CDR Sam

Medical Digital Revolution?

January 2, 2010 | Data Storage

So, is it going to happen?  Will we see a great change in the way medical records are handled now? Will various electronic medical systems be able to finally speak a common language?

These questions continue to be unanswered and yet a standard has to be developed and followed.  Certainly the data can be stored and transmitted easily but the compatibility stops there.  For one, the PACS (Picture Archiving Communication System) that many hospitals and clinics use are unique and have different Meta data formats.  This makes it very difficult and expensive to adapt to a standard.

Secondly, the small doctor offices and clinics may not have the resources to purchase and manage a client side data capture system.  If they can even figure out a common standard.  It would seem like common sense to have a method of sharing information electronically  between doctor and hospital but the development of  the American health care system provided no ‘electronic highway’, no ‘connecting the dots’.  Just blobs of clay tossed onto the map. The gains in efficiency and cost management within the health care system can only happen if a common standard is accepted and soon. Throwing lots of money at the issue is not going to solve anything until this happens.

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Who Wants to be in the Clouds: What Really is Cloud Computing

November 29, 2009 | Data Storage

ISPs have been providing what is now called ‘cloud computing’ for years.  AOL,  CompuServe,  Prodigy even the BBS were clouds in their own right.   The idea that somehow the ‘dumb terminal’ is a new concept

is a frightening thought.  The first mainframe computers used terminals and even today mainframes use terminals.

There has always been two camps on owning the software or ‘renting’ the software.  This also reflects on the equipment one uses too.  A cheap throwaway terminal (perhaps a netbook is a good example of this) compared to a full powered system that can run applications independent of the Internet or network.  The ‘sell’ is the classic razor blade sales model.   The person is given the razor holder and the cost of the razor blades is inflated to maximize profit.  Data is held hostage by design or poor design depending on ones point of view.  We have gone from ‘ASP’, for application service provider, to SaaS, or software as a service, to the newest coined phrase, ‘cloud computing’.    One can only hope they  rename SaaS to something more appropriate like ‘I hope the Internet keeps working computing’ or ‘the hare vs. the turtle computing’. Without the Internet connection the ‘dumb book’ is just that ‘dumb’

I’m certainly aware of the marketing hype of how SaaS brought on a new age with web based applications.  Really?  Where is Al Gore when you need him to confirm his inventing the Internet. Web based applications have been around a lot longer then SaaS or ASP.

Free applications with advertising.  It’s no accident Google’s earnings are 97% from advertising.  Renting the software does not always require paying for it.  It’s a new spin on giving an application away for visiting my site or telling my friends about it.  I’m not trying to sell you anything.  Just free services that happen to have a lot of advertising.  It is honestly an advertising distribution method and not for the greater good of mankind.

I certainly think that SaaS has it’s place as well as ‘cloud computing’ in that it does provide massive computing power for solving very complex equations.  However to try and sell it as a complete business solution when it can only operate with a Internet connection (and high speed at that)  is just looking for trouble.

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Putting Down Roots in Data Storage

September 13, 2009 | Data Storage

As computers were a revolution in themselves, data storage and analysis will be the next revolution.   I’m referencing Google’s great book scanning project.  It’s mind boggling to consider the information that will be available (by reference) and then the implications to researching human written thought.  The vision of the old great library of Alexandria that once contained all the ancient written  knowledge.  The somewhat mysterious end to the collection by first Julius Caesar and later by successions of burnings.  Not everyone appreciated great learning it appears or highly careless in the case of Caesar.

This time around knowledge is being stored in the form of digital bytes instead of papyrus and the intent of some search engines is to make it all available via search on the Internet.  This is not the current state of affairs with the Internet by far.  There are millions of web sites with varying states of authority (trustworthiness determined by algorithms) giving the searcher some rough indication of source but the system continues to be exploited by  a certain bred of advertisers to drive traffic to their lairs.

I was reading “Why We Buy” by Paco Underhill and Paco mentioned that one of drawbacks of the Internet is it has no organization to it.  He skipped the major influence that search engines and directories have been trying to achieve.  What’s more he really skipped over the point of libraries in the first place, or closer to home for him: the brick and mortar store.  We seek information and organization.  Information does not exist in itself as a pure force.  We seek information.  Be it at a store, print or on the Internet.  The game  changer for the Internet is the concept of search.  You can search for answers (or more questions then answers).

So this is where data storage is taking us.  In order to realize the the full potential of search everything needs to be digitized and stored.  Data centers are the new Alexandrian libraries spread across the United States, Europe and Asia.  Companies and individuals store their data on-line or ‘in the clouds’.  Storage needs increase and data storage adds another terabyte or petabyte to the equation.

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What has the Internet given us?

August 13, 2009 | Random Blackouts

“What the Internet has done is given us a nation that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”

A quote from Bill Maloney, CEO of the American Society of Travel Agent about the increase in Travel Agent use and the decline of Internet based travel booking.

This change is seen after years of Expedia and Travelocity ruling the business.

The discussion is around the value add a travel agent brings to the table by their knowledge and training.

Unlike the internet that just gives you a price and no value (hidden costs, crazy changeovers, user mistakes, Etc)

The Internet does not need to be that way but I would argue all resellers have done up to this point is offer only price and no value.

..and let the consumer get away with it.

This is not just restricted to the Internet:  Sam’s club, BJ’s and the other warehouse stores contribute to this situation.

Companies have responded with the “Brand” concept of offering cheap prices and no value.   TDK, Philips, Memorex, Verbatim even Taiyo Yuden with it’s value line.

As soon as it’s branded ‘value’ you know you are in big trouble.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/08/12/travel.agent.comeback/index.html

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Back-Up Using Tape

July 30, 2009 | USB Flash and Flash Memory

I have to say after several years of using a DLT drive from a very well known American computer manufacturer and having to replace it every year that I wonder about our technology.  I see the same Tech every year and we discuss the state of equipment and look at the IBM eServers that are over ten years old and an old IBM DLT tape autoloader that has been running for 10 years.  It runs on SCSI and I’ve not been in a terrible hurry to put in an old SCSI (I’m not sure it would even fit with the PCIexpress slot).

This has got me thinking about flash drive backup.  Essentially running a PC connected USB Flash duplicator as a port for data sets of drives.

So here is how it works.

You connect the flash drive back up unit via USB to the server.

• Each drive is labeled or has a key label attached on the lanyard.  Drives can be stored in a key rack.
• Each drive is the back-up media.  Each day is written to one flash drive and then the next day is written to a new drive.  Past days can be removed and stored off site.
• Flash drives have no mechanical parts that fail.  No tape that jams, no drive heads that wear out.
• The system could have a lockable cover to protect the drives from ‘accidental’ removal
• Each drive would need to be recognized by the back up software as a back up media
• Cycle the drives out like we cycle out tapes.  Retire them after 2 years.

You can tell I’ve had it with DLT.  The drives are not cheap by any standard nor are the tapes.  Stay tuned.

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