The White Book of Big Data

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 11 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Almost exactly a year ago, I was part of a team at Fujitsu that wrote a short publication called the White Book of Big Data.

This was the third book in the successful “white book” series, aimed at helping CIOs to cut through vendor hype on technology and business trends, following on from the White Book of Cloud Adoption and the White Book of Cloud Security.

At the time, I was keen to shout about this work but couldn’t track down an externally-visible link (and I was asked not to publish it directly myself).  Now, when big data has become such an incredibly over-hyped term (so much so that I try not to use the term myself), I’ve found that the book has been available for some time via the Cloud Solutions page on the Fujitus website!

Irrespective of the time it’s taken for me to be able to write about this (and any bias I may have as one of the authors) I still think it’s a useful resource for anyone trying to cut through the vendor hype.  At no point does it try to directly sell Fujitsu products – and I’d be interested in any feedback that anyone has after reading it.  If you’d like to read the book, you can download a PDF.

As I’ve changed roles since the book was published, I think it’s unlikely I’ll be involved in any future publications of this type (I always wanted to create a White Book of “Bring Your Own” Computing) – unless I can encourage any of my marketing colleagues to sponsor a White Book of Messaging!

MK Geek Night again – and I still haven’t blogged about the last one!

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 11 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

This week sees the sixth quarterly Milton Keynes Geek Night (MKGN).  I’ve attended every one so far and always blogged about them – except the last one.  The simple fact is, I’ve been too busy – but I’m also just a little bit obsessive about these things and wanted to write something before it’s too late…

The last event was fantastic as ever but I’ve lost my notes. I know it sounds a bit like “the dog ate my homework” but I think iA Writer has put them somewhere strange… not on Dropbox (where I expected) but in iCloud, I think – except I can’t find any documents in iCloud (I’m sure I have to use an iDevice of some sort and it will all be fine…). I really should standardise on using one app for this – not the current combination of OneNote/Evernote/iA Writer, depending on the device I’m using…

Anyway, you can catch the audio from the last MK Geek Night on SoundCloud including:

  • Sarah Parmenter (@Sazzy) on designing for the responsive web.
  • Westley Knight (@Meteoracle) on life behind the curve.
  • Michael Fox (@IdleMichael) on how boardgames can make you awesome.
  • Ben Ward (@CrouchingBadger) on setting whitespace spectrum free.
  • Andrew Spooner (@AndSpo) on why mobile audio sucks.

MK Geek Night number 5 was David Hughes’ (@DavidHughes) last night as co-host and organiser but Richard Wiggins (@RichardWiggins) continues to organise these fantastic evenings.  You can find out more on the MK Geek Night website or on Twitter (@MKGeekNight) – but you’ll have to be quick. Tickets “sold” out for this free event in under an hour this time around!

Lyncing to Asterisk

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 11 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’m seeing increasing interest from customers in the enterprise voice functionality in Microsoft Lync – particularly for customers who already have an investment in Microsoft products for email, instant messaging and presence (Exchange and Office Communication Server or Lync).

One of my colleagues, Garry Newsham, shared an interesting link with me recently about integrating Lync with the open source Asterisk platform. Whilst this isn’t something I expect many enterprises to be looking at, it might be a project for smaller organisations.

As for me, maybe I’ll have another go at getting IP telephony working in my house, linked to my Office 365 Lync subscription…

Short takes: “detagging” oneself on Facebook; and the universal cleaning power of baby wipes

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

In the absence of a “proper” blog post, a few short takes based on things I’ve discovered these last few weeks…

“Detagging”

Over the last few months, I’ve been notified that someone has tagged me in a photo on Facebook. Great, I think, another picture from 20 years ago that I need to check to see I’m not doing anything naughty in… or “how on earth does that person have a picture of me?!”.

As it happens, some of the pictures weren’t of me – just someone who looked a bit like me, viewed from a particular angle.

