Memories of The Kaka Tea Shop at Starbucks

I visited the Starbucks at Hiranandani Powai  and found it packed to the gills, there was a person at the door to welcome me and told me I could sit anywhere I liked and there were no reservations.  The Americano coffee large was good and nice and affordable and hot.

[caption id="attachment_119" align="aligncenter" width="225"] There was comfort and sanctuary in the kaka tea shop like shade from a tall tree.[/caption]

It brought back memories in the early 1980's of the Kaka tea shop at Wheeler Road, Cox Town in Bangalore a favourite haunt late in the night for a cup of tea. Kaka is a term used for a  specific community from Kerala who specialise in setting up tea stalls and provide snacks at an affordable rate.

Some of the most exciting debates and discussions were at the Kaka shop whether it be politics, philosophy, science or anything under the SUN, there was always an opinion and everyone pretended to be the master. There was not internet or search engines  in the eighties.

Our knowledge was gleaned from reading books, papers, magazines from both India and elsewhere in the world, the American magazine was Span, there used to be one from USSR and one from East Germany, the National Geographic and the Time Magazine, plus we had access to books in the public library at Wheeler Road, Sindhi Colony.

At the tea shop there was only one standard brew; the same tea leaves would be brewed again and again, some fresh tea leaves were added for each round of brewing. The tea powder was put in a white cloth (locally known as thorthu) and tightly bundled. Not a drop of tea liquour was allowed to remain in the cloth as it was tightly wrung after each round of brewing; the cloth itself had its own distinct colour with no evidence that it was a white cloth at the beginning of time. The quantum of milk was kept to a minimum in the tea giving it a dark brown colour.

There used to be a credit system by the owner of the Kaka tea shop  for tea, biscuits and cigarettes to his trusted patrons, though he had a board in the cash counter "No Credit Allowed" .

The stall used to have a small menu of eggs in various preparations which included single omelet, double omelet and boiled which were the star items along with bread butter/jam along with a dish known as ceylonese parathas.

Our first introduction to Hindi film music was the Kaka tea shop, there used to be an old valve radio on top of the cash counter which would be tune to Radio Ceylon the most popular radio station for Hindi Music. We used to be entertained by Radio Ceylon blaring Hindi Music in the background  as we continued our discussion over tea and the smokers with their cigarettes about life, careers and numerous other discussions.

liquor was not served or allowed to be consumed  in the Kaka Tea Shop; only tea and snacks were allowed.
As we grow older we crossed the Road and continued our discussion over Beer at the Dolphins Bar and the Kaka Tea Shop was no longer the preferred haunt.
I still remember with joy the days spent sipping Tea at the Kaka Tea Shop at Wheelers Road; no Starbucks can replace the charm, grime and smell of a the Kaka Tea Shop at Wheeler Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore, India.

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Raising the Bar

I was in a  meeting today and when my turn came to speak I spoke of the business school aiming to be better then the best business school in the world

There was stunned silence in the group and it was the I realized that I had raised the bar beyond  then the grasp of the audience. 

 

When we set targets in our why not aim for  the loftiest goals, why do we settle for the second best and keep our targets in our comfort zone.
Until I raised the bar it was all challenges from local schools, when the bar went global there was a HUSH.

 What is there to fear in Raising the Bar, When you raise the Bar you start seeing life in a new perspective and have a better world view and your horizons expand. 

Are you ready to raise your the Bar  ? 

How cloud computing can revolutionize manufacturing

Manufacturing in an earlier era led to management thinking and also automation of processes, courtesy the efforts of great management gurus like Alfred Sloan, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and Michael Hammer and C.K. Prahalad. 

Manufacturing can benefit from Cloud Computing !

For the preceding decades, the financial markets sucked the best and the brightest minds to drive greed and make profits in investment banking and financial markets. This era fortunately is slowing down and the regulators and economists of the world have realized the futility of driving financial markets without underlying security provided by manufacturing.

Engineers who were trained and equipped for manufacturing, migrated to a coveted MBA degree lured by the offer of huge starting salaries coupled with even bigger annual bonus. They drove an invisible economy driven by paper bonds and other instruments and created more complex instruments all based on an economy, which was created by hedging financial bets on a weak underlying asset value.

Manufacturing did not grow or innovate because the best were not available, manufacturing was considered a poor paymaster and the brightest who wanted to make money and fame stayed away.

As the world spins into recession every country realizes that it needs to get back its manufacturing back in action, every government is struggling to get the right resources to put back the derailed manufacturing sector back on track.

It was manufacturing which created the big middle class in most developed countries in the world, those who spent their money on weekends, paid mortgages on their cars, houses and holidays and kept the wheels of the service economy ticking. 

Cloud computing could help manufacturing firms adopt the latest technology innovations to improve their processes, supply chain management, CAD/CAM/PLM solutions,  research & development, collaboration, plant operations, diagnostics, back office functions like ERP and front office CRM.

