AWEEKSTWEETS AUG 31-SEPT 7 2009
1. Sorta curious why people seem to imagine it's OK to request free reports and free slices of my time. I'm an analyst. We're in business.14 minutes ago from TweetDeck
JK2—It’s not as if we—analysts generally, me specifically--don’t already provide ample free slices of our brainpower through tweets, blogs, podcasts, public speeches, comments to press, e-mail back-and-forth, random/not-so encounters at conferences, and the like. If you’re a vendor or user, I’ll refer your requests to a Forrester account manager. If you’re a personal friend who wants to chat about non-work-related stuff, this doesn’t apply. But I will get back to you after-hours. Gotta eat.
2. Jotting down string of DW-pricing tweets now to set frame for "AWEEKSTWEETS" blog exegesis I'll be laying down come Monday...when not lazingabout 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—What follows.
3. RT @merv RT "DW appl ...Price full core ....in $/TB for .... (and discounts!)" JK--Discount-from-list factor. I'm seeing 50%+ discounts nowabout 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—Everybody’s moving inexorably into the sub-$25K/TB range. Price pressures are acute on all DW appliance vendors, owing to a) encroaching commoditization of core DW stack, b) ever cheaper commodity CPUs and storage within DW appliances, c) intensifying glut of new vendors/products, d) soft economy and tight IT budgets, e) growing open-source and SaaS presence in DW market, and f) increasing vendor positioning of DW appliances as low-margin hook to sell premium add-on applications and professional services (i.e., the old Gillette “razor and blades” business model).
4. Add-on apps? You know, like IBM's doing with its Smart Analytic System solution appliances. Or Aster with its MapReduce appliance.about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—I fully expect all leading DW appliance vendors to go this route over the coming 1-2 years—either through their own app/solution stack (those who have them), through strategic partnerships, and/or through buying or being bought out by those who do.
5. In other words, that's referring to commodity pricing of core DW appliance stack. You can/should also factor premium pricing of add-on apps.about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—Add-on apps also include/leverage the logical domain models, derived from vendors’ professional services engagements addressing various horizontal/process and vertical/industry requirements. Riding a full DW stack, the logical domain models, with associated modeling tools and APIs, enable the vendor to position its DW appliance as an extensible solution platform, for partner- and customer-enablement.
6. Keep in mind that's simply referring to pricing of the DW-appliance "core stack": DBMS, query tools, loading tools, workload mgt, db admin.about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—Yes, the core stack. Same functional scope as what I evaluated in the Forrester EDW Platforms Wave earlier this year. Check it out (note: you must be Forrester customer).
7. Hey DW appl vendors, if you denominate your pricing per the previous tweet, we have comparability. If you don't, your competitors will.about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—In other words, your competitors will twist your publicly announced pricing, in all its ambiguity, to their advantage and your disadvantage. I see it all the time. Forrester customers turn to me to help clear up the confusion.
8. Hey all DW appl vdrs: Price full core stack: hw&sw. State acq cost in $/TB for compr-user-data cap . State raw-to-usable-stor & compr ratiosabout 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
JK2—I’ll decompress that tweet here. If I ruled the world, DW vendors would frame their price structure as follows: Price out a full core DW appliance stack (for the production DW tables only, encompassing the components handling query/mart, hub, and staging nodes, but not including any test/dev platform, and not including any associated BI or ETL/data integration components/nodes): hardware (servers, direct-attached storage, interconnect), software (licenses for DBMS, query planning and optimization tools, loading tools, workload management and resource governance tools, and other database administration software tools). Denominate your pricing in terms of upfront acquisition cost in US dollars per terabyte (TB), but exclude any deployment- or optimization-related upfront professional services, and also exclude any first-year or out-year maintenance fees. State your pricing in terms of capacity of TBs of compressed usable data that can be stored on your DW appliance. Provide customers/prospects with the key information need to translate raw storage capacity to usable-data capacity: a) your ratio of raw-to-usable data (deducting indexes, tablespaces, and other DW/DBMS overhead from raw to derive usable) and b) your compression ratio/efficiency (or at least the range of compression efficiencies that customers are likely to see on the types of data they are likely to storage/manage in your DW appliance). Don’t agonize over the “price per TB of storage doesn’t even begin to spell out the tremendous performance advantages of our DW appliance with our special architecture” concern. That’s an important nuance—price/performance—you should address as a qualification ONLY AFTER YOU’VE ESTABLISHED YOUR COMMODITY PER-STORAGE DW-APPLIANCE PRICING BONAFIDES!