It turns out that Farcebook has a help page for “how do I remove a tag from a photo or post I’m tagged in”, which is kind of handy as, however careful you are about sharing your information online, you can’t do anything about your friends.

Baby wipes and handlebar tape

Almost nine years of fatherhood have taught me lots, including that baby wipes are great for cleaning many things – goodness knows why we let them near the skin of our precious little people.

A few weeks ago, I bought myself a road bike. I was a little concerned about the white bar tape though… not likely to stay white for long, I thought. And I was right. Velominati rule #8 discusses matching the colour of saddles and bars – in the full text of the book it also talks about  keeping white bar tape clean in order to Look Fantastic at All Times. After the application of a little elbow grease and a baby wipe though, my bar tape is gleaming like (almost) new…

Preparation notes for Microsoft exam 70-341: Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’ve got an exam tomorrow. I figured that, as I’m employed as a manager and not an administrator, my best chance at passing the Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (70-341) exam was to take the test soon after attending the training course. So, tomorrow morning at 10am, I’ll be in a Prometric test centre whilst the sun is shining outside…

I learn by writing, so what follows are my notes – a brain dump if you like but based purely on study – I’ve not seen the exam (or any practice tests) yet…

Fingers crossed, I’ll be fine.  If I do fail, it will be the first time I’ve had to re-take a Microsoft exam – here goes with the brain dump.

[Updated 2013/11/22 – after failing 70-341 twice and 70-342 once – so far – I’ve removed the content of this post as it’s clearly no help to anyone!]

Exchange and Outlook resource roundup

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I mentioned that I’ve been attending an Exchange Server 2013 training course, when I wrote earlier in the week about creating dynamic distribution groups using custom directory attributes.

Our course instructor, Annette Gill, has curated a number of resources and links on her website for Exchange (2007, 2010 and 2013), Windows Server 2008, and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM 2007 and 2012).  Of particular  interest to me right now are the Exchange Server 2013 Resources and Exchange Server 2013 Miscellaneous Links.

I also found something else of note during one of the labs. I don’t really use Public Folders and I was struggling to get one to display in the Outlook client after I’d created it and given access to a user.  Outlook MVP Diane Poremsky’s reply to a TechNet Forum post gave me the answer – Ctrl+6 refreshed the folder list (I already had it open) and the Public Folder came into view.  Incidentally, a full list of Outlook keyboard shortcuts can be found on the Microsoft Office website (that list is for 2010, but should work for 2013 too).

There are more “tips and tricks for Windows, Office and whatever” on Diane’s website.


Finally, one of the Microsoft consultants currently working with my team is one of the joint authors for the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013: Design, Deploy and Deliver an Enterprise Messaging Solution book that’s due to be published next month. Exchange 2013 texts are a bit thin on the ground at the moment but this book has been written by some of the best authorities I know on the topic – especially when it comes to designing, deploying and delivering solutions.

Working with Exchange 2013 dynamic distribution groups based on custom directory attributes

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’m attending a training course this week (getting back up to speed with Exchange using the Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 course) and I found that one of the labs wasn’t working. I probably missed a step somewhere and I wanted to verify a dynamic distribution group based on a custom attribute.

Back in the days when I was hands-on with Exchange, there was an Exchange-aware version of Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) to work with, but that disappeared in 2007.  These days, the solution is to open ADUC, enable the Advanced view and then look at the Attribute Editor. It took some searching but I found that what Exchange refers to as Custom Attribute 1-15 are actually known by the LDAP names of extensionAttribute1 (to 15) in Active Directory.

Once I’d edited extensionAttribute1 in the user object(s) to add the value the dynamic distribution group was looking for, they were picked up and mail flowed as expected.

One last point: whilst Exchange 2013 doesn’t allow a preview the contents of dynamic distribution groups within the Exchange Admin Center it is possible inside the Exchange Management Shell.

