Virtualization Editorial

Jeffrey Taylor Wadsworth Graduation Speech

Sun, 23 May 2010 03:42:00 EDT

Thank you all for joining us here today to recognize Jeffrey’s achievements and to celebrate his graduation from Babson College. If you haven’t yet experienced a classic Kirby kid-speech, be forewarned. You may want to grab a napkin…this usually gets a little messy…

Last Saturday many of us witnessed firsthand Jeffrey’s graduation (with cum laude honors) at Babson College’s graduation ceremony – proud recognition of his hard work and success in the accounting program at that very fine school, and most of you know he will earn a Master’s degree in accounting this summer and join Price Waterhouse Coopers in September. Not bad.

The ‘Jeffrey Stories’ we love to tell as a family are by now legion to many of you.

For instance, most of you remember Jeffrey’s fascination, at a very young age, with vacuum cleaners. If you remember, as a baby Jeffrey loved pushing the on and off button of the vacuum cleaner and listening to the motor whirl. One particular day – when he was about a year old – the vacuum cleaner refused to whir as it usually did when he pushed the power button. Jeffrey stared at the machine for a few minutes, tried the power button a few times, and then crawled over, grabbed the unplugged power cord, crawled back, plugged it into the wall and hit the button again – squealing with delight when the motor turned on. Pam and I looked at each other and simultaneously mouthed, “We are in BIG trouble with this one!”

You have all heard Pam and I tell the story of Jeffrey’s birth. Talk about a pain in the you-know-what! This kid came into this world in major crisis mode, and has not veered too far from that course since. If you remember the circumstances, carrying Jeffrey in August 1987, Pam came down with preeclampsia. She was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in early September, and was forced to lie on her left side for several weeks. In late September, when she was due to deliver, the doctors inexplicably sent her home. On the evening of September 29th, Pam went to bed early in our apartment in Weston. That night, Ged, Eric Stephens, and I watched a gory combat movie and drank way too much beer. At about 1am, we heard a faint cry from upstairs, “Kirby! I think you better call my mother!” The next couple of hours are a blur now, but I do remember driving my white Toyota Supra about 100mph down Rte 9, sort of hoping a cop would pull us over so I could tell him that my wife was about to have a baby. No such luck…we made it to the hospital in no time…but it took the little shit 3 days of pushing, and finally all sorts of flesh cutting and forceps pulling, to finally make his appearance. By the time he slithered out, the place looked like a scene from MASH – blood and guts everywhere. Looking back at that experience, it is amazing we ever had another child…

Speaking of other children, who can forget several years later, the ‘accident’ when Jeffrey and Stephen were playing in the fort I built for them in the backyard. Stephen was at the top of the fort, and Jeffrey rushed up the ladder to the attack him. Stephen pushed Jeffrey off the ladder and he landed in a crumpled pile on the ground, with a mangled bone protruding from his wrist. Rushing to the hospital, I don’t know who was in worse shape – Jeffrey or me.

Or… how about the time Bethy was babysitting Stephen and Jeffrey in our old house on Timber Lane – Jeffrey and Stephen shared a bunk bedroom back then, and for some reason I don’t remember, Stephen slept in the top bunk. They ordered pizza and watched a movie before Bethy put them both to bed. Sometime in the evening, before we got home, Stephen woke up, felt sick to his stomach, leaned over the edge of the bunk bed, and …well, you get the picture. Jeffrey literally took it on the chin…

Yaya will remember when Jeffrey was about 5 years old, during a visit to Runaway in Maine, he bumped into the kerosene lamp at the top of the stairs, spilling fuel down the hallway and threatening to burn the camp down. What Yaya may not know is that it was actually the ghost who spirits the Runaway stairway that literally scared Jeffrey half to death and caused the ‘accident’. So, Yaya, maybe now you can finally forgive Jeffrey for spilling that kerosene…

And several of you well remember many years later, during a Christmas Vacation visit to Yaya at Quail Ridge in Florida, Jeffrey was riding one of Bobo’s old red bikes, when the chain bucked and Jeffrey flew over the handlebars breaking his collarbone, and almost destroying his curling team’s chances to win the Junior National championships…

And there are many, many other ‘Jeffrey Stories’…

But, through it all Jeffrey not only survived, but found or fought his way to success. Through the broken bones, challenged spirits, and other barriers, Jeffrey has always made a way -- over, under, around, or through. He is relentless in pursuing his goals. Challenges? – sure he has had his unfair share. Triumphs? you bet – more than you can count.