9. RT @SethGrimes "Anything to say on Informatica's acquisition of Agent Logic announced Wed?" jk---Left voice-msg commentary with Jeff Kelly.10:41 AM Sep 4th from TweetDeck
JK2—Jeff, at searchdatamanagement.com, has a longer lag time than other pubs/reporters who cover this space. He hasn’t yet acknowledged receiving my message. Here’s my comment in a nutshell: Informatica needed a CEP acquisition to add a true-real-time component to its otherwise near-complete data integration suite. Agent Logic is not a CEP vendors that Forrester customers ask about much, or one that its competitors mention much, so I doubt this acquisition will provide Informatica with much of a revenue contribution. But, given the strong true-real-time features of competitors such as IBM and Ab Initio, this is a smart move on Informatica’s part. I expect to see them integrate Agent Logic’s technology tightly into their PowerCenter product family in the coming year, not wasting any time.
10. Paper is definitely my favorite medium for analysis. Somehow, having physical impressions of all data to thumb thru, annotate, focuses me.9:43 AM Sep 4th from TweetDeck
JK2—If it’s purely on-screen, I get tired and sleepy very fast. Having physical tokens of information to run my fingers over somehow keeps me awake. Even better than coffee (though, like the latter, too much too long tends to give the jitters).
11. RT @WinstonChen "MDM-DW who's the boss?: jk--Neither. Trustworthy business analytics--i.e, the "golden record" imperative--is the boss!9:38 AM Sep 4th from TweetDeck
JK2—Technologies don’t rule. Besides, this is like arguing whether yin or yang’s the boss. Single version of the truth demands the DW as the key master data management repository. In other words, a DW without life-cycle data governance is just another database.
12. Anti-social media would be good now & then. Put up the do-not-disturb sign across all social ntwk services. Pushback spam into spammer faces8:50 AM Sep 4th from TweetDeck
JK2—My do-not-disturb sign is implicit. I turn technologies off. I close my eyes. I go for a walk.
13. Remembering back when we worried about info overload. Now we treat info like electrical "load," and our brains like circuitry bearing loads9:45 PM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—It’s sort of like the difference between before you could verbalize on a keyboard, and now, when you scarcely realize you’re verbalizing most of your life on a keyboard. We rewire with some discomfort, but we rewire, inexorably.
14. Finished first full draft of FORR report "In-Database Analytics: Heart of the Predictive Enterprise." Now in peer review.9:39 PM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—And I expect Rob and Boris to get back to me with full, deep comments on the coming week. We’re all so friggin’ busy, and Q3 is drawing to a close, that none of us can afford to delay this too long. I, for example, am also working on a TEI study, a Wave, and an FLB doc—as well as a BTF preso and one or two other Forrester deliverables that will come back to my mind in just a sec....as soon as the coffee kicks on.
15. RT @merv RT @timoelliott @weckerson "every analysis should lead to action" JK--Should lead to decision, such as choice not to act.8:23 AM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—I just had to insert my two cents on this perennial BI-analyst philosophical/ontological topic. It’s sort of like the perennial freewill vs. determinism concept in philosophy at large. The issue will never be settled. But philosophers use it to break the ice, and break the spirits of lowly undergraduates.