[Update: Custom attributes can also be set in EAC – under more options for mailbox properties – as well as in EMS, where the attribute is known as CustomAttribute1)]

Fighting back to the spammers: charging for removal of blog spam links…

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Right from (almost) the start, this blog has suffered from spam. I guess it just goes with the territory but I’ve written in the past about people who’ve left spam comments and then found Google’s index quotes them out of context or tech companies criticising their competitors “anonymously” in blog comments.

Even when I was helping my then-CTO to raise his social media presence, my employer’s PR agency was encouraging the use of comments on blogs to generate backlinks and now the tide is turning as Google cracks down on low-quality backlinks.

As a result, I’m getting an increasing number of emails from digital agencies including phrases like the one below:

“I’m writing to request the removal of a link to my clients’ [sic] site which is located at the following page:”

They’re (or their clients are) wasting my time, so I reserve the right to charge for removing such links.

The irony is that, over the last few years, Google’s index changes have penalised original content creators like myself in favour of corporate websites and this blog has just a fraction of the traffic it once enjoyed (oh, those were the days)…

Would be blog spammers at this site should check out the Rules for Comments.

Business intelligence required…

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Up and down the country, businesses are running on Excel, instead of using a proper business intelligence (or even management information) system. The one I look after is no different but, as I pieced together yet another spreadsheet last weekend, I learned a few Excel tips that might be useful to share…

=SUMIF()

I’ve been trying to pull together a resource forecast in order to work out how quickly to grow my team. The approach I look was to list all the projects we have coming through, with headcount requirements split out by grade, then to total each column based on the grade of staff required.

Seems fair enough, but the trick to making this work is reading a cell and then only including its value in the total if a condition is met (e.g. the indicated grade matches the one I’m adding up).

Stack Overflow came to my rescue, describing Excel’s SUMIF() function

In my case, the formula was something like:

=SUMIF(E4:E148,E154,F4:F148)

Where E4:E148 contained the grades of people for each identified project, E154 contained the grade I was looking for (e.g. Exchange Designer) and F4:F148 were the numbers of people needed for each project that month. Repeat for each grade, and then for each month, and a table of resource requirements can be built up…

There may be better ways to do this, but it will save me some time adding up the totals each time I revisit the task list…

More margins…

Of course, knowing how many people I need is one thing – making some crude assumptions about the likely revenue they might attract to see if I’m close to my numbers for the year is the next question I’ll be asked.

Last week, I blogged about the difference between mark-up and margin, and this week I needed to put that into practice.  I found a forum post that explained the formula (sale price = 100/1-margin * original cost), so I put that into practice, multiplying by a day rate, an assumed number of working days in the month and the total of that grade of person:

=(D165*(1/(1-D174)))*D175*F154

Which translates to:

=(dayrate*(1/(1-margin)))*number of days*number of people

Displaying data in 1000s

The last part was displaying data. Some of the revenue numbers I ended up with are big – and I’m only interested in 1000s of pounds, so I needed to adjust the formatting of the results.  The trick here is to use a custom number format on the cell of 0, (zero comma) for thousands (or 0,, can be used for millions). Add a K or an M on the end for units, and a currency symbol up front too. You can also add a decimal point using 0.0, (e.g. £0.0,K for £1500 to be displayed as £1.5K) or, if the numbers get into the millions, then try something like £0,000,K.

Fixing Feedly

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 12 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about switching to Feedly from Google Reader. Since then, Google has switched off Reader – and my feeds went AWOL in the process.

Thankfully, Feedly are taking the issue seriously (I was amazed to get a tweet back from them after I tweeted a picture of their “over capacity” screen)

Even before then, I’d found the answer to the missing feeds on the Feedly blog. Until 15 July 2013, it’s possible to use Google Takeout to export the data that was previously held in Reader – so get in there quickly if you want to export your feeds. Once I’d imported the OPML Feedly was happy – at least on the web.

And that overloaded error in the iOS app? A temporary glitch caused by some Google code changes – as soon as Apple let’s the updated app into their store (Android is already sorted), that should be good too.