Cloud computing can offer the latest technology, with deep functionality and flexibility at lower capital and operating cost than the traditional invest, build, operate computing route adopted in manufacturing. It offers the manufacturing sector scalability, reliability, a secure environment, an on-demand computing power, faster upgrades and the latest technology. 

Cloud computing enables manufacturing collaboration among mobile and remote workers, vendors and other constituents in their supply chain solutions through fast, easy and secure access to data when needed to optimize operations and make data-driven decisions. 

In the next decade, we will see new material, new designs and new cross-country collaboration in cutting-edge manufacturing technology all created by cloud computing as a vehicle for computing and synergy.  We will see the best minds in the various universities of our world use the cloud for collaboration and co-option to create a healthier and stronger world for our future global citizens.

Use of cloud will help us leapfrog into the future with the best of computing technology, unbridled solutions to innovate and collaborate. So, is the manufacturing sector ready to ride the cloud? 

This article was carried in Information Week India Today 

http://www.informationweek.in/manufacturing/13-07-15/how_cloud_computing_can_revolutionize_manufacturing.aspx

Cloud Detractors Need to Keep Away from Cloud Computing Conferences

In a recent cloud conference they were two Senior Technology Professionals who spoke in the conference and the general consensus of the participants was all they did was to Rave, Rant and Spit Venom at Cloud Computing.
People who attended their session were wondering how they had reached such Senior roles in Information Technology Leadership with so much bias and attitude against emerging technologies like cloud computing.

Raise the Bar not degrade yourself and the cloud 

These these two personalities were able to bring about a pall of gloom and disbelief  among the participants in this cloud conference.
Many wondered if  they had such strong views against cloud computing why they were invited by the organizers ?
Why did they take time off to use the forum at the conference to belittle the participants in the cloud conference and also show how petty minded they were..
Cloud Detractors Need to be Kept Away from Cloud Computing Conferences as speakers !
As a cloud evangelist all I can state is "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)", Amen.  
Source : http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/142050.html
They can Raise the bar for cloud computing bu  not degrade themselves and the cloud computing fraternity, what we saw that day was the disruption caused by cloud computing in the minds of of the old technology brigade who are unable to comprehend and adapt to change.
Time and Tide waits for No Man, Cloud Computing is a reality so wake up you detractors; convert or
perish  into ignominy.

Virtualization is not Cloud Computing

Recently Forrester stated that 70% of "private clouds" aren't really clouds at all

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/022613-forrester-private-clouds-267108.html

Therein lies a tale of deceit, misinformation and false gratification of many organizations believing they have a cloud in place. 

To get the facts right we need to revisit the definition of cloud computing as defined by NIST which in may opinion is the final authority on cloud computing standards and is followed by the industry and professionals. 

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared 

pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that 

can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. 

This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment 

models.

Essential Characteristics: (Five)

On-demand self-service. 

Broad network access. 

Resource pooling. 

Rapid elasticity.

Measured service. 

Service Models: (Three)

Software as a Service (SaaS). 

Platform as a Service (PaaS). 

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). 

Deployment Models: (Four)

Private cloud. 

Community cloud. 

Public cloud. 

Hybrid cloud. 

Cloud Computing affects traditional hardware and software vendors adversely.

Though virtualization may provide resource pooling and rapid elasticity, there will be a need for on-demand self service, broad network access and measured service to meet the essential characteristics of cloud computing. 

But in a thrust by manufacturers for servers and hardware and connected virtualization solutions and software there has been pressure on NIST to change the parameters of cloud computing, thankfully NIST has held its ground, though there is a regular clamor to change the definitions to meet the needs of IS Vendors who have millions of dollars a stake. 

I know of a bank in India who claims to have implemented cloud computing, though nowhere do they publish their architecture or their adherence to the NIST cloud definition. The vendors who have sold them the hardware and software for virtualization are delighted to tout this as a cloud implementation and even the CIO has won a few award for taking the bank to the cloud. This is not the only instance of false reporting of cloud computing implementation. To add to this the said bank also runs a SAAS banking solution on it purported cloud and has signed up a number of banks for its services. The Indian regulators are clear that data cannot be kept in a public cloud or outside India, but they have no guidelines for cloud computing in India.

Since there is no enforcement or regulation for  Cloud Computing other then guidance from NIST, CSA and ENISA the vendors and their customers continue to brag  about their cloud computing prowess without adhering to the standards.

Virtualization  comes with its own risk though it seems attractive given its significant return of investment, I remember an IT team wanted to virtualize their infrastructure. When queried about their expertise they told me they had installed the virtualization environment on their desktop and were ready to do the same to their data center. Though I recommended that they not go ahead, I am sure they would  implemented virutalization without understanding their lack of skills and the risks for their organization.  I am sure they will soon brag about having built a private cloud for their organization. 

It it time for more compliance in cloud computing implementation and there is a need for a certification process to quality that the organization is truly cloud ready from a reputed assurance consultancy or a knowledgeable cloud evangelist. 

Do share your stories of organizations who have reached the cloud without NIST guidelines, love to hear about them. 