16. RT @weckerson: #enzee "biggest endorsement of Netezza TwinFin is SAS decision to embed functions" jk--Netezza has strong in-db partnerships.8:07 AM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—On which I’ll provide a bit more info in my coming/above-mentioned Forrester report: “"In-Database Analytics: Heart of the Predictive Enterprise." To be published in a month or so. No firm ETA yet. Forrester publication dates are outside my direct control
17. Always puzzled when vendors surprised they've caught Forrester's ear. Not hard to do. I'll talk to everybody in my space, time permitting.6:59 AM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—“Time permitting” is the key qualifier. Time is always tight. I have to prioritize. Usually, I prefer that you simply e-mail me your pitch/materials to jkobielus@forrester.com. If you want me to consider giving you a half-hour of my time, please submit your request through www.forrester.com/briefings and specify me by name; recognize, though, that I may decline, based on a) having a full calendar and/or b) not finding your pitch interesting enough to warrant any time at all, though I still want to see it in writing. Don’t feel hurt if I decline. We get way more such requests than is humanly possible to accept. Also don’t feel slighted if I opt to do this over the phone, not in person; over the phone is far more efficient for me on a day-in/day-out basis. Furthermore, don’t imagine that I’m going to travel to your office, even if you’re physically close to me in northern Virginia; you come to me, not vice versa. Finally, I’m not in the Forrester HQ in Cambridge MA; please do a little bit of research (e.g, check my e-mail signature, which contains my physical office location) before blithely assuming that I, or any other Forrester analyst, works out of HQ. I see a steady stream of “hey Jim, I’ll be in Boston on such-and-such date and I’d love to meet you” vendor-briefing requests. Don’t you folks realize that most analysts in most firms are mostly home-based most of the time? Yes, I occasionally work from Forrester’s McLean VA office, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
18. Expecting my memory enhancement this morning. Till then, I'll simply have to swap everything I do immediately to disk--or scribble on paper6:30 AM Sep 3rd from TweetDeck
JK2—Got it. Tried to de-install the existing memory module on my own. Wouldn’t budget. Not going to force it out and risk damaging my laptop. Bringing it to the tech folks at the Cambridge MA HQ this week so they can do it for me. I’ll be at HQ for another reason, so just makes sense to do two-birds-one-stone. Yes, indeed, I occasionally go to HQ, but don’t assume that I have a regular schedule of such visits. On an as-needed basis.
19. RT @WinstonChen "Kalido KONA announced today. An important step in the evolution of data warehousing." jk--A DW governance appliance.
JK2—A DW appliance with best-of-breed, low-cost, commodity (mostly, not entirely) platform (Netezza) and add-on apps/tools from Kalido and QlikTech. Remember what I said above about DW vendors’ push in this direction. We’ll definitely see more. I’m surprised Lorita or Chas didn’t reach out to pre-brief us. Very important announcement.
20. RT @WinstonChen "MDM belongs in every DW." jk--In other words, every DW should house master records. DW belongs in MDM, not vice versa.9:42 PM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—MDM, as an add-on app, belongs, as an optional (not mandatory) component in every DW appliance solution family. I’ll grant you that.
21. INFA buying AgentLogic doesn't confirm convergence of CEP into BI, cuz INFA's not BI. Rather, INFA's DI, and lacked true real-time (ie,CEP).7:23 PM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—See aweekstweet exegesis above. CEP is indeed converging into BI, but there are more important industry announcements in the works. We’re moving into the fall announcement season.
22. RT @TonyBaer: @bmichelson @johnrrymer "Much of purpose of CEP is to decipher what's happening NOW " jk--Puts NOW in context of HISTORY.7:10 PM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—Once again, just had to get my two cents in on this tweet discussion thread. This is perennial water-cooler ice-breaker chit-chat small-talk fodder among BI analysts. BTW, I’ve found Facebook a very good platform for connecting personal histories out there, in the Web 2.0 space. I’ve also found Twitter, auto-posting tweets as Facebook status updates, as a very good platform for the NOW of me to feed the HISTORY of me. For those who care for any of this ME ME ME narcissism.