I want to take a minute here to recognize three people that Jeffrey was fortunate to have close loving relationships with who cannot be with us today – Bobo, Waddy, and Phyllis.

Jeffrey was in awe of his great-grandfather, Norman Appleyard. He loved Bobo – and Bobo was proud and protective of Jeffrey. I know Normy is looking down (or up depending on your point of view) and smiling today – although admittedly, Jeffrey, he would have preferred Brown over Babson…

Likewise, Jeffrey had a very special place in the hearts of my Mom and Dad.

Of all the pictures I have ever taken, my favorite is a close up of a month’s old Jeffrey and a very many year’s old Waddy, face to face, laughing at each other. My dad was so proud of me for having Jeffrey, and his pride in my becoming a father meant the world to me.

I know all of you who knew her loved my mom, Phyllis. She absolutely lived for Jeffrey. She lit up around him, reading him stories, baking him cookies, finger painting with him…I truly loved seeing her love for him.

I know all three of them are here with us today – and I know they are just so, so proud of Jeffrey.

I suppose any father is partial to his first kid. None of us is born predisposed to raising children – we don’t inherit the skills and knowledge needed to take a tiny little thing that can’t eat on its own, or wipe its own bottom, and turn it into the amazing adult you see here. We all make mistakes – we are too harsh, or too soft, or too dominant, or too something, or too not ‘something’ enough… The first always takes it on the chin – as first time parents we all make mistakes, and raising of Jeffrey was no exception. Pam and I have over-parented, under-indulged, over-indulged, over-worried, ignored, and if it is actually possible, maybe loved him too much. But to his credit – Jeffrey took our amateur parenting in stride and came out the better for it in the long run.

The man you see here today is pretty amazing in his own right. He is grounded, intelligent, worldly, curious, caring, driven, fastidious, sensitive, sweet (in his own weird way), and solid on his own two feet. He is ready to make his way in the world, to create value for himself and others, to be a positive contributor to society as we know it.

We have done all we can for you, Jeffrey. And you, Jeffrey, have made us very, very proud.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all that any parent can ask of a child.

Please join us in a toast to, Jeffrey Taylor Wadsworth, adult.

VMware Buys Zimbra; Next Step Bed, Bath, & Beyond?

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:45:00 EST

I'm arguing with myself, so I'm winning and losing. The argument? VMware's Zimbra acquisition: a) brilliant - and necessary -- building block in the drive to domination of the evolving cloud economy? Or b) distracting activity on par with a crow's attraction to bright, shiny objects? The question isn't whether or not Zimbra is very cool. (It is.) Or whether it's worth the $100 million VMware shelled out. For me, it's a question of ends and means.

Economy Drives Adoption of Virtual Lab Technology

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST

Everyone wants to lower their capital expenditures and increase operational efficiency - it's a sign of the times. The economy of the past 12 - 18 months has forced all organizations to do more with less and become more efficient. While everyone can identify with the request to do more with less, they can also identify with the overwhelming need to deliver quality. The need to deliver quality is an age-old adage and has many interpretations as to what "quality" actually means. This argument is likely to rage on in perpetuity at an academic level.

