I am a fan of open source tools. The Internet, as we know it today, will not exist if not for the open source movement. We owe this to the countless architects and developers who dedicated their time and effort to write open source software.

Enterprise IT departments can also take advantage of open source software. Numerous companies have been using them for years. One particular area where they can be used is network and server monitoring.

There are a lot of open source network monitoring tools out there. Leading the pack are Nagios, Zabbix, and Cacti. My favorite tool though is OpenNMS. I particularly like it because it is very easy to setup and administer. It can automatically discover your nodes on the network. There were very few tweaks when I first set it up. It provides simple event and notification via email or pager. In addition, its web-based management interface interface is very easy to use.

I have been using OpenNMS for several years now and it has been running rock solid. I definitely recommend OpenNMS for IT departments who do not want to pay a hefty price to monitor their network and servers.

A lot of focus on adapting BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) has been exerted by enterprise IT departments due to the popularity of mobile phones and tablets, and their cost savings to companies. However, I believe equal focus should be given to enterprise applications to enhance end user experience. Numerous enterprise applications are still antiquated, difficult to use, and not even suitable for mobile devices.

One of the goals of enterprise IT is to provide excellent user experience, thus increasing end user productivity. If the hardware devices are state of the art mobile phones and tablets but the apps are very hard to use, then the purpose is defeated.

For instance, searching for information inside the enterprise is still very difficult. Information is scattered across different file servers and applications. Very few companies have Google-like enterprise search capability. People are frustrated because it’s easier to search just about anything on the Internet, but it’s very difficult to find simple information inside the enterprise.

Enterprise applications should be like consumer IT applications, such as those provided by innovative companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. These web-based or mobile-based enterprise apps should be very user friendly and intuitive. In addition, training should not be required to use these enterprise apps. Google does not ask us to train whenever they deploy a new consumer app.

Enterprise apps should also be secure, just like those provided by online banking sites. Data should be encrypted and users properly authenticated.

End users should have the same user experience when at home doing online shopping, banking, and searching, and when at work using enterprise applications.

Is converged infrastructure the future? Major technology companies are now offering integrated compute, storage, and network in a box. Leading the pack is the Vblock system by VCE. Vblock consists of hardware and software from Cisco, EMC, and VMware.

Similarly, servers, storage, and network vendors are also offering their own integrated system. NetApp, a storage vendor, is selling FlexPod. A FlexPod combines NetApp storage systems, Cisco Unified Computing System servers, and Cisco Nexus fabric into a single, flexible architecture.

Cisco, a networking company, has been selling x86 Unified Computing System for years and recently bought Whiptail, a high performance storage company, to enhance their unified infrastructure offering. HP, a server company, is offering the POD solution.

These converged infrastructure solutions are not only suited for small or medium sized data centers but they are engineered for large scale, high performance, and highly reliant data centers. In addition, security, automation, and monitoring are built into the package.

With these solutions, companies do not need to spend time and money architecting and integrating servers, storage, and networks. Most importantly, operations and vendor support will be simplified. There will only be one point of contact for vendor support and finger pointing between vendors will be minimized.

I started my career in software development.  I wrote codes, performed system analysis, and software quality assurance.   Then I switched to system and network administration, and infrastructure architecture.   While the roles of software developers may not change that much (software programs need to be created), the roles of IT administrators, architects, analysts, and IT departments in general are changing.  This is due to cheap hardware, smarter software and appliances, and the availability of the cloud.

I still remember some time ago when I would spend a lot of time troubleshooting a system.  Today, due to redundant systems, off the shelves and online applications, and the use of appliances, troubleshooting times have been reduced to a minimum.  When a component breaks, it’s easy to replace it.

IT companies are now selling converged network, server, and storage in a box which eliminated the need for elaborate architecture and implementation and has simplified IT operations.

With virtualization and the “cloud”, more and more applications and IT services (infrastructure as a service, software as a service, etc.) are being available online.

When it comes to IT, companies now have various choices – host their IT services externally via public cloud, build IT systems in house, or use the combination of the two.

Thus, the future role of IT professionals will be like brokers.  When the business comes to them for a need, they should be able to deliver quickly and provide the best IT solution.  They should be able to determine when to use the public cloud and when to use internal IT systems.  The key is to understand the business. For instance, it may not make sense to put data in the cloud if you are concerned about security or if your company is regulated by the government.  If your company is small, it may not make sense to build a costly IT infrastructure in house.

Successful IT professionals are not only technically savvy but also business savvy.

One of the perks of serving at an Harvard alumni club (I am currently the Secretary of the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Worcester), was attending a 2-day Alumni Leadership Conference in Cambridge, MA. It was a nice break from work. I met alumni leaders from all over the world, talked to accomplished people (I met the writer of one of my daughter’s favorite movies – Kung Fu Panda), learned what’s new in the Harvard world, and learned leadership skills from great speakers.

One of those speakers is David Ager, a faculty member at the Harvard Business School. He totally engaged the audience while delivering his opening address – “Leadership of High Performing Talent: A Case Study.” We discussed a case study about Rob Parson, a superstar performer in the financial industry. In a nutshell, Rob Parson delivered significant revenue to the company but his abrasive character and non-teamwork attitude didn’t fit well into the culture of the company. He was due for performance review and the question was – Should Rob be promoted?

The setting of the case study was in the financial industry, but the lesson holds true as well in the Information Techology (IT) industry. There are a lot of Rob Parson in IT – software developers, architects, analysts, programmers – who are high performers, but they rub other people the wrong way. They are intelligent, smart, and they develop very sophisticated software — the bread and butter of IT companies. Some of these IT superstars aspire for promotion for managerial role. Should they be promoted? Too often we hear stories about a great software architect who went to manage people, but faltered as a result.

IT professionals who would really like to manage people should be carefully evaluated for their potential. They should learn people and business skills in order to succeed. Before giving them any managerial position, they should undergo a development program and they should be under a guidance of a mentor (or a coach) for at least a year. Most IT professionals should not take on the managerial role. They should remain on their technical role to be productive, but they should be given other incentives that motivate and make them happy – such as complete authority of their work, flex time, an environment that foster creativity and so on.