The IT Infrastructure I want & why – A Personal Perspective

Ian RaceICR Consulting Ltd

My Infrastructure -1

• Two laptops – fortunately they are both Dell – so I have only one power supply

My Infrastructure -2

• Two mobiles – fortunately they are both Sony Ericsson – so I have only one power supply

My Infrastructure - 3

• Phew – Only one Blackberry – but it has its own power supply

My Infrastructure - 4

• And that’s a total of 4 mobile phone SIM cards

• 2 phones• 1 Blackberry• And 1 in the laptop! (2 aerials)

My Infrastructure - 5

• Two one time PIN generators – on board power supply (but I can’t change it)

My Infrastructure - 6• Two pre-pay cards– Oyster– Work food (& access)

My Infrastructure - 7

• 6 DVDs

My Infrastructure - 8• Two pairs of headphones

My Infrastructure - 9• A pile of physical tickets• And a pile of business cards

My Infrastructure - 10

• 4 USB Drives

My Infrastructure - 11

And a handful of Credit & Debit cards

But what do I actually want to do?• Work • Collaborate• To contact and be contactable• Find things out and be informed• Shop• Bank• Travel• Eat and drink• Relax• Wake up

Who Am I When I Do These Things?

• Employee• Colleague• Customer• Prospective Customer• Family member• Myself• Anonymous ?

What do I want to do vs who I am

Employee Colleague Customer Prospective Customer

Family Member Myself Anonymous

Work X X

Collaborate X X X X

To contact and be contactableX X X X X X

Find things out and be informedX X X X X X X

Shop X X X X

Bank X X X

Travel X X X X

Eat and drink X X X

Relax X X

Wake up X

What do I use?

Laptop Phone B'berry One Time Pin Pre-pay Card DVD Headphone Tickets USB Drives

Credit & Debit Cards

Work X X X X X

Collaborate X X X

To contact and be contactable

X X X

Find things out and be informed

X X X

Shop X X

Bank X X

Travel X X X

Eat and drink X X

Relax X X X

Wake up X

The Abstracted View

• Identity• Application • Data• Presentation/Delivery

Identity

• From our roles• Employee• Colleague• Customer• Prospective Customer• Family member• Myself• Anonymous

Business equates to confidentialPersonal equates to confidentialProspective & anonymous equates to shared

Application

• May be shared or personal– Configuration

Data

• Business – confidential• Personal – private• Who do you trust with your data?• What data is yours?• Profiling

Presentation/DeliveryUltra Light Work

• For me to be able to work I just need a reasonably maintained PC and my work one time PIN generator

• This gives me access to a virtual private network (VPN) or to a virtual work station

• A great mobile solution providing there is some hardware to use (and no key loggers)

Presentation/DeliveryMobile Devices for Nomads

• Basic phone & text (text based services)• Email client• Internet – iPhone impact• Storage – 8Gb phones (5 films @ 1.5 Gb!)• Camera• Location / GPS / co-location• Geiger counter• Projector• Keyboard• Power• IdentityJust enough real estate to do the jobCheap enough for the mass market

Presentation/DeliveryI Just Want

• Can I use devices provided– In a hotel– On a plane – On a train??– In a coffee shop– In a bookstore??I don’t bring my own media

Presentation/DeliveryIf I’m Shopping

• Some of my own data is useful– Shopping lists– Cupboard & fridge contents– Comparative prices

Presentation/DeliveryShopping Offers

If the store knows that I am shopping it could...• Pre-pack my basic shop• Prepare my basic shop while I look for other

stuff• Personalise offers• Allow me to browse the store from the trolley

or in store• Pre-order to collect...

Can I Be Anonymous Ever Again?

• There are some simple common themes– Role and identity– Application– Data– Much of what is happening today

ties these together?

Other Consolidation

• Cash cards and pre-payment• Cards and tickets• Media and solid state memory• USB Sticks and secure storage

Current Industry Trends• MESH• The view of central infrastructure will continue be virtualised

away from the hardware and the applications• End user hardware will continue to evolve and increase in

functionality• Decrease in hardware costs will enable wider use of IT based

services• Standard based environments for automated maintenance• Embedded computing will increase

– We will see some limited function operating systems– Limited function languages being used to deliver niche application

functionality

So What?

• As an Architect you have a key role• Infrastructure maturity– Mature in the data centre – Still immature almost every where else

• One Certainty – it’s going to continue to evolve

What Will Persist

• Identity – Roles change

• Data– The Key– Applications and Presentation/Delivery will

continue to evolve

Step back and look forward

ReferencesMy email

– ian.race@dsl.pipex.comSites• www.azulsystems.com• www.cohesiveft.com• www.paremus.com• www.mesh.com• www.economist.com

– Feb 16-22 issue– March 8-14 issue– April 12-18 issue