Archive for November 4, 2022

Software AG Government Solutions Partners with DH2i 

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 4, 2022 by itnerd

DH2i® the leading provider of always-secure and always-on IT infrastructure solutions, and Software AG Government Solutions, today announced they have entered into a partnership. A trusted provider of FedRAMP solutions, Software AG Government Solutions, will integrate DH2i’s DxEnterprise (DxE) Smart High Availability Clustering software into its FedRAMP authorized cloud to achieve near-zero downtime within its own SQL Server Availability Group (AG) Kubernetes cluster. Software AG Government Solutions will offer the combined solution to its U.S. federal, state, and local government customers, as well as its aerospace and defense industry clients.

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. FedRAMP empowers agencies to use modern cloud technologies, with emphasis on security and protection of federal information, and helps accelerate the adoption of secure, cloud solutions.

DxEnterprise enables an enterprise’s true digital transformation (DX) by speeding the adoption of highly available stateful containers and providing SQL Server Availability Group (AG) support for SQL Server containers in Kubernetes clusters.

DxEnterprise Smart High Availability Clustering Software Features & Benefits:

  • HA for SQL Server Availability Groups in Kubernetes—with automatic failover, an industry first. This enables customers to deploy stateful containers to create new and innovative applications.
  • Near-zero recovery time objective (RTO) failover for instances and containers at the database-level– enables operations to deliver better products and services more efficiently and resiliently at a lower cost to the business.
  • Distributed Kubernetes AG clusters across availability zones/regions, hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments—with built-in secure multi-subnet Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tunnel technology. This enables customers to rapidly adapt to changes in market conditions and consumer preferences.
  • Intelligent health & performance QoS monitoring with alerts for SLA assurance and simplified system management.
  • Mix and match support for Windows and Linux; bare-metal, virtual, cloud servers – maximizes IT budget ROI.

For those attending the upcoming 2022 PASS Data Community Summit, taking place at the Seattle Convention Center, November 15-18, please join Jeff Estes, Senior Director, Systems Engineering, Software AG Government Solutions for his presentation:

Deploying SQL Server AGs in EKS for Secure Federal Government Cloud Services

November 16, 6:45 am – 7:55 am; Room 608-609

The use of containers in the Federal Government is exploding as it looks for better ways to improve the performance, scalability, and portability of their applications in secure cloud environments. Despite the promise of containers, deploying SQL Server AGs in Kubernetes remains a hurdle that organizations struggle to overcome. Join Jeff Estes of Software AG Government Solutions for breakfast to learn how he used DH2i’s DxEnterprise to jump the hurdle and deploy highly available SQL Server Availability Groups (AGs) in EKS certified for FedRAMP. (Reserve your spot here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/deploy-ha-sql-server-ags-in-eks-certified-for-fedramp-tickets-439683534287)

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Mass Layoffs Begin At Twitter As Twitter Gets Sued

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 4, 2022 by itnerd

This is going to be an interesting day. And not in a good way.

So it appears that the layoffs have begun at Twitter. And here’s the rather brutal details:

“It’s going East to West,” one person said. People working for Twitter in London were first to find out, then New York, then people working remotely in the Midwest. California, Twitter’s biggest hub, came last, multiple employees said.

“My entire team is gone,” one person affected by the layoffs in New York said. They worked on a team of 30-plus people. Another person estimated that 90% of their team was cut.

Meanwhile, Musk ignored the layoffs publicly, tweeting “Why is small talk even legal” as his employees were being let go. 

By closer to 11 pm PT, more than 1,000 people at Twitter had lost their jobs, according to employees and messages seen by Insider. The cuts went across the company, from Singapore to the U.K. to Fan Francisco, hitting every department. Content moderation and health, advertising, data storage, product, legal, program management, all were hit with layoffs. Cuts were deep in most areas, but some were so drastic one person said they “don’t know how we keep things going in some areas.” 