Compliance alone will not Secure the Bank

Banks scurry to meet compliance requirements; many have a team of professionals whose job is to meet compliance requirements and also convince the auditors that the Bank is Compliant.
A lot of energy is expedited in ensuring SOX, ISO 27 K +++, Basel compliance, the regulators long compliance which banks need to comply with.
Let us focus on Security, many banks have an annual audit and some of them may have a bi- annual audit,
Audits cost time and money and the financial risk management is more demanding then information security; technology is secure, we have a firewall and anti virus and anyways it is not a Board Item in many banks.

Banks need to be able to Crow about their Security 

In the old days information security in banks was bracketed under operational risk, but as banks rely more on technology, information risk management has come out of its own and the banks appoint a CSO, CISO,  GRC Team etc. Many Banks follow a prudent policy of separating IT Risk Management from the IT department and keeping it under the Risk Management Department which is a good practice.
But few banks consider investing on tools and resources that can perform continuous information audit on their information systems. In a fast changing world where banks are held to ransom by organized crime it is time that banks realized that compliance alone will not secure the Bank.
It is time for  banks to invest in SIEM tools, continuous audit and control tools and a team to manage the presence of the bank in a hostile cyber world.
Banks who make the investment in securing themselves in a digital world will survive into the next decade, while others may perish.

Gratitude recieved for being gratuitous is a Joyful experience.

I suddenly have a flurry of people thanking me for what I have done for them ages ago, I am quite surprised and did not realize that being gratuitous was a rare virtue.

There were more then four people in the last ten days thanking me in person or phone stating that they are where they are because of the heads up I gave them in their career or personal life.

The more I think about these favors, they were done to help people who were competent, confident and had fire in their belly to succeed. My role was that of a catalyst, though I had been firm with some of them in convincing them to make the transition.

In a changing world receiving gratitude for past gratuitous deeds is indeed refreshing and is a joy which money may not be able to buy. 

If someone has been gratuitous to you in your life, maybe now is the time to reach out to them and thank them, if may cost you nothing, but for the recipient is it is pure joy and happiness.

Go ahead and pick up the phone and dial up someone today and make the difference. Remember what you give always comes back to you !

Why the cloud can come down to earth in India

This is the reproduction of an article published in Information Week today .

http://www.informationweek.in/cloud_computing/13-07-02/why_the_cloud_can_come_down_to_earth_in_india.aspx
The author illustrates how the network and infrastructure can be the differentiator between success and failure in deployment of real time technology solutions like exchanges and cloud computing applications

In 1991, I was a key member of the team to build the first automated stock exchange in India known as the OTC Exchange of India on dial up telephone lines and subsequently an overlay network network on an Government built X.25 backbone with an X.28 dial up connectivity. The internet was unheard of those days, though a few Software Technology Parks (STPI) did have this connectivity and I remember the slow browser which connected me to the Harvard facility from the STPI in Hyderabad.

We had limitations because we could operate only in 26 cities in India with dialup connections, because the rest of the cities were challenged to carry data on a dial up network.

The second exchange set up by the same promoters used VSAT connectivity to connect brokers across India and became a success, this exchange was the National Stock Exchange.
Picture Left to Right : Sudesh Puthran, the author, Late R. Ravimohan, Sandeep Bagalkar & Karthik Shah 

The OTCEI had a VSAT network to deploy the stock prices through the teletext offered by Doordarshan and National Informatics centre. But unfortunately there was  only one government vendor of the teletext boxes could not supply enough decoders to service the 1000 brokers of the exchange. And the teletext died a natural death and it was back to Press Trust of India and Reuters.

This illustration is to show how the network and infrastructure can be the differentiator between success and failure in deployment of real time technology solutions like exchanges and cloud computing applications.

I was recently in Bangalore conducting a course on Cloud Computing Business and I heard the same sentiments echoed after two decades that poor data connectivity thorough the internet beyond 50 miles outside of Bangalore city was pathetic and hampers cloud computing deployment. This was in the IT capital of India, what a shame.

Without assured broadband connectivity which is reliable and effective roll out of cloud computing pan India is doomed. Though DOT may have laid the cables up to every district headquarters in India and will subsequently cover it to the taluk level with an investment of about Rs. 2000 crores, the issue of access to the internet in the last mile continues to be a challenge as it was in 1991.

I remember in 1991 we had 500 dial up lines with MTNL Delhi, and about 250 dial up lines in Chennai, Bangalore , Ahmedabad and other cities just to make sure that our brokers could route through the overlay X.25 network, but the design and execution could not deliver the desired connectivity and the exchange buckled under poor network infrastructure.

I see the same writing on the wall for cloud computing in India, without a robust internet connectivity there cannot be deployment of cloud computing in India. RIP advantage cloud India.

It is time to focus on cloud computing delivery and back end support to countries which have a robust internet backbone connecting most of the population, one of the countries  that meets this criteria is the USA and it is no surprise that cloud adoption and growth is exponential in that country.
LS Subramanian is a cloud evangelist who believes "The Future of Computing is the Cloud", he is the founder president of NISE. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author