My Blog

As we get deeper into the architecture series, I would like to take the opportunity to cover a bit more on the theoretical aspects on why we model and why we need to follow methods or framework. I put it similar to learning how to drive - you need to learn the highway code for every country (or environment) you are going to drive in, the local laws and also maps. Those are the models of the environment (or system).

How you drove when you were taking your driving test and how you drive today would certainly be very different. When you were taking you test, you went through a "checklist" of behaviour like looking at all the mirrors, making sure your indicators are on, confirming your blind spots by turning your head, etc. before you change lanes. but today, based on your experience, you might do it all at once or take short cuts or rely on blindspot sensors in your new car.

The point is, you might not follow the "checklist" of learning how to drive, but you certainly remember the safety aspects and why you do it, although might be more subconsciously.

hope you enjoy this session.

Following on to my earlier post on IT Architecture, this is a follow up post on the types of architecture in IT and their relationships.

This is only 1 simplified view, there are many types of architecture that are not reflected here.

As I try to find the most common types of architecture to illustrate the eco-system, so remember that context is important, different industries and domains might require specialised sub-domains.

I hope those embarking on the journey of learning will find this useful.

After 20+ years working as or along side architects, I do have a good sense of what it takes to sew a good IT architect. I tried to put down my thoughts in a series of videos to help mentor people who are interested to have a career as an IT architect. This is the 1st video of the series:

Recently I gave a talk on the topic of evolving threats in the manufacturing and retails industries. The main focus is impact on the rise of IoT and industry 4.0 and the impact on cybersecurity. Most cybersecurity measures are focused on IT systems, but with a lot of automation and autonomous robots, we need to relook at our cybersecurity measures. here is a link to the youtube video I created:

Recently I spoke at an event for Nutanix and am encouraged by the interest in the building of Private Clouds. I started on this journey in 2015 mainly focusing on IaaS, but as the technologies improved, so has the evolution of what we can do in a private cloud environment.

A few of the really key benefits is to be able to shift workloads seamlessly between the public cloud and the private cloud. Key enablers for this to happen is the implementation fo security groups and the ability to deploy Kubernetes workload. Sure we could do this with layers like OpenShift or Tanzu, but I think Nutanix Karbon gives us some nice Kubernetes management with minimal overheads if you are running a Nutanix HCI. The same goes for Nutanix Flow, which help with the implementation of security groups so that we could duplicate our security structure without the traditional way of configuring firewall rules for on-prem deployment.

Recently, I am also exploring Nutanix Xi Leap which simplifies backup and recovery (although not available in Asia yet). With all these advancements, I am hopefully for the future of more hybrid clouds in the enterprise.

If you are curious about these technologies, you can take a test drive here -> https://www.nutanix.com/one-platform

Hybrid cloud is here to stay. So what is a hybrid cloud? A hybrid cloud refers to a mixed computing, storage, and services environment made up of on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and a public cloud—such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)—with orchestration among the various platforms. Using a combination of public clouds, on-premises computing, and private clouds in your datacenter means that you have a hybrid cloud infrastructure.

Many organisation have started to realised that going full public cloud might not be the most cost effective route especially if you have a steady workload that requires minimal elasticity or burst capabilities.

What has changed to make hybrid or private cloud more attractive? Well, in recent years, some of the Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) players like Nutanix have introduced capabilities that have long been exclusive to the public cloud like Security Groups and native Kubernetes deployment (without the need to set up a host operating system).

And with more and more standards being developed, I think many organisations can now start to be more fluid in the movement of their workloads and this in turn drove the adoption of more private cloud/hybrid cloud approach.

I will be speaking on this topic at the next Nutanix Economic Advantage Summit at Marina Bay Sands on 20 April 2021. See you there!