California High School District Saves $250,000 with Citrix

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Serving more than 7,600 students across seven campuses, Campbell Union High School District first explored desktop virtualization as a way to help bring down skyrocketing hardware and IT management costs. The district’s IT team serves the computing needs of all students, as well as 650 employees and faculty members. In addition to personal PCs for staff members and student laptops in each classroom, each campus also provides multiple computer labs for instruction and student use. The maintenance, security, upkeep and refresh cycle for all those PCs and laptops was placing a real strain on the district’s budget. Desktop virtualization dramatically simplifies this process, allowing IT to manage all desktops from a central location while delivering a rich, personalized experience to each user, regardless of their location or the device they are using.

QuickBooks 2010 Help Small Businesses be Profitable

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT

QuickBooks 2010 for Mac gives small business owners powerful new tools to help them be more productive and profitable with the simplicity they expect from a Mac product. Available in late October, QuickBooks 2010 for Mac, from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU), helps business owners save time, make money and get paid.

The Rise of the Government App Store

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT

In a recent post to the CCIF mailing list, Bob Marcus outlined the coming opportunties and challenges facing what he described as "Government Cloud Storefronts". In the post he described Vivek Kundra's (US Federal CIO) vision for the creation of a government Cloud Storefront. This Storefront (run by GSA) which will be launched Sept 9th and will make Cloud Computing resources (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) available to agencies with in the US federal Government. (an $80+ Billion a year IT organization).

Virtualization Experts in High Demand

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Those with virtualization skills are in high demand right now. That makes them just as difficult to retain as it is to find and hire them. Indeed, as virtualization becomes more important to enterprise IT, those who understand VMWare, and other virtualization technology, as well as understand virtualization in general, are commanding top salaries and they are often recruited away from current employers.

SYS-CON's 5th International Virtualization Conference & Expo: Themes & Topics

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:45:00 EDT

From Automation to Virtual Security, a round-up of the Virtualization themes & topics being discussed March 30-April 1, 2009, in New York City by the world-class speaker faculty at the 5th International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held in The Roosevelt Hotel, in midtown Manhattan.

V is for Venture...and for Virtualization

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:45:00 EDT

When back in 2005 we asked our globe-girdling network of industry executives, enterprise architects, software engineers, technology evangelists, analysts, and VCs to pinpoint what they thought the Next Big Thing would be, only one respondent singled out Virtualization and that was software industry legend Mitchell Kertzman, of San Francisco-based VC firm Hummer Winblad.

V Is for Venture and for Virtualization

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST

Virtualization is the Future of Enterprise Computing

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST

Virtualization Journal thought it was time to go in search of industry insights into this fast-growing new IT market, and so we asked some of its new and up-and-coming executives for their thoughts on some of the trends emerging already in 2008. First, in view of the memo released recently by the SVP of its Server and Tools Business, Bob Muglia, we asked about what Microsoft's intentions might be. Is it going to try and play catch-up with VMware in 2008 by acquiring Citrix, for example?

Storage & Security Journal: "Striking the Right Balance"

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:45:00 EST

Storage is still one of the most costly and fastest-growing aspects of everyone's network and is likely to remain so for some time. Every network user is a storage user. We're all part of a community that shares the costs and the benefits of this expensive resource. Storage management can be a challenging task. There's so much hardware, so many alternatives, and so many issues that it's easy to get lost in the details and fail to see the forest for the trees.

What's In Store For 2006?

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:00:00 EST

Okay, 2005 is over. Let's get back to work...But first, let's look at what's new. Microsoft has taken WinFS, its new file system, out of the first release of its next operating system. The story is that WinFS will follow soon after the OS releases. For most of us, this is something we don't need to worry about for a couple of years, at least.

An Introduction to the Editors-in-Chief of Information Storage & Security Journal

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:00:00 EDT

Last month we skipped the introduction to summarize some of the things we hope to bring to you in the coming year. This month we are circling back to our backgrounds in the hopes that this will help explain why we might be suited to fulfill the agenda hinted at last month.

A Quick Look at the Coming Year in Storage...

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:00:00 EDT

We (Patrick and Bruce) are new to ISSJ. In a future article, you'll learn more about who we are and why we are here. In this issue, we thought we would take a minute to frame some of the discussions that will go on throughout the year.