Hundreds of Twitter workers began posting to Twitter about losing their jobs, too. Many wrote of gratitude for the years they spent working at the platform and for their colleagues. “Best job I ever had,” one person said. “So it ends,” another wrote.

Musk may be ignoring the carnage that he’s causing, but he can’t ignore this lawsuit that’s been filed that will make his life miserable:

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco names five current or former workers as plaintiffs, one of whom was told he was terminated effective Tuesday, according to the lawsuit. It names Twitter as the defendant.

Three other staff members have been locked out of their Twitter accounts as of Thursday with no formal notice of a layoff, which they interpret to mean they will lose their jobs, according to the lawsuit.

“Twitter is now engaged in conducting mass layoffs without providing the required notice under the federal WARN Act,” the lawsuit says, referring to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that requires 60-day notice for certain plant closings or mass layoffs.

As it typical for Musk, he didn’t think these layoffs through and now he’s likely to get owned in court. But I am a computer nerd, not a lawyer. I say that because the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act isn’t something that he can ignore. But knowing how he thinks, he will try. And there are similar laws in states including California where Twitter has its HQ. Thus I can see more lawsuits like this coming. Especially in California who I am pretty sure aren’t fans of Musk after he bashed them over taxes and regulation and moved Tesla’s HQ to Texas as a result. It might be payback time for that state.

Musk may have just made life a lot more complicated for himself. And a lot of people will enjoy seeing his squirm.

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TELUS Q3 Numbers Are Out And They Show Growth On The Wireless Side Of Things…. Not So Much On The Internet Side Of Things

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 4, 2022 by itnerd

In my attempt to see how the great Rogers outage in July affected the Canadian telco landscape, I’ve been tracking the Q3 results of the “big three” telcos here in Canada. Yesterday Bell released their Q3 numbers and they showed “best-ever” growth in Q3. Today TELUS released their numbers and I’ll let TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle give you the highlights:

“In the third quarter, the TELUS team once again demonstrated continued execution excellence, characterized by the potent combination of industry-leading customer growth, resulting in strong operational and financial results across our business,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO. “Our robust performance reflects the chemistry of our globally leading broadband networks and customer-centric culture, which enabled our strongest quarter on record, with total customer net additions of 347,000, up more than 8 per cent, year-over-year. This included strong mobile phone net additions of 150,000, up 11 per cent over last year and the best quarterly result since the third quarter of 2010; record high connected device net additions of 124,000; and industry-leading total fixed net additions of 73,000. Our leading customer growth is underpinned by our consistent, industry-best client loyalty across our mobile and fixed product lines. Notably, again this quarter, blended mobile phone, PureFibre internet, security and voice churn were all at or below one per cent. Moreover, our industry-leading postpaid mobile phone churn of 0.76 per cent represents the eighth quarter out of the last 11 below 0.80 per cent.”

So to recap, TELUS added 347,000 new customers. And 150,000 of the new customers are mobile customers, representing “the best quarterly results since the third quarter of 2010” and an 11 percent increase year over year. The other thing that I notice is their churn rate, or people who leave TELUS continues to be low. Thus these are good numbers for TELUS. The only thing that might be a negative is this:

Internet net additions were 36,000 in the third quarter of 2022, a decrease of 10,000, due to modestly higher churn compared to relatively low churn rates during heightened pandemic restrictions in the prior year, in addition to macroeconomic pressures impacting consumer purchasing decisions. This was partly offset by our success in driving strong gross additions through bundled product offerings, including the TELUS Whole Home bundle and our bundling of mobility and home services.

TELUS only has its Internet offerings in Western Canada, so they don’t have the same opportunity to steal customers from Rogers that Bell has. Though if anyone from TELUS is reading this message, if you come east to Ontario, Quebec and beyond, I am certain that you can grab your share of customers from both Rogers and Bell.

So with two of the “big three” reporting. And both showing growth with low amounts of churn, that leaves Rogers to report. That’s going to happen on the 9th of November, and it will be interesting to see how bad Rogers churn numbers are, and what the rest of their results look like.

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