability, performance, and automation in utility computing.  To address the challenges, vendors will need to step up with new offerings.   What can you expect a vendor to provide and how do you evaluate their offerings?

 

Patrick Lin

Patrick Lin,  Group Product Manager, Utility Infrastructure, VERITAS Software, has spent over nine years with management services and software companies.  Most recently he was Director of Product Management and Marketing with Invio Software, an IT process automation company acquired by VERITAS in July 2004.  Prior to Invio, he held positions in product management and business development with Katmango, Microsoft and Intuit, and was also a consultant in Bain & Company's technology practice.  Patrick holds MS and BS degrees in electrical engineering and a BA degree in East Asian studies, all from Stanford University, as well as an MBA from INSEAD.

Technology

1:45 PM Complexity of Web Transaction End-to-End Response Times”, Roger Kovath, Applied Expert Systems

 

In today's global economy, eBusiness is a vital component of corporate success. In the eBusiness economy, a slow Web site is a fast way to lose money.  Overall site performance and availability can either attract users or frustrate them.  The difference lies in the ability to maintain consistent, reliable Web site performance despite ever-increasing demands of innovation, performance, and complexity.  More often than not, many separate interactions are required within a single transaction. Pop-ups, passwords, and multiple page downloads are just the start. In order to accurately assess Web site performance, the entire transaction needs to be measured from end to end. Discussion will cover the importance of total response time measurement, the complexity of nesting within web operations, the diagnostic value of historical analysis, and the benefits of establishing and adjusting a performance baseline. Sample logs and reports will be used to show how key performance indicators can be used to manage Web performance.

 

Roger Kovath

Roger Kovach, currently a principal software engineer for Applied Expert Systems, has been a frequent speaker at conferences for both the National and UK CMG for many years. Known for his research in performance measurement in disk systems, he is now doing research in the domain of the end-to-end web transaction response time.  Roger's experience in the IT industry spans more than forty years and includes working for the US Navy, PG&E, and the University of California. In addition, he taught courses in software physics, queue theory, and disk performance measurement at ISE and spent more than a decade as a senior scientist with Boole & Babbage designing programs for disk system performance measurement and analysis

 

Technology

3 PM Metric Considerations in a Virtual Environment: Measuring VMware”, Alan Firth, TeamQuest Corporation

 

Virtualization is the dominant trend in contemporary IT. While there are readily apparent benefits to this approach, there are downsides, too.  For performance analysts and capacity planners, the metrics necessary to perform their job functions are hidden behind layers of abstraction. Using VMware as an example, Alan will show where the metrics can be obtained and offer some strategies for management.

 

Alan Firth

Alan Firth is a senior performance consultant with TeamQuest Corp.  He has been involved with the computer industry since 1970 in a variety of roles including programming, system administration, software design and spent many years as the head of enterprise integration for an Australian solutions company.  He has studied at Monash and Ohio State Un