All Posts in “@Mike_Colson”

The view from the cloud

I am at 30,000 ft going about 200 miles per hour and I look out my window and sIMG_0998ee this.

Many of you have seen clouds before from both above and below, but have you thought about those opposing views when it comes to the IT version of the cloud?

From the ground a solid cloud cover can look flat with few ripples and honestly looks a lot like a blanket be it white, grey or black but it can block out the sun and bring trouble. From above the cloud deck the clouds look different even storm clouds seem thin and light like wispy mountains of marshmallow fluff. Ok maybe there is some poetic license taken there but you get the drift. From above the clouds have peaks and wisps. The gaps between the clouds are more visible because the contrasting color of the ground, sometimes the ground isn’t even visible at all.  When traveling through the clouds on the way to cruising altitude there is typically turbulence as you hit the air pockets and temperature differences that help clouds form in the first place.

Capitol Region Virtual Technology Users Group (CRVTUG)

Just a quick note that I am excited to be a part of the first CRVTUG meeting on July 30th of this year. I will be presenting the EMC ViPR solution for abstracting the storage layer of the SDDC and automating the process. The demo and presentation will be short (about 30 mins) but I will also be at the EMC table at the event.  I really hope to see everyone there to get your ticket go to CRVTUG.com

The goal for the CR VTUG is to allow for all virtualization technologies to be represented and for more technical conversations to be facilitated.  So Citrix, VMware, Microsoft and Openstack admins in the DC Metro area should really make an effort to make it. You never know the users group may be the place where you find the answer to a nagging problem or meet a future co-worker. If nothing else it will provide a community that will try to help and understands the problems that you face.

Let’s make this a truly technical group and not a sales forum. I am stoked to be a part of it.

Network Television mirrors IT Technology Cycles


There were 2 maybe 3 Golden ages of network television. The first was the initial couple of years that TV existed with shows like the Honeymooners and I love Lucy. The second came in the 70’s – 80’s with shows like the Love Boat, Knight Rider, and the A-Team (plus sweet cartoons like GI-Joe, Transformers, and Thunder Cats). I digress; the third Golden Age was 1989 – 2000 with shows like Seinfeld and Friends netting the networks loads of money. The thing that broke up the golden ages were disruptive technologies. While I wasn’t alive for the first golden age I certainly saw the episodes in re-runs and I saw the second golden age end because of cable networks and the third one come to an end because of better programming on those same cable networks.