23. RT @TonyBaer @johnrrymer @bmichelson "#CEP makes #BI literally actionable." jk--No. Orgs/folks actually taking action makes BI actionable.
JK2—Ah, yes. You see, I can’t help myself. More BI analyst small talk online. Please indulge us. If these were face-to-face encounters, this would all be accomplished through grunts, raised eyebrows, and knowing nods in each other’s general direction.
24. "Massive But Agile: Best Practices for Scaling the Next-Generation Enterprise Data Warehouse" (http://bit.ly/Z8ng6): jk--Comprehensive.3:13 PM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—Thanks to Aster Data for linking to my doc. And excuse me for tooting my own horn. But is “comprehensive” self-congratulatory or simply descriptive of the fact that I sweated over that doc. But I am proud of the result, and Forrester customers have responded favorably.
25. Kalido's KONA Information Appliance puts it in the analytic-solution-stack appliance market. Important Netezza and QlikTech partnerships.2:08 PM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—Clearly, the term “appliance” may soon become very yesteryear in this context. KONA and similar prepackaged, pre-optimized analytic solution platforms from other vendors will become a market segment all their own, distinct from the commodity DW appliances on which they run and which they extend.
26. BI value-prop: actionable intelligence. BI core: intelligence. BI key-diff: actionability: collab&wkflow integ. Vendors must enable latter.11:35 AM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—The “action loop” in BI. In other words, BI embedded in business processes. I’m in Forrester’s Business Process and Applications (BP&A) orbit. One of our key emphases is embedded process analytics. BP&A description from our website: “This professional must improve or transform processes in an organization as well as the business applications and technologies that support them. He or she may also be responsible for integrating information and collaboration into the business process.”
27. Taking briefing from BI company Bi3 Solutions. Consulting firm mostly, but transitioning to solutions vendor. SaaS BI offering in beta.11:06 AM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—Vendors take note: If I take a briefing from you, and it’s not under NDA (or, at least the fact that I’m speaking with you right now is not under NDA), I’m very likely to tweet the fact that I’m speaking with you (and share a smidgen of non-NDA info) right then and there.
28. RT @CurtMonash "Netezza claims 50X Exadata ...10X Teradata. #enzee" jk--Verify such marketing assertions with benchmarks, bake-offs.9:50 AM Sep 2nd from TweetDeck
JK2—I grow weary of these 10X, 20X, infinityX boilerplate “we scale like there’s no tomorrow” DW vendor assertions. I try not to republish any of them. I try to recast the discussion in terms of the vendor’s overall architecture, and its fitness/optimizability for a customer’s particular DW, BI, or analytics apps, loads, and queries.
29. Already thinking ahead to the FORR report on DW virtualization in cloud that I'll be doing in Q4. That, + my Wave, will culminate busy year.10:13 PM Sep 1st from TweetDeck
JK2—I’m staring at my rest-of-year schedule right now. Taped to my office wall. So I can’t forget. I won’t forget. I follow-through on my commitments. I’m just always trying to keep commitments in line with what’s humanly feasible. By the way, I work hard—and think modularly. The only way.
30. In-database analytics: subject of my FORR teleconf next week; podcast & blogpost later in Sept; & report in Oct. And preso at Teradata conf.10:12 PM Sep 1st from TweetDeck
JK2—A prime current example of how I work/think modularly. Reuse, adapt, and extend from a core research base. I plan my research agenda with all this in mind—months before I have to deliver any of it—if I can help it (sometimes I have to respond to stuff that just drops in unannounced in my agenda—I can do that too, but not without momentary.....ummmm.....headaches?).
