Sometimes Sometimes Redundancy Redundancy Fails
Redundancy is as complex as it is necessary
Stuff happens.
Of course, we all know that. Everyone has bad days where everything seems to go wrong and businesses are no different.
In our case, the hosting industry relies on thousands of pieces of ever-changing, ever-evolving hardware that need to be married with new standards and updated software. Problems do happen, even to those who plan carefully while building their infrastructure, but how a company responds when problems occur is far more important than whether problems happen at all.
At ServInt, we have always prided ourselves on being the kind of company that plans extensively. That being said, we are still faced with a serious, and slightly philosophical question:
Why do problems occur and how do we prevent them?
Our industry has always loved to tout how easy it is to be up all the time, immune to problems, and how technology can solve just about anything. Because the industry has been so successful at selling this message, we frequently hear comments like, “Well, if my server has RAID and you have redundant routers, how can anything go wrong?” Many assume, and justifiably so, that if something fails, the redundant resource should take over automatically.
More after the jump…
Did you get the memo?
Matt Loschert, ServInt CTO
Today, ServInt announced my promotion to Chief Technology Officer. While you may or may not have heard my name until now, I have led the company’s technical operations for quite some time despite keeping a relatively low profile. I suppose it’s my nature as I’m not particularly into blogs, forums, social networking, etc. That being said, with the move to this position and the responsibilities it entails, something tells me those days are numbered and you’ll be hearing a lot more from me.
So, a little about me, I came to ServInt 11 years ago from Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), and have not looked back since. I came looking for a challenge and for the opportunity to work with and develop cutting edge software. I had been surprised to find that the reality of corporate consulting consisted of working with and maintaining antiquated systems that had been purchased by clients decades prior. I should have known better, but I was fresh out of college. What did I know?
Upon arrival at ServInt, I knew that I had found something different. Back then, we had a small group of highly talented and interesting personalities working here. It sounds almost trite to describe the place as fast-paced and dynamic, but it was, and I realize now that I have simply come to take that for granted. The Internet has evolved constantly in that time and the only companies that have survived have been the ones that have embraced change and evolved with it. We did that, and consequently, we’re still here.
While some of the details have changed over time, the challenges that we face now are in many ways the same that we faced a decade ago. How do we remain at the forefront of an industry that is in constant flux? The defining characteristics of web hosting never seem to be the same from year to year, and sometimes not even from quarter to quarter. The answer to that question brings us to one of the real differences between ServInt then and now.
In the last decade, our approach towards innovation has evolved. Back in the day, we had a bias against software and solutions that came from outside of the organization. We wanted ultimate control of our destiny and we felt that to retain that, we had to develop all solutions in-house. We would have no one to blame but ourselves if we failed.
Over time, we discovered that as the rate of change in this industry accelerated, a closed mentality could kill us; the only way we could survive was to locate great partners and integrate the best new technologies. We found that we could remain competitive because the ultimate success of our strategy depended on the proper choice of partners, the quality of our integration work, and the speed with which we could roll-out new technologies. That is something that cannot be easily duplicated, either by an industry newcomer, or by a large, well-funded competitor.
So, now it’s time for me to change. I can’t just operate in stealth mode any longer. We have a whole host of new ideas, initiatives, and services which we think will revolutionize hosting. My role is to bring this vision of ours to you – to show you what it means, sift through the hype, dampen the noise, dispel disinformation, and help you to make sense of the present and future of this industry. I’ll do my best not to lead you astray.
Matt Loschert
Chief Technology Officer
ServInt
