Coté Memo #039: crafting research agenda, what Docker will spent $40m on, RAX no longer for sale

Sep 16, 2014

Meta-data

Hello again, welcome to #039. Today we have 46 subscribers, so we're +1. Dandy! I'd love to hear what you like, dislike, your feedback, etc.: memo@cote.io. (If you're reading this on the web, you should subscribe to get the daily email.)

See past newsletters in the archives, and, as always, see things as they come at Cote.io and @cote.

Follow-up

Tech & Work World

Quick Hits

Jury finds CBS infringes podcasting patent, awards $1.3 million - patents, am I right?
Docker scores 40 MILLION greenbacks to pop business into boxes - the basic coverage.
Good overview if future plans and vision from Docker - basically, provide the stuff needed for "distributed applications." Indeed. Notice the application development centric nature of the pitch - not generic IT management/virtualization/etc. And, sure, they were a PaaS company, after all. More:

This [cash injection] puts us in a great position to invest aggressively in the future of distributed applications. We’ll be able to significantly expand and build the Docker platform and our ecosystem of developers, contributors, and partners, while developing a broader set of solutions for enterprise users.
...
Look for significant advances in orchestration, clustering, scheduling, storage, and networking. You’ll also see continued advances in the overall Docker platform–both Docker Hub and Docker Engine.

And a fun diagram:

theCUBE talks HP/Eucalyptus - nothing major or new, but some more.
Google's Jo Maitland on cloud, on theCUBE - while we're at theCUBE, check out Jo Maitland on theCUBE. She does a good job going over some Google Cloud positioning (people want things as simple as possible, whether admin or developer) and the missed promises of OpenStack (they're not compatible and its complex).
TheNewStack #14 - Docker! - I missed today's TheNewStack recording, but it looks like it was fun.
Rackspace Ends Formal Evaluation of M&A Transactions; Focus Remains on Managed Cloud Market Leadership - well, that was sort of weird. Meanwhile:

Research Agenda Decisions

I have three options (OK, four) of what I should focus on in my analyst work in front of me and I'd be curious to hear your input:

DevOps - we've done plenty of coverage here and there, but if you recall back in #028, we could do with a more rigorous and deep research agenda here.
Software Development - when I was hired, this was an area that needed filling and I certainly would like to. As with DevOps, all of us fill it in well but we might could do with more focus on it.
Plain of systems management, virtualization, etc. - while folks on my team cover APM, cloud platforms, and other areas, we don't have a dedicated focus (again, with that rigor and depth I outlined for DevOps).
Continue to be a be broad and cover all of the above, but with the more shallow depth that comes from broad coverage.

As I mentioned, at the team level we cover all the three items above. The question is what I should spend "all of my time doing." In each of the three real options above, I could easily talk with only companies and end-users in those areas, spend "all my time" focused on researching and writing just one of them. My question to you, dear readers, is what you would (a.) find most valuable, and, (b.) what you think would be the best (criteria: commercially valuable, interesting, fun people to talk with, etc.) area for me to focus on (separate from of your needs).

I've equivocated many times solid answers for all four of the above, so outside feedback would be helpful.

Travel

Travel is starting up again, oh boy. I'm off to Boston later this week, Chicago next week, then HCTS (you can still get $200 off, see above!) in Las Vegas, BMC's conference in Orlando, Paris for the OpenStack Summit, CA World in Las Vegas, and Toronto for a TechTarget speaking engagement. So far, beyond that, things look clear.