31. Deep into vendor briefings and demos for FORR Wave on Predictive Analytics & Data Mining. Strong group of vendors. Many differentiators.10:06 PM Sep 1st from TweetDeck
JK2—Here’s a type of briefings/demos that I definitely DO NOT tweet, blog, podcast, or otherwise mention at the time I do them. Any research connected with an in-progress research project. You’ll see what I’m thinking/doing in good time—when the corresponding Forrester report is published (i.e., if you’re a Forrester customer). And not a moment before. Did I mention the whole gotta-eat imperative?
32. "Actuate Collab with Red Hat to Enhance JBoss Enterprise Middleware Apps " (http://bit.ly/3Wlxrg): jk--Hark! Methinks doth hear merger bells7:33 AM Sep 1st from TweetDeck
JK2—Seth Grimes (@SethGrimes) doesn’t hear those bells on this one. But I strongly suspect that a full open-source SOA/BI/DW/ETL/EII stack will soon emerge on the marketplace, and I strongly suspect it’ll be through Red Hat acquiring some of the usual suspects. We’ll see.
33. "Microsoft Lobbyists Reportedly Plot Strategy In 'Screw Google' Meetings In DC" (http://bit.ly/wZ5Dq): jk--Funniest headline of the morning.7:22 AM Sep 1st from TweetDeck
JK2—Just as funny a week later. Not sure if it’s true. Even if it were true, it’s one of those “software industry insider” and “political/regulatory/legal” topics that strikes me as just mundane “slow news day” trade-press blather.
34. Twitter's "won't you follow-me give-me-a-second-of-your-time solicitation via email" model isn't scalable. I seriously resent it now.2:56 PM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—I wish Twitter would e-mail me, once a week or as often as I tell it, a link to a webpage that allows me to quickly clickthrough acceptances/rejections of all these requests. Just as Postini or other hosted anti-spam services does with all the malware that targets my e-mail inbox. Because, in fact, these Twitter follow-me requests are just another form of spam.
35. RT @lmacvittie @davegraham @johnsonLAB "Disney to Acquire Marvel" jk--Old-school fabulist acquires newer-school. Absolutely MARVELous!10:33 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—Pun aside, I couldn’t care less. I’ve never been a huge Disney fan (still partial to old Warner Brothers on the animation side of the house). And I’ve never been a big Marvel fan (still partial to DC Comics on the superhero side of the house; Spidey, Hulk, Fantastic Four—I read them occasionally as a kid but always felt they were sort of pale ripoff of the real deal—OK....I know I’m absolutely going to flamed for saying this—here comes—YIKES!!!!!!).
36. RT @bmichelson: "why do PR people ask about writing "stories"?" jk--They conflate/confuse analysts with journalists, not fabulists.10:29 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—It’s funny. Throughout the 21-plus years I freelanced a column to Network World, PR flacks tended to assume I was a journalist on their payroll—a quick glance at their masthead would have set them straight. I was always, from the start, a freelance analyst who contributed analysis in the form of columns, features, and buyer’s guides. It’s a fine distinction that I suppose is lost on people who don’t share my vocation.
37. Noticing that "social networking/media" have replaced "cloud," "virtualization," and "SOA" in every vendor's me-too buzzword-bingo list.10:27 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—Yes, I’ve got scads of thoughts on “social everything.” I’ll blog/tweet all that in good time—as I develop something differentiated to put out there.
38. RT @DavidBThomas: "What's your dirty little social media secret?" http://bit.ly/nttaD: jk--It's everybody's secret: busybody browsing.9:30 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—I learn a surprising lot of stuff from simply toggling over to and glancing at my TweetDeck on a semi-obsessive basis. I guess it’s not really “browsing,” and not really “busybody,” since others haven’t chosen to block me. I learn less from from my Facebook. Blogs? Them too, but somehow the tweets feel fresher, more candid, more of-the-moment.
39. FORR podcast on BAM/in-process analytics future recorded. Me + @passion4process, re #BPM #CEP #BRE #BI. Will be posted for playback midweek8:33 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
JK2—I still don’t see